Fantasy is a relatively young literary genre. John R.R. Tolkien, other male authors followed. In general, it was they who formed the genre in its modern form. However, towards the end of the twentieth century, a large number of female authors appeared who began to master all sorts of literary genres, including fantasy.
Female Fantasy Challenges
Modern fantasy (especially Russian-language one) is oversaturated with books written by female authors. Unfortunately, most generalizing the difference between female and male fantasy characteristics is quite difficult to attribute to positive. It’s customary to attribute female fantasy to a concentration on the heroine’s emotions, a boring “diary” format in the first person, and a superficial idea of world-forming details (economics, politics, magic, and so on).
There is also a universal good fantasy. With vivid plots, characters and stories. And the gender of the author in this case is completely unimportant.
One of the first Russian-language authors in the fantasy genre was Belarusian writer Olga Gromyko. She wrote a series of books about the adventures of the young witch Volja Rednaya. These books, in fact, were pleasant, easy reading. Written in good language, overflowing with interesting plot moves, they formed a certain standard or cliche, which is currently adhered to by the vast majority of female authors.
However, if books about Volha Rednaya represent a good balance of an interesting plot, vivid characters, concentration on experienced emotions, since the author of the series has a taste and literary instinct, most books inspired by this story are significantly inferior to the original.
