It's also got a lot of non-fluffy cozy traits! While its primary genre is not mystery, a lot of the books overlap strongly with the cozy mystery genre. For example ...

• Confined space, limited cast: A cozy mystery usually takes place in a small community with a limited pool of suspects, all of whom are known to the reader by the halfway point. The witch books often take place in a small village (obvious exceptions for Equal Rites and Witches Abroad). The Watch books take place in a pretty small area of Ankh-Mprpork with a recurring cast (except Thud! and Snuff, the latter of which takes place mostly in a village). Unseen University is a pretty closed setting, as are the various institutions Moist von Lipwig runs. Even the standalones can have that closed-circle feel, as with the unit in Monstrous Regiment and the newspaper office in The Truth.
• Amateur protagonist: While this is usually an amateur sleuth in cozy mysteries, Pratchett really liked writing protagonists who were not really meant to be doing what they were doing. Yes, Sam Vimes is a professional copper, but he's not exactly a professional duke, and a lot of what the books ask him to do isn't really coppering (e.g. Night Watch). Susan is NOT a professional psychopomp. Moist is a professional con artist, but the fact that his con-artist skills apply to public service is part of the joke. Polly Perks is a bar manager turned soldier. William de Worde is inventing his profession as he goes, just like a number of others (Imp y Celyn, anyone?). The wizards are allegedly professional wizards, but they're quite obviously making things up as they go (cough cough Ponder Stibbons). The witches are really the only consistent professional protagonists we get.
• Non-explicit violence and sexuality: Look, no series of books where a corpse is found in a condom factory can be said to be free of sex and violence, but it's not usually the point of the scene it's in. Sometimes it's a joke, as with Mr. Fusspot's favorite toy. Sometimes it's tender but mostly off-page, as with Angua and Carrot. Sometimes, yes, there's blood around, as at the torture room in Cable Street and the crime scene in Thud. But it's very rarely described in graphic detail—often, as with the orc flashback in Unseen Academicals, it's no more than absolutely necessary to establish a key fact. Nobody reads Discworld for the explicit bits.

Cozy doesn't mean nice. It mostly just means not hardboiled. And Terry Pratchett knew his way around hardboiled, but he used it strategically—mostly to make us all tear up over an egg.

Four things that I try to take forward from Terry Pratchett, when crafting cosy-feeling material with a bite:

1. You can - more or less - trust me. Sometimes I’m arch or flippant or frivolous. Sometimes I’m in a bad mood. Sometimes I’m catty, often sarcastic, and quite often motivated by spite or rage. But I am not seeking to betray you. My writing may hurt - often, what I want to write about is hurtful. But I don’t want to harm you. I am not here to be a bully. I derive no pleasure and no power from being an asshole. Since you know that? You can relax. You can trust me.

2. I like you. I am not the enemy of my readers. I am glad you are here. I like you and want you to be well. I believe in you. I also trust you a lot. I trust that if I write about things that are uncomfortable, you’ll come with me. But most of all, I trust you in return: if I fuck up, you’ll forgive me. This makes me braver than writers who have to cringe in fear.

3. Someone has to be the grownup (and I hate it when it’s me.) Terry Pratchett often wrote from the perspective of being the adultiest-adult in the room. He was a partner, a parent, a member of his community. He had earned wisdom to draw on. Reflecting strong experiences and lived character is a true, vital, brave characteristic of a powerful writer, and it shines. It isn’t just about “writing children accurately” or “writing old people on purpose” but that’s a hallmark of someone strong and brave; someone who has experienced enough of life to understand the interiority of other people. I might not be the best at this, but I try. The effect, at first glance, is cozy and lived-in. Zoomed out, you realise that such rich, rewarding textures tend to come from people with rich minds.

4. It’s fucking funny. That’s ultimately it. That’s where people fall down when they try too hard - they’re not funny. That’s why viral posts do well - they’re funny. That’s why a lie can run around the world before the truth has got its boots on - the lie is funny. Wherever possible, Pratchett was funny. Where he couldn’t be funny, he at least had the craftsmanship to be witty. Because people like to laugh, his work will create a good feeling in the reader, no matter how heavy the material.

Rich and funny stuff tends to have high re-read value, which makes it VERY cosy indeed. If it’s also trustworthy and wise, it will become a treasure over time.

I’m not claiming to live up to any of this, but if I ever get into a hole or corner, I try to remember how to be brave and funny and true, and I often get out of it that way.

Discworld Heritage Post

HO. HO. HO.

i just feel at home on this website