This week we are going to be talking about the fantasy genre. Basically, an introduction to it, some could call it a case study. I continue to get lost in it over and over. This post is for writers and readers who need an introduction into the world of one of the most popular genres today. There are so many books in this genre and people that write in it constantly, so it might be a little daunting.
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What is Fantasy
I would define fantasy as:
A genre of imaginative fiction involving magic and adventure and includes things that we wouldn’t see in the real world, such as magic.
Fantasy takes on many forms. Really what defines fantasy is the inclusion of magic. It has endless bounds and you can do whatever you want with it. You could put ghosts in it, you could put wizards, orcs, elves, humans. You can do a whole lot of stuff and when someone knows what they’re doing, you can get a really really magical story. If you’re looking for that kind of writing then fantasy is probably for you.
Where it comes from
Fantasy has always been in our history from the cave drawings all the way to the gods of Greece and Rome to modern day. Fantasy was often used to share harsh lessons or try to explain the world before we knew so much about it.
Into the 19th and 20th centuries, fantasy was mostly geared towards and marketed to children with fairy tales and other stuff like that. It wasn’t until the mid 20th century that people other than children started to get into fantasy a lot more.
The first Western fantasies and a lot of fantasy still made today take a lot of inspiration from European folklore and use that as its basis.
In the 1850s George MacDonald wrote a book called Phantasies, and that is considered by many to be the first modern take on fantasy. Then a century later in the 1950s, J.R.R Tolkien published Lord of the Rings. It helped revolutionize modern standards and helped bring about a Resurgence in the genre as a whole.
Common Elements
Magic
Magic is probably the most defining feature of fantasy. Almost every single fantasy story has some form of magic within it. Some people have magic systems that are huge and so in depth that it takes multiple books to really get everything about it. a lot of writers use magic because it’s just such a fun aspect to work with. coming up with your own magics system is really fun and exploring that in a book is also a whole load of fun .
Well Developed Setting
World building is also very important. a lot of books are made in entirely different universes the Earth would not exist in that Universe. Tolkien is probably one of the best world builders that have ever existed. His world of Middle Earth is very well written, it’s very well shown in the books and the movies. World building is another skill entirely and to make it believable you have to do certain things to make people notice it and want to see more of the world. If you’re reading it, then great world building just makes you feel like you are in the world itself. That is something that every author should strive to achieve
Adventure! Quests!
oh yes, questing. Everyone loves quests and adventures! If you do all this world building and you don’t have an adventure of some sort even if it takes place in one city it’s a lot to just sit in one spot. it doesn’t have to be traveling across the continents to get a quest completed. it could just be an adventure into the sewers or other parts of the city you haven’t seen before. Maybe it’s a large Castle someone has to break into to get one of their friends out, or break out of to escape from Royal duties or whatever else you decide is an adventure for your characters.
Otherworldly creatures
creatures like unicorns, dragons, wyverns etc. There’s a lot of these creatures and you can definitely make your own. Orcs, elves and creatures like that are also in that category. These mythical creatures help liven your world and make it feel like it’s more than just an empty wasteland that your characters walk through.
Characters
this one should be an element in all genres, and that is well-rounded and interesting characters. These characters can be made so well and if you do it well enough, your readers, or you reading the book, will love the characters because they are so in depth.
Languages
This is something not remotely needed at all. making your own language is fun but it’s also time consuming if you don’t want to make your own language you don’t have to most of these are borderline necessary however the languages can be skipped but the other ones you should probably look at using.
Subgenres
Next we’re gonna get into the largest chunk of the post which is going to be talking about sub genres and some books within those sub-genres.
High Fantasy
Also known as Epic Fantasy, this sub-genre brings you to a new world completely separate from our own. oftentimes it’s full of epic quests, fantastical creatures and world altering conflicts. The biggest defining factor of high fantasy is that it exists in another world entirely. Examples of high fantasy are:
The way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson,
Game of Thrones by George R.R Martin
and
Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkien.
This is the most popular sub-genre that I’ve noticed and under this genre you have many sub-genres of a sub-genre. It’s quite weird. in the fantasy hierarchy you have the main fantasy genre, and then under it you have in my opinion, High fantasy and then the fantasy we’re going to be talking about next. Under those they have sub-genres which split it even more and a lot of these genres cross over each other. If you enjoy World building and making everything from nothing then this is the perfect fantasy genre for you
Low Fantasy
I kind of mentioned this before. Low fantasy is the opposite of high fantasy where it shares a lot of the elements from high fantasy, however what distinguishes it is that it comes in the form of an almost completely normal world or Earth itself. the fantasy elements are also dialed back a little bit more than they are in high fantasy. examples of this are:
American Gods by Neil Gaiman,
Harry Potter by JK Rowling
and
Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan.
All of these take place on Earth. They take place here in a normal world but there’s fantasy elements in it. Harry Potter is Hogwarts and the Wizards in the background of the real world just for example.
Dark Fantasy
Dark Fantasy tackles darker themes than most other fantasy genres. Some even consider it borderline horror because of how dark it can get and that it implements some of what horror does. Dark fantasy’s form of horror is not trying to scare you like horror books do, I can’t describe how they use the horror elements, but it is there. Examples of this are:
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo,
Sabriel by Garth Nix
and
The Witcher by Andrzej Sapkowski.
Grimdark Fantasy
Grimdark is a step above Dark Fantasy. Grimdark is always set in a dark and gritty place. the world is dangerous and the story is full of very dark themes. a lot of the characters are morally ambiguous. Examples are:
The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie,
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
and
Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence.
This genre is not for the faint of heart. If you’re looking for Grimdark, be very sure that it’s something you’ll be able to handle before getting into it. I t is really not something for people who cannot handle it.
Magical Realism
Magical realism is a genre that brings you to a familiar feeling setting but elements of fantasy are interwoven throughout the world. Actions that take place helps create a deeper understanding of the world. The fantasy is a little difficult to notice unless you’re looking for it. examples of magical realism include:
100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez,
the House of Spirits by Isabella Allende
and
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.
If you want a fantasy where things are just hidden and are very subtle this is perfect for you. it might just be a little bit more difficult to get it to seem like a fantasy when you write it, just because the magic is so subtle in these stories.
Contemporary Fantasy
Contemporary fantasy has fallen out of favor except not really. Oftentimes contemporary fantasy books are placed in the urban fantasy shelves, and people have mostly forgotten about contemporary fantasy. It is different from urban fantasy, which you’ll see when we talk about it. Contemporary fantasy takes place in the modern world or what was Modern at the time, and in our own world with Magic The Magic exists in the background. The way I like to think about it is thinking about contemporary on its own and then putting that into a fantasy setting. Examples are:
Good Omens by Terry Pratchett
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
and
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman.
Urban Fantasy
Now we come to urban fantasy which is the one I talked about that is kind of taken over contemporary fantasy, even if those books are contemporary fantasy. For people who separate them a lot of people consider urban fantasy a subgenre of contemporary fantasy. Urban fantasy is relatively the same as contemporary fantasy however the urban fantasy takes place and Urban environments. When it takes place in a highly populated area, that is when it is considered Urban Fantasy. Examples include:
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare,
The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher
and
Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch.
Portal Fantasy
Portal fantasy is one of the most memorable and very nostalgic feeling fantasy. It involves characters going to a fantasy world through a portal of some kind, be that through a cabinet or something else. Examples of this are:
Chronicles of Narnia by C.S Lewis,
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
and
The Wizard of Oz by L Frank Baum.
if your characters go from a normal world to a magical world through a portal of any kind it is Portal fantasy so if you’re looking for something like that go ahead it’s awesome I love these books.
Science Fantasy
Science Fantasy is a nerd’s dream. It mixes elements of both fantasy and science fiction together to create one story. just a mix of these two very big powerhouses of genres. Examples of this include:
Star Wars originally coined by George Lucas but has been written by a lot of other authors,
A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L’Engle
and
Heroes Die by Matthew Stover
For example, let’s take Star Wars. Star Wars has science fiction. They have spaceships, hyperdrives, blasters, lightsabers. All of that is science fiction. The force is fantasy. The force is a magic system. If you’re going from science fiction and want to try your hand at fantasy maybe you think about science fantasy first.
Paranormal Fantasy
Paranormal fantasy is also known as Supernatural fantasy. it’s in a fantasy world, but it’s also mixed with a storyline that revolves around the Supernatural and the Paranormal which have no scientific explanation. Paranormal fantasy is basically the complete opposite of science fantasy because in science fantasy you might have a way to explain, in paranormal fantasy there’s nothing to explain it. When it comes to Fantasy genres science fantasy and paranormal fantasy are kind of on different ends of the spectrum. Some examples of this are:
Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare,
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas
and
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness.