![]() ![]() Often, but not always, our protagonist discovers this magical aspect of their world through their journey. Stories in this subgenre take place in the real world-or something very similar to our real world-but with fantasy elements incorporated. Low/urban fantasy are other interchangeable terms, with urban fantasy becoming the more common term in recent years. The most well-known books in this genre are Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings series. These fantasy stories can have complete worlds, religions, history, languages, races, and political systems, and usually involve large quests, a varied cast of characters, and are long. High or epic fantasy are usually interchangeable terms to describe your traditional fantasy stories that are huge in scope. But understanding your subgenre is just as-if not more-important than understanding your larger genre. Even within its own boundaries, there are subgenres that are largely different from one another. Though fantasy is part of the larger category of speculative fiction, it is a massive genre itself. Clarke’s famous quote, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” If your “magic” can be explained by science, then it isn’t really magic, right? Furthermore, if your non-human species could be explained via genetic manipulation that is only a century away, it’s not really supernatural. The second part is important, too: those elements are unexplainable based on our current understanding of things or our plausible future understanding of things.Īdhering to both parts of this definition helps you steer clear of science fiction and stay in the awesome realm of fantasy. Magic or the fantastical are hallmarks of the genre. This is likely a no-brainer for most people who have read or written fantasy. The first claims that your story involves some sort of magical, supernatural, or mythological element. How about this:Ī fantasy story is one that incorporates magical, supernatural, or mythological elements in ways that can not be explained with our current knowledge or with knowledge we might feasibly attain. Up first, let’s figure out what defines the fantasy genre. Let’s break this down into a few easy-to-understand parts. What Makes Fantasy Fantasy?īefore we can dive too deep into all the elves, wizards, dragons, and everything in between, we need to know the genre we’re writing. Then we’ll bring it all together to write your best fantasy story. The basics of the fantasy genre, including subgenres.And if you aren’t sure where to start or just need some help bringing your fantasy story to life, you’ve come to the right place. It sounds like a daunting task, but it’s totally worth it. No matter how you slice it, the fantasy genre forces us writers to harness our imagination and create things that have never existed before, all while making them seem real. The scope of fantasy books ranges from large to outright gargantuan. You just can’t argue with facts, right?Īnother inarguable fact is writing a fantasy book isn’t easy, especially if you’re just beginning your writing career. Others may argue that fact, but they’re wrong. Between you and me, fantasy is the best genre out there.
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