Fantasy is a well known genre, even if you yourself do not enjoy it there is no doubt that you’ve heard of Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter or even Game of Thrones at some point in the past few years. This is because of the powerful imaginations that brought these worlds to life and how these fantastic creations were portrayed to their audience. Almost all Fantasy works tell stories of magic, myth and wonder. From Asgard to Gondor, Fantasy gives us a world where anything is possible.
There are many sub-genres that fall under the Fantasy Umbrella but let’s focus on the main 3; Historical, High Fantasy and Urban fantasy.
High Fantasy is the most well known as we have works like Narnia, LOTR and even some Isekai for you fellow weebs. This sub-genre involves a world completely separate from our own, with its own lore, people and legends. In this dragons could be as commonplace cats or maybe elves and Angels are one and the same, there are no limits. The best part about doing this is that you make the rules but with a small catch, you have to make a whole world, including people daily lives, hierarchy, etc. It can be daunting but don’t be afraid to bounce ideas off a friend or colleague, believe me it really helps.
Historical Fantasy is, basically, a historical moment or period that is given a fantasy element to it, much like the How To Train Your Dragon series or Moana (to a certain degree). Let your inner historian shine as you can literally spice up as much as you want however this does involve a lot of research. If you want to dip into High Fantasy though you can just select a time period an based your entire world structure of that, much like Game of Thrones.
The last sub-genre is Urban Fantasy, where magic and the like exist within the modern world like Harry Potter, Skulduggery Pleasant, and Percy Jackson. The trick with this is to find a location you either know well enough or are willing to do research on, thus you can add more depth into your world as you add more magical element to it. You can either pick a myth or two (or more, your choice) to add to your world or make up an entirely new mythology. I’d say the only downside is that you’ll need to keep an eye on your locations and the time in which it was written. Ignoring some momentous events like elections or a few celebrity death won’t break reader submersion but full out forgetting to mention a major disaster most definitely will.
Fantasy is a wonderful genre and I hope you get into writing some amazing stories and plots with it. I know it can sometimes feel daunting but believe me when I say it is worth the effort, and that once you find your stride, you won’t ever want to stop.
Good luck fellow creators
-DS
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