The Fantasy genre is one where authors can see success in both the traditional publishing and self-publishing arenas. As with the other videos in this series, I did a lot of research for this video to get the official terms and definitions. I’ll reference these in the video and all links are below as well.
Let’s start with the basics, according to Encyclopedia Britannica
Fantasy is imaginative fiction dependent for effect on strangeness of setting (such as other worlds or times) and of characters (such as supernatural or unnatural beings). Examples include William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, and T.H. White’s The Once and Future King
https://www.britannica.com/art/fantasy-narrative-genre
So there is magic here. Whether it is proper spells or intuitive telekenisis. Vampires and werewolves and elves and sprites and fairies (all the different ways that you can spell it). And it makes sense that once a reader learns about this world and magic system, they want to stay there. Hence fantasy series are so popular.
If you are reading fantasy, this is a commitment. If you’re writing fantasy, you’ll have a big manuscript. Word counts tend to go above 100,000 because there needs to be an explanation of the world, magic system, new places, etc. Usually the readers of this genre enjoy learning about the world but still be wary to do too much telling instead of showing.
I think there are clear preferences for the subgenre for each reader.
Subgenres include:
High Fantasy/Epic Fantasy –
Low Fantasy/Urban Fantasy
Magical Realism
Sword and Sorcery
Dark Fantasy
Fables and Fairy Tales
Superhero Fiction
Can’t forget the ever popular Romantasy
I tend to prefer urban fantasy and magical realism as opposed to high fantasy.
For high fantasy or swords and sorcery subgenres you’re probably going to see a map of somekind or maybe an index of each family and their powers. Because there tends to be a lot.
Okay, what are your favorite fantasy books or series that I didn’t mention? Which ones should I check out? Let’s keep the conversation going in the comment below.
https://www.britannica.com/art/fantasy-narrative-genre
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/what-is-the-fantasy-genre-history-of-fantasy-and-subgenres-and-types-of-fantasy-in-literature
https://www.nypl.org/blog/2020/05/18/hallmarks-fantasy-brief-history-fantasy
https://literaryterms.net/fantasy/
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