What makes you love the fantasy genre?

Eldoria

Eldoria

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Fantasy Genre
​
When I was a child, I loved cartoons and the like. As I grew up, people started laughing at me when I chose cartoons over realistic stories like Korean dramas.

Well, I don't care what others think; I don't think my tastes have changed much; I still enjoy fantasy stories. The only difference is, I'm more picky about quality fantasy stories.

After all, fantasy stories are ancient stories. In the past, when humans didn't know science, they thought about natural phenomena with their imaginations, personifying nature with living things. This gave birth to myths, folktales, and legends.

In modern times, fantasy has developed even further. Fantasy has given birth to alternative otherworldly worlds with internal laws. LOTR can be considered the originator or popularizer of the high fantasy genre.

And for me, I enjoy writing my own fantasy worlds. Presenting human characters and a world that lives with an internal logic and challenges the way we understand humanity once again.

On the other hand, the fantasy genre can even be a safe medium to criticize social issues through metaphors and allegories safely and ethically without worrying about being challenged by defamation or lese majeste laws.

Ultimately, I still love the fantasy genre. Fantasy, for me, is no longer a taste, but a lifestyle, a viewpoint, and even a creative outlet that challenges the boundaries of logic and humanity.

My questions are:
  1. What makes you love the fantasy genre?
  2. What fantasy subgenres do you enjoy (e.g., dark fantasy, high fantasy, low fantasy, wholesome fantasy, etc)?
  3. Why do you write fantasy fiction?
 
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Nekyo

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The part of fantasy being one of our ways to express our thoughts and even touch on delicate subjects of human society while keeping it ethical truly is a powerful element hidden within the genre, but after all they are truly playgrounds to explain so many interesting ideas.

For me:

1. The magic/power systems themselves.
I grew up watching lots of Anime, epic Katana duels that defy laws of physics, Dragon Ball training and mastering Ki. Chakra, Elemental Bending and Nen from Hunter x Hunter.
The idea of having supernatural powers to master was always the coolest thing I could picture and reality didnt deliver on.

2. Urban Fantasy tends to be the one I like the most since it breaches the gap with reality and seems to blend it, rewriting reality. Even when the worlds are entirely fantasy and unique like Dragon Ball or Hunter x Hunter. But then you have Bleach, Yu Yu Hakusho, and Jujutsu Kaisen doing exactly that.

3. Out of my love for all these stories, of the many things I wanted to see that many stories had the setting for but didn't explore. This is my way of giving my own touch and aesthetic to stories I always wanted to see.
 
L1aei

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As a kid? I was really into cryptozoology. I was fascinated about creatures of myths and legends maybe existing for real. I suppose that is what got me into fantasy. Like I was a fan of Ogopogo. Reading from a book to other classmates from the 80s into the 90s, I delighted at their reactions, knowing that they were thinking of what if this thing does exist. :blob_shock:

I suppose that is what got me initially hooked on writing grounded fantasy that might be believable as a historic account rather than pure fluff. I read plenty of fantasy novels too and the current ones I'm invested in are great because of how reasonable each decision, action, reaction, and more carry the plot forward. :blob_popcorn:

Personal favorite right now is Empress of Fire, but I am bouncing back to Cat Girl Evolution when I ant a wholesome laugh and cuddly moment with a lazy, gluttonous kitty, or if I feel like I need something more mature I'll hit up Rebirth of the Nephilim, and I'll tackle New Life As A Max Level Archmage whenever I want to experience the over the top social awkwardness from an overpowered character in the eve of a cataclysmic event. Those are my current four fantasies I'm reading right now. :blob_aww:
 
Devilish

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The first book I ever read was The Chronicles of Narnia. In fact, it’s a saga that I owned as a single collected volume by C. S. Lewis, and ever since then I’ve been in love with the fantasy subgenre. For me, fiction alone isn’t enough, I need to be transported to a new world, with a new story, new names, new beings, and hierarchies that have never existed before. I need, beyond simply feeling, to live something I will never experience outside of books.


I think I fell in love with fantasy at the exact moment when Polly said “hi” to Digory (only those who’ve read The Magician’s Nephew ) will understand. Fantasy allows us to write by creating our own rules, forging our own myths, and bringing entirely new beings to life, and that is simply beautiful. I wish more people would dare to write new plots and creatures without sounding generic or repetitive.
 
SouthernMaiden

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Eldoria said:
Fantasy Genre
​
When I was a child, I loved cartoons and the like. As I grew up, people started laughing at me when I chose cartoons over realistic stories like Korean dramas.

Well, I don't care what others think; I don't think my tastes have changed much; I still enjoy fantasy stories. The only difference is, I'm more picky about quality fantasy stories.

After all, fantasy stories are ancient stories. In the past, when humans didn't know science, they thought about natural phenomena with their imaginations, personifying nature with living things. This gave birth to myths, folktales, and legends.

In modern times, fantasy has developed even further. Fantasy has given birth to alternative otherworldly worlds with internal laws. LOTR can be considered the originator or popularizer of the high fantasy genre.

And for me, I enjoy writing my own fantasy worlds. Presenting human characters and a world that lives with an internal logic and challenges the way we understand humanity once again.

On the other hand, the fantasy genre can even be a safe medium to criticize social issues through metaphors and allegories safely and ethically without worrying about being challenged by defamation or lese majeste laws.

Ultimately, I still love the fantasy genre. Fantasy, for me, is no longer a taste, but a lifestyle, a viewpoint, and even a creative outlet that challenges the boundaries of logic and humanity.

My questions are:
  1. What makes you love the fantasy genre?
  2. What fantasy subgenres do you enjoy (e.g., dark fantasy, high fantasy, low fantasy, wholesome fantasy, etc)?
  3. Why do you write fantasy fiction?
Click to expand...
1. I personally love fantasy because it's a break from our mundane reality, it's really a setting when you can do anything you want and where any sort of story can take place.

2. love all types of fantasy, depends on the mood. But in terms of reading, I've been enjoying dark fantasy recently.

The book "Between Two Fires" comes to mind as something I finished recently. Super dark story set in medieval Europe during the plague -essentially the apocalypse - but what's happening on Earth mirrors a war taking place in heaven between good and evil, in which good is very much losing. Losing so badly, that demons are interfering on Earth. A disgraced knight has to safeguard a young girl who has literally been possessed by heavenly forces on their journey to safe both Earth and heaven from evil.

It's just super unique. Super dark. But, inspiring in how the good of the world is depicted.

3. I write fantasy because it's the medium in which I can depict the sort of egalitarian society I wish existed in reality.
 
C

CharlesEBrown

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Earliest memories are fragments of dad reading Lord of the Rings to mom (he started with The Hobbit during month seven or so; I was a bit premature so he was almost finished with it when I arrived, and he finished reading it sometime between my second and third birthdays. closer to my third).
First poem I ever memorized (and I can still usually get it right) was The Jabberwocky.
So I knew fantasy before I knew any other genres - or even reality.
 
Cipiteca396

Cipiteca396

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The possibility of a happy ending.
 
CinnaSloth

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I know I'm wrong on this, and I'm sure there will be people who want to debate it, but anything and everything is fantasy. The moment it comes out of your imagination it is a fantasy. I love all fantasy. Dreams are fantasies. Hopes are fantasies. Why would I take that away from someone?
I just like books. I write them. I live my life in them. They teach you things, and give you a sense of morality. Characters are as real as you want them to be, and legends are as complex as your belief in them. It's fun. Things like happiness, friendships, and Love are all fantasies that've become reality. The only differences between mine, and the next persons are I write mine down.
 
MFontana

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As for my favorite sub-genre, I don't actually have one when it comes to reading, or watching. I like them all, for their unique characteristics.

As for why; the characters, stories themselves, and the worlds they unfold within, and the way that it can be about anything, take place anywhere, and generally always find new ways to surprise me.

As for why I write fantasy stories: Well, that I'm going to have to keep secret. For now. All I can say, is that it has to do with sharing the world(s) in my head with those who might want to read them, and explore those worlds themselves.
 
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