Saturday Story Building - Genre and sub-genre/Fantasy

This week I want to talk a little bit about genres and sub-genres. Specifically, I want to talk about the fantasy genre and its myriad of sub-genres. If you want the complete list, you can go here. I'm just going to focus on a few of the many sub-genres here today.

Let's talk one that's gotten a lot of attention over the past few years: urban fantasy. Urban fantasy and its cousin paranormal romance are sub-genres of fantasy that focus fantasy elements on an urban setting. Usually it's a hero or heroine trying to deal with magical or supernatural forests in a city. Now the definition on that site shows that it can be past, present, or future. I contend that what we know as UF/PR is set in modern day. That fantasy set in the past is something different while UF/PR set in the future is better placed under the sci fi genre. The Forever Girl by Rebecca Hamilton, Greywalker by Kat Richardson, and the Black Dagger Brotherhood books by J.R. Ward are prime examples of UF/PR.

Then there's epic/high fantasy. This is more what I write. In epic fantasy, you have sweeping story arcs and grand adventures. Your characters are very well developed and you see them grow and change over the course of the story. Setting plays as much a key role in these stories as the actual characters do. The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien and The Song of Ice and Fire books by George R.R. Martin are fine examples of epic/high fantasy.

The list goes on and on and I could talk forever about the different variations on fantasy. But I'm going to stop there and let you investigate the list yourself. What is your favorite sub-genre of fantasy? Do you like all of them? What are some of your favorite books and where do they fall in the fantasy genre?

E is for Escapism

I write fantasy and science fiction.  I use it as an escape from my regular life, and I hope that my stories will provide an escape for others who read them.

A dictionary of literary terms defines Escapism and Escapist Fiction as follows:

ESCAPISM: The desire to retreat into imaginative entertainment rather than deal with the stress, tedium, and daily problems of the mundane world. See discussion underescapist literature. ESCAPIST LITERATURE: Not to be confused with escape literature, escapist literature is designed primarily for imaginative entertainment rather than readings designed for provoking thought or addressing serious social issues. The term is derogatory in connotation, though one might argue such writing serves a psychological purpose by offering a relief from the stresses or tedium of mundane life. Arguably, the vast bulk of popular reading is escapist in nature. Sir Philip Sidney's Defence of Poesy famously describes the appeal of such escapist work: "He cometh unto you with a tale which holdeth children from play and old men from the chimney-corner."

Now, I'm thoroughly convinced that escapism and escapist literature is perfectly fine to read.  But I don't necessarily agree with the definition that escapist literature isn't designed for "provoking thought or addressing serious social issues".


Look at Tolkien's work.  It was an allegory to the world that he found himself living in.  Yet it is also often classed as "escapist fiction", even though Tolkien himself was appalled at that definition of it.  If Tolkien's work is escapist literature, then how can you say that it's not also thought provoking?  It was definitely used to address serious social issues in his day.


I use a lot of the same social issues we see today - racism, discrimination in general, social elitism, poverty, and other such concepts - as themes in my writing.  But my stories put a twist on them where, in the end of the story arcs, you get the idea that the world's going to be a whole lot better and some of these issues are going to be resolved.  It's not a complete HEA but it's close enough to be counted as one in a general sense.  But I also write my stories to give people a break from reality.  I want them to experience a world similar to our own and yet vastly different, where the kinds of social issues we face today are resolved on a grand scale.


I don't believe that escapist literature is all fluff.  Certainly some of it is.  But I feel that any story that lets you escape your world for a moment, no matter the content of that story, is considered escapist literature.  In fact, there's a great article here at Azurescape that discusses this very topic.  The author presents several good points in a much better way than I can.


Of course, stating all fantasy and science fiction is, in essence, escapist fiction would put me at odds with Tolkien and his views on his own work...but it'd be an interesting debate if I could talk to him.


(Zombified authors, anyone?)