Discovering Fantasy: A Break Down of the 'Not Serious' Genre
Oftentimes in the world of writing, fantasy is written off as an unserious genre. The truth of the matter is that fantasy explores serious themes in a fun way.
Fantasy readers get pushed into boxes full of uncomfortable stereotypes. Such as the adult nerd who lives at home with their parents and plays Dungeons and Dragons every Friday night. Hurtful. Other stereotypes in the same box are the quiet introvert and the socially awkward homeschooler. These stereotypes are looked down on by society but are intelligent beyond belief. They're scholars. They think in abstract thoughts and are fluent in symbolism.
You can probably guess that I'm a huge fantasy nerd. Being an author of young adult fantasy, I kind of have to be. Tolkien, Lewis, Bioware, Bethesda, Magic the Gathering, LARPing, cosplaying...I know what they all are. I'm fluent in geek-speak. I can tell you how to ward a home against demons but I can't tell you what 9x7 is. Actually, that's 63. I know my 9s, 10s, 5s, 3s, 2s, and 1s. But ask me to divide and I'll be lost.
Despite occasionally getting a bad rep, fantasy is a complex genre that is easy to get sucked into. Once you get sucked in, it won't let you go. You'll be Alice falling through the rabbit hole. Once you're in, you're just along for the ride.
Like all genres of art, fantasy has subgenres. Some subgenres are more complex than others and therefore ultimately easier to get lost in.
Fantasy has five primary subgenres: urban fantasy, dark fantasy, high fantasy, epic fantasy, and paranormal fantasy. A sixth subgenre, Christian fantasy, commonly falls into the five previously mentioned. We'll discuss why later.
Urban Fantasy: This subgenre of fantasy is popular in young adult literature. It is a blending of fantasy and contemporary literature. Simply put, urban fantasy is a fantasy that takes place in the modern world. Books like Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments, Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and Angelina Kerner's The Svabodina Case Files fall into this category. My own books that are a part of the urban fantasy genre are Web of Lies and, eventually, the Coterie Conglomeration.
Urban fantasy was the third fantasy genre I read and is my go-to when I'm looking to read a fantasy book.
Dark Fantasy: Dark fantasy is a fantasy of any subgenre that explores darker themes and contains darker elements. For instance, Bioware's Dragon Age is a dark fantasy. Though these works can also be filed under high fantasy, they deal with demons, sacrifices, and blood magic, and often feature the undead.
Popular themes in dark fantasy are death, destruction, power coveting, madness, and chaos.
High Fantasy: High fantasy is my favorite to write. It allows the author more freedom with world-building. In fact, this subgenre is all about world-building. If you pick up a high fantasy book you will not be in the modern world. You might be in the Arthurian world, but even then things will be different. In high fantasy, the author develops a world from the ground up. They create religions, politics, races, species, ect.
High fantasy works great for stories that are written in episode format. Examples of this are my own Tales from Morzania series and BBC's The Adventures of Merlin television series. Standalone books can also use this format, but usually, these books end up developing into series because authors hate to give up worlds that they spent so much time and energy creating. Anna Fox's The Hashna Stone is a perfect example of this. Lene Kaarberbol's The Shamer Chronicles is another high fantasy book series.
Epic Fantasy: Epic fantasy is a lot like high fantasy and the terms are sometimes used interchangeably. Like high fantasy, epic fantasy features complex world-building. Unlike high fantasy, epic fantasy almost always produces giant books. Why? Because of the word 'epic'. An epic is a long story (classically told in poem format) that narrates the deeds and adventures of a heroic or legendary figure.
Epic fantasies read like history. They have one main point that can take several books to accomplish. Examples? Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Tolkien is probably the most well-known epic fantasy author. Beowulf is an epic fantasy. Homer's Odyssey is an epic fantasy.
These stories contain a hero who is on a quest and faces trial after trial before ultimately overcoming their foe. They take a while to read and you'll either get lost in them or get confused by them.
Paranormal Fantasy: Paranormal fantasy is another subgenre that's popular among teenagers and in young adult literature. It also pops up a lot in the romance world.
Paranormal fantasy doesn't have to make sense. In fact, I wouldn't try thinking logically about the genre at all because it will give you a headache to even try.
Vampires, werewolves, shifters, and spirits run amok on the pages of a paranormal fantasy book. If you got into writing for the money let me tell you two things. First off, you should never enter this field for the money. It isn't a get-rich-quick kind of career. Secondly, there are two genres that sell easier than any other. Romance and paranormal fantasy, and if you really want to sell, then mix the two.
I'm not saying that to hate on anyone who writes paranormal fantasy romances. I love them. I can't really write them, because I'm not much of a romance writer, but good golly do I love them. Stephanie Myer's Twilight Saga, Rainbow Rowell's Simon Snow series, Julia DeBarrioz's Dakota Del Toro series, Vampire Diaries, The Originals...the list goes on and on...and I love them all.
You might be asking, "But, Ashes, aren't those all urban fantasies?", why yes they are. Paranormal fantasy could be counted as a subgenre of a subgenre. It's the blending of the paranormal genre with the urban fantasy and romance genre. It's rare to have a paranormal fantasy without romance. I'm not actually sure why this is, but I have a feeling it has something to do with the fact that there is something forbidden about paranormal creatures. I honestly think it all goes back to the gothic and romantic eras, and science fiction. I blame Mary Shelly and Emily Bronte.
Christian Fantasy: I can honestly say that there are more Christian fantasy books out there than you think. Christian fantasy is a subgenre that isn't usually labeled. If an author writes a Christian fantasy, more than likely they will list it under one of the other fantasy subgenres. For instance, C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia is a Christian fantasy. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings is a Christian fantasy. Both are listed under high and epic fantasy. Lewis is actually one of the people who influenced the creation of urban fantasy.
It's sad to say, but the Christian community is known for its dislike of fantasy, which I find ironic since the Bible has fantasy elements.
Have you read the Bible?
I believe in a divine, universal power named Yawweh who spoke life into the earth and molded humanity out of the dust, but guess what? There's a dragon in the book of Revelation. There are leviathans, giants, demons, angels, ghosts, and magic in the Bible. I don't understand why many in the Christian community hate fantasy.
When I was a kid I couldn't read Harry Potter because someone told my parents it was satanic. I never read the Golden Compass for the same reason. Now the Golden Compass was actually written in retaliation to the Chronicles of Narnia, so I kind of understand that one, but we aren't going to get into that little author feud.
The hatred that the Christian community has historically shown towards fantasy literature has ultimately led to the depletion of the Christian fantasy label. Authors like myself, who write Christian fantasy, are more likely to say, "I write young adult fantasy" instead of "I write Christian fantasy," because we've been told, "you can't be a Christian and write fantasy. That's the devil's work."
I am a Christain fantasy author, but I don't put it on my business cards. My target audience is teenagers and even though I have elements of Christian beliefs in my books my agenda is not to shove them down my reader's throat. My agenda is to give young adults a safe space to explore bigger topics that they may be afraid to ask an adult about. Such as religion, sexuality, human trafficking, pandemics, persecution, and racism. This is why I've chosen not to apply the Christian fantasy title to my works. Instead, I use urban and high fantasy. Occasionally I'll use paranormal, but my paranormal fantasy falls under urban.
I stated above that I think paranormal fantasy developed out of the gothic and romantic eras, along with science fiction. I believe that fantasy itself, as a whole, goes all the way back to oral tradition.
The reason I believe this is because of Homer, Dante, Virgil, and mythology.
Before humankind had a written language we were still telling stories. Bards were a storyteller who would memorize complete stories to tell or sing to people. Homer's Odyssey and The Illiad were both oral stories and are the first examples we have of written recordings of stories that were previously only told orally. The Bible is another example.
Humans have been using what we call fantasy to teach valuable lessons since the beginning of time. Norse mythology, Pagan mythology, Greek mythology, Egyptian mythology, and Christian mythology are all proof of this. All of these 'mythologies' are stories that could be classified as fantasy today but come from religions.
From mythology developed folklore and fairy tales. Mythology is grounded in truth. If you explore mythology you'll know it's mythology because it either talks about the creation of humankind, the creation of the world, deals with gods and beliefs, deals with the afterlife, is an instruction manual for life, and has figures mentioned that can be proven to have existed. Folklore isn't like that. Folklore is a lot like legends. They're stories that may have happened but can't be proven scientifically. The fey, skinwalkers, wendigos, and such usually fall into this category.
From folklore came fairy tales. Which are fantastical stories with elements of folk magic, such as Cinderella with her fairy godmother.
Then, years later, came science fiction, which combines science and what is now referred to as magic. Mary Shelly is credited for the birth of this genre. Frankenstein is one of the first science fiction books written.
Horror gave birth to works like Dracula and the Wolf Man, which when combined with science fiction created an all-new genre that we know as paranormal (or supernatural, or preternatural) literature. 
The truth of the matter is that there is a grain of truth in every genre. Fantasy is no different. Every genre that exists in the world was created to tell a truth in a way that appeals to the imagination.
Because of this, fantasy is full of allegories and symbolism. The Pilgrim's Progress, Lord of the Rings, and The Chronicles of Narnia are allegories. Even Dragon Age is somewhat of an allegory.
Just to review, because I know there are a lot of literary terms out there and it's easy to forget them. An allegory is a story that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden moral, political, or religious truth.
Symbolism is the art of using one thing to represent another idea. Basically, an allegory equals thoughts or beliefs and symbolism equals emotions. Colors are huge in symbolism. So is the weather. A storm might symbolize inner turmoil, unease, or upcoming destruction. A grey curtain hanging limply from a brass rod might symbolize depression.
Ultimately, fantasy, like every genre, aims to be a mirror for the world. It aims to show the world its reflection in a way that's easy to swallow. Like a sugar-coated pill, the frame of this mirror is encased in gold.
It all comes down to escapism.
I like learning new things, but I don't always like knowing I'm doing so. I'm going to use Bioware's Dragon Age as an example here. I didn't realize until I played all the games that the struggle between the chantry, the templars, and the mages could be interpreted as a retelling of the struggle between the government, religion, and the common man. The first time I played the games and read the books I did so for enjoyment. I didn't pick them up thinking, "Hmm, I wonder what I'll learn from this". I picked them up because I needed a break from life.
Fantasy is read as escapism by so many people. It's light-hearted in the way that you don't have to think hard to comprehend it, despite it having complex worlds and characters. It uses abstract thought to explore both abstract and concrete ideas. It is an adventure. It has the power to make its reader feel like they are in another world.
If you haven't tried reading fantasy, I encourage you to do so. It's not everyone's cup of tea. If you prefer concrete concepts over abstract you'd probably prefer contemporary or historical fiction, which is grounded in reality, but if you're looking for a way to escape and still have the freedom to explore the world you are a part of, fantasy is a good choice.
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