Writing fantasy seems attractive because you get to create your own rules and realms. However, is it easy to write? Looking at the historic landscape and inherent complexities of the genre, you might find it to be a bit more complicated than expected.
Fantasy Genre: A Brief Overview
Fantasy literature is set in realms powered by imagination and magic. While sometimes fantasy borrows themes from the real world, it stands apart from genres like science fiction due to its focus on the supernatural, being centered around magic, mythical creatures, and fantastical narratives. Moreover, the fantasy genre has a rich history and tradition, exemplified by classics such as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Hobbit, and the Harry Potter series.
Complexity and Richness in Fantasy Writing
Writing fantasy involves weaving complex worlds and narratives. These elements are deeper than just having a setting separate from our world:
- Historical Influence: Fantasy has a solid historical base with roots in ancient mythology, legends, and folklore from multiple cultures. Influences from Greek and Roman mythology, Indian traditions, and Celtic folklore, amongst others, are common.
- Language Influence: The use of language in fantasy can be distinctive, drawing on archaic and otherwise stylized idioms to build atmosphere.
- Invented Worlds: Successful fantasy works often involve thoroughly detailed invented worlds, incorporating unique laws, creatures, and cultures. World-building becomes a fundamental part of the narrative, enhancing the depth and realism of the story.
- Moral Philosophies: Often, fantasy stories also explore complex moral and philosophical concepts, adding an additional level of complexity to the story.
Is Writing Fantasy Easy?
- Creative Innovation: It requires a high degree of creativity to build unique, compelling worlds—an essential part of the fantasy genre.
- Linguistic Skill: It requires mastering a distinctive literary style that can stimulate the reader’s imagination without sounding clichéd or pretentious.
- Historical and Cultural Knowledge: Creating a fantasy story can also require extensive historical and cultural knowledge to incorporate into the invented world, giving it richness and depth.
- Character and Plot Development: Handling character development, plot twists and narrative coherence in such complex settings isn’t a small feat.
Conclusion
Writing fantasy, like any other genre, involves challenges. The requirement to imagine and construct unique worlds, create engaging characters, maintain narrative coherence, and use distinctive language throughout marks it as a genre that necessitates a high level of creativity, imagination, and skill. So, while it may seem exciting and liberating to write fantasy, calling it “easy” could be an oversimplification. Regardless, if fantasy sparks your interest and you’re ready to dive into these complexities, then the journey, though challenging, could be equally rewarding.