Imagination is a fundamental concept in the development of a writer’s literature. When a writer’s work completely consists of the expression of imagination it is categorized in the immense genre of fantasy. Fantasy genre is far reaching in its manipulability but has key characteristics that define it as a specific genre. Fantasy focuses itself closely on the ideas of mythologies and folklore to guide the storyline. Overall, fantasy follows rules of its own making, allowing magic and other ideas created to be used and intertwined within the fabrics of the stories that are created.
Fantasy genre has remained a steadfast to be utilized in the arsenal of a writer since the beginning of man’s ability to write. Dating back to even the earliest writings such as the Epic of Gilgamesh, The Odyssey, or Beowulf; fantasy has been used to teach lifelong lessons or to simply entertain the reader with an intricate story. No matter how the writer decides to utilize fantasy writing it is understandable that while the purpose of fantasy genre is usually to entertain; the reader should never overlook the key lesson that is meant to be taken away from the individual story.
Current fantasy writing can be seen in the novel Game of Thrones, by George R.R. Martin. The novel allows the reader to see just how effective the fantasy genre can be. In Game of Thrones entire worlds and cultures are developed and set to life in order to plot a story in the adventures of people torn between the responsibilities of loyalty, family, and friendships. Imagined loyalties are tested and characters are forced to choose between family and friends as they live in the world of magic and treachery created by George R.R. Martin. While the story follows many of the understood ideas and beliefs of medieval life, the novel separates itself as fantasy since there is the use of magic and mythology. George R.R. Martins and other authors like him have wielded the genre in order to bring their own stories and ideas to life.
Another current novel that shows the utilization of fantasy is the novel Rangers Apprentice by John Flanagan. The novel introduces an orphan who is taken as an apprentice Ranger, a soldier who masters in the art of stealth and speed. The orphan, Will, strives to keep the Kingdom of Araluen safe as he creates relationships with his mentor Halt and builds lifelong friendships with other Rangers in the realm. Magical powers and settings are displayed in the novel that give an intriguing reason to continue to follow the story to see what the next adventure or lesson created will be. The novel of Ranger’s Apprentice shows the ability of an author to create his own characters and meanings in his new world.
Fantasy genre is a growing field as readers are intrigued to see into the expansive imagination capable in the human mind. New authors are drawn to the genre since like Flanagan and Martin there are many opportunities and fortunes to still be made in the genre. The key element that can be seen in these writings such as when a battle or setting is created in Game of Thrones or in Rangers Apprentice is that there are no boundaries to the expansive power that fantasy genre offer a writer. The writer is not limited by the genre; instead the genre allows the writer to dive fully into their own realms of worlds and ideas. The ideas that are created are not dictated by the accepted physics and rules of our world today but are instead encouraged to discard everything that should make sense in order to create a new settings and reasoning for what happens in the world around us.
The task of having to create an entire new world may seem daunting to some of the more timid writers yet the task can be very easy once broken down. Anyone can do it. Separation from the boundaries of the ideas and natural laws of the world are essential in order to open the mind to new avenues of creation. In referencing ancient mythology such as the Greek gods who have the ability of magical powers the writer can see how vast their writing canvas can be. Fantasy genre encourages the utilization of ones imagination with the incorporation of mythology. The
A good start to writing in fantasy is to first create the world in which the characters created can live. This will set the canvas for the writer to them place all of the individual rules and places that the story will take place. It is important that the writer remembers that they are not limited to any place; the world can be in the sea, on the ground, or even floating among the clouds. The world will set the newly imagined physics that are accepted and the rules of the land that can be altered and changed anytime at the will of the author. After the world is created the land must be filled with the presence of characters that will drive the plot and ultimately show the purpose and lessons to be learned from the fantasy.
The genre of fantasy will never be outstretched in its wide range of novels and writers capable of creating their own individual worlds and stories. The separation from our own world’s laws and natural physics and the integration of imaginative and sometimes unbelievable ideas are key to the creation of a fantasy genre. While scientific reasoning is generally strayed away from in fantasy there is still a general cohesion between the created fantasies of magic and traditional physics. Fantasy genre is flexible in its ability to be molded by the writer in order to fit the imagination and in the end teach the lesson that may otherwise go unnoticed in our own limited and dull worlds we live in today.