The fantasy genre has remained a steadfast in the arsenal of a writer since the beginning of man. Dating back to the earliest writings such as the Epic of Gilgamesh, The Odyssey, or Beowulf; fantasy has been used to teach lifelong lessons or entertain the reader with intricate stories containing ideals from cultural folklore and mythology. No matter which cultural folklore or mythology is used, it is understandable that while the purpose of fantasy genre is usually to entertain; the reader should never overlook the work and thought process put into creating stories of the fantasy genre.
In the creation of every individual story the integration of imagination is critical to success of the genre. Fantasy, while at times may seem vast, has key characteristics that define it as a specific genre. Fantasy embeds in beliefs of mythologies and folklore to guide the storyline into following rules of its own accord; allowing magic and unparalleled physics to be intertwined within the fabrics of the characters and stories. The stories are usually centered around medieval time periods which can be seen in books such as Game of Thrones or Rangers Apprentice and contain races such as goblins, dwarfs, and elves living alongside human counterparts.
In pursuit of creating their own stories, recent authors have made the genre a growing field. Readers, intrigued into seeing the expansive imagination capable in the human mind have supported the development of writers such as George R.R. Martin in the novel Game of Thrones and John Flanagan in Rangers Apprentice.
In the novel, Game of Thrones, by George R.R. Martin, a world set in the medieval time period is filled with magic and mythical creatures; allowing readers to see characteristics that separate the fantasy genre from other genres of today. Relationships and cultures are developed and then set to life in order to plot a story in the adventures of people torn between the responsibilities of loyalty, family, and friendships. They live in the nonsensical world of magic and treachery during the medieval time period of swords and dragons created by George R.R. Martin. While the story follows many of the general ideas and beliefs of medieval life, the novel separates itself as fantasy since there is the use of magic and mythology as well as mythical races and ideals.
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 in which he learns to utilize magic to perfect his art. The orphan, Will, strives to keep the medieval Kingdom of Araluen safe as he creates relationships with his mentor Halt and builds lifelong friendships with other Rangers in the realm. The novel demonstrates key characteristics of the fantasy genre in showing a medieval setting in which magic directly influences the world the characters live in.
The key element that can be seen in these examples of fantasy is that there are no boundaries to the expansive power that the genre offers a writer. The writer is not limited by the genre; instead the genre encourages the author 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.
A good start to writing in fantasy is to first create the world in which the characters created can live. 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 and 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 refresh the imagination the people of todays; setting a unique spark in the limited and dull worlds we live in today.