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Last Year's Fifth Grade Authors were featured in a Fantasy Short Story Anthology
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How did they do it?
Here is a classic fantasy story... |
And the many sub-genres therein...Fantasy stories are an amazing and extremely important genre of fiction. Fantasy stories take things that we can only imagine and tells stories about them as if they were real. They help us think about important issues like...
Writing stories can be fun, but may also be challenging all by yourself. This website can help you to get started. |
Though it's structured very differently, much of the what we call "fantasy" comes from the many different kinds of folklore traditions of story telling.
Fantasy genres mix and match these traditional storytelling modes in very interesting ways. But what exactly is genre? Watch the video to learn about genre and fantasy.
This leads us to the sub-genres. Sub-genres are different categorizations within a genre. Think of them as smaller circles within a Venn diagram like the one I showed you above. There are dozens and dozens of sub-genres in fantasy. We're going to look at some of the more popular and FUN sub-genres below.
Epic Fantasy is the most famous and well known of fantasy stories. The worlds you visit are full of monsters and magic. There's quite often a hero with a hero's quest, a journey they must go on to save the community. They may have companions that help them on their quest in this genre. The hero may have a destiny or have a secret power they must learn to control to defeat the villain of the story.
Mythic Fantasy
Mythic fantasy includes stories that are inspired by, or that in some way takes from the themes and symbols of myth, legend, folklore, and fairy tales. They may be retellings, take ideas from different stories and put them together, even put them in a modern setting or take place "Once Upon a Time."
Weird Western
Weird West Fantasy is a very cool sub-genre, bringing together elements of Fantasy with elements of the Western setting. Dragons and wizards and cowboys! This is a wonderful place to tell stories because of the danger and unknown of frontiers and the American West. Different civilizations (issues of migration can come up) can meet for the first time, supernatural creatures of legends live out in the desert. There are mysteries, tragedy, and wonder.
Portal Fantasy
Portal Fantasy is one of the more popular kinds of fantasy stories. There is a mundane world-the world that the characters live in without magic-and a fantasy world created by you the author. Harry Potter is a good example. These two worlds, mundane and magical are separate, but travel between them is possible.
There is a doorway (portal) to the magical world. Portal Fantasy can be both exciting and dangerous—entering the other world isn't necessarily an escape. |
Urban Fantasy
Urban Fantasy is a kind of contemporary fantasy. The setting is contemporary, meaning it's happening in the same world and time as the author. But where contemporary fantasy can take place in just about any real place, urban fantasy specifically is set in cities. Urban means relating to cities.
Often, the magical world is hidden behind the normal world. Like portal fantasy, the magic in urban fantasy might be a secret to most people. Also, there tends to be a mix of mythical creatures and monsters from horror. So you might find vampires, fairies, witches, and dragons all in living in the same city.
Often, the magical world is hidden behind the normal world. Like portal fantasy, the magic in urban fantasy might be a secret to most people. Also, there tends to be a mix of mythical creatures and monsters from horror. So you might find vampires, fairies, witches, and dragons all in living in the same city.
Contemporary Fantasy
In contemporary fantasy, the setting is now, in the time and place of the author. It is much like urban fantasy, but can be any place that feels like it could be real, not just the city. Also, it could be that the magic is known about or it could be magic and magical creatures exist but are not usually seen or understood. Or the main character could find out about a magic that nobody else has heard about. What if you found a water fountain at the park that told secrets or granted wishes? Or maybe your next door neighbor was a wizard? Or your pet cat used to go on adventures and tells you all about them? Or the red envelope your parents gave you for Chinese New Year gave you a ten dollars every time you opened it?
WuXia Fantasy
Wuxia fantasy is filled with martial arts, and heroes. Wuxia stories usually have heroes fighting against evil. The hero, a martial artist with amazing magical skills, fights for their community with their kung fu. Most Wuxia storie settings look like something of an imagined Imperial China from long, long, ago. There is magic, magical weapons, demons, gods, sorcerers, and fantastic creatures.
Steampunk Fantasy
Steampunk stories imagine an alternate history from the late 1800's where fantastical machines run on steam power.
Steampunk can be placed both fantasy or science fiction. It can have elements of history and science in it, but much of the technology is impossible and you can throw in tons of magic and magical creatures too.
Steampunk can be placed both fantasy or science fiction. It can have elements of history and science in it, but much of the technology is impossible and you can throw in tons of magic and magical creatures too.
Science Fantasy
SCIENCE FANTASY. Like in contemporary fantasy, not all fantasy has to take place in ancient, long ago worlds. They can even take place in the future. It's a new sub genre that is very exciting. You could have robots, flying cars, minotaurs, and dragons in the same world.