Welcome to Gaia! ::

Genre Discussion:
Fantasy & Science-Fantasy
I have decided to start up a few discussion threads just for talking about Fantasy and Science Fantasy (Sci-Fa) as there are a lot of people out there who seem to write a large amount of Fantasy in at least one of those forms. In this discussion I would like to discuss at least the following aspects of Fantasy & Science Fantasy:

1. What are the Pros and Cons for writing these genres?
2. Are there any novels, series (television or radio) or roleplaying threads that have particularly altered your perception of these genres in any way?
3. Have you tried writing these genres? If so, please add samples and any bios that you feel comfortable with posting here.
4. Is there any other things that you believe are worth noting about these genres? This can be in the form of sales figures, artwork, cult following or other things worth adding.

I highly recommend you use a paragraph style as opposed to a point-based format for this discussion as the point-based system seems a bit crude. 3nodding Feel free to start posting when you are ready. 3nodding

I find writing in the "fantasy" genre to be the most difficult due to the fact that you usually have to create everything from scratch. It almost never works when you try to use another author's world without spending chapters explaining it.

I do have one "fantasy" story and it is posted on fictionpress. Here is the link. Realms Please read and review! All consturctive critisism is accepted!

We all get attached to our own creations. Its a fact! A race can have as much sentiment for us a favorite character as we have gone through the development of them from day one.



Fantasy and Science Fiction are the same although Science fantasy is the complement between the two. Whenever you have something that is beyond our modern standards of normality then there is this issue with what new things you should create. Some folks get cluttered up and confused by what they should add in the first book of the series because it means that they have to wait to show the reader what sort of cool technology or species that they have created. I find myself having this exact same problem.



There are numerous possibilities with these two genres. Unfortunately, the interest in fantasy goes in waves every decade for a few years but I am surprised at how long the Harry Potter craze has been going for. Science Fantasy is more of a cult following however. Start Wars is a good example of Science Fantasy as it focuses more on the mysticism and less on the technology. The Star Guardian series was another one although it did talk mildly about the weapons of science (in mild detail) that the protagonists were going to be using.

Science Fantasy = More mysticism
Science Fiction = More technology

Very simple definitions, I hope. 3nodding

That isn't too bad of an idea though I am not sure why you are trying to crush my invulnerable noggin over it. xd

(N.B. Keiko is in godmode now after putting in the right cheat. Yay computer games. blaugh )

I love a good blend of fantasy and history. A most amazing one was the highly lauded, muchly recommended Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. It's quite a hefty book (I don't think it's in paperback yet), but a fabulous read. It blends magic and history entirely convincingly. It's about the return of magic to England during the time of the war with Napoleon. I'd swear her book was based on a true story.

Another good blend of fantasy and history, though decidedly less funny and heavily peppered with romance is The Dark Queen by Susan Carroll about Catherine de Medici as a legendary sorceress and the sorceresses of the Faire Isle who oppose her dark magic.

My absolute favorite book series, ever, is the Kushiel Trilogy by Jacqueline Carey. It's not a magic and dragons type high fantasy, but definitely fits in the fantasy category. It's like the best of all the genres. Religions, history, and mythology are rolled into a great adventure and lavished with a healthy dose of romance. The heroine of the story is fabulous in that she has weaknesses and is never infallible, but is simply determined. She was one of the best, most lovable heroes/heroines I've ever read. The series definitely is not for the faint-hearted or the underage, however.

I used to write mostly fantasy, but I found myself falling into so many old cliches. Now when I write outside of pure realism, I try to come up with the most different of concepts and blend as many outside genre elements in as I can. Since my favorite books all seem to shun the standard world/hierarchy of most fantasy novels, I try to build complete worlds with their own customs, legends, and habits outside of any I've read before. I think the aforementioned Kushiel Trilogy inspires me the most in this.

At the moment I only have two pieces of a not-yet-completed short story I can present as an example. It's a realistic story, but in the not-yet-posted-on-the-net parts it slowly dwindles into more and more surreal fantasy. The basic premise is that it's a story told from the point of view of a woman whose hometown was destroyed in a hurricane and it's told from twenty years later. In parts three and four (I'm going to spoil it here because it's the fantasy part not yet revealed in the first two parts) we learn that the destroyed city lives on beneath the water and she cannot cope with the fact that nobody believes her and has been denying herself. I guess it's a mesh of realism with fantasy in the second half.

Drowned Orleans Part One
Drowned Orleans Part Two