The “F” Word

Simmer down now. It’s the word fantasy. I thought we could have a bit of genre talk today, although the concept of genres in general is murky and sometimes challenging to navigate. We’ll try to wade through this together and can blame the library catalog I was sifting through yesterday for this impromptu journey into bookish waters.

One of the more challenging aspects of getting a book ready to publish is trying to figure where in the world to place it. (Indie author here. I don’t have a big company leading me in the right direction.) Genres are essentially matryoshka dolls, where you have categories within categories. To simplify it, I’m just referring to Ransom of the Healer as fantasy and all of the other little subgenres can just cozy up within Big Mama for a little while.

The fantasy genre is one that not everyone wants to spend time in. For some it has a stigma associated with it that can make people hesitant to explore all that it has to offer. Others honestly view it as somehow inferior and I can't help but feel disappointed when a work is discredited just because it falls under fantasy. To be fair, I will admit there is some weird stuff out there...because people are weird. I don't even need to provide an example of that fact because a memory most likely already popped into your head confirming this. But not all of the content out there is weird. It's just different. I think as adults we tend to shy away from some of the things we would have embraced as children.

When we're younger fairy tales and make believe are as natural as breathing. In fact, they're encouraged. Kids can spend the day wearing capes that transform them into royalty, super heroes, wizards, or magicians and we think nothing of it. We're thrilled to see them using their imaginations and smile as they live their adventures in front of us because we remember. 

We were there once. 

We wore tighty whities on our heads as scuba masks. We were invincible against bad guys. We were cowboys and astronauts and we fought dragons while casting spells. And then something happened. We got older. Our capes were exchanged for suits and uniforms and we all but forgot about the once upon a times and the mighty feats we performed when we had super powers. 

This is why I like fantasy.

I understand that I'm asking you to suspend logic for 300 pages. I get that I'm asking you to accept the fact that my characters don't need food and sleep the way that we do. Fantasy authors are taking you into places that they've imagined. They're inviting you into their world of make believe. For just a little while we're all super heroes again and we are on a collective adventure. We're traveling through wardrobes and we're flying through the air on a Nimbus 2000. We get to postpone the monotonous and mundane aspects of life for just a little while. 

If you are in the group that already enjoys fantasy, you are one of my people. If fantasy intimidates you or isn't something you think you'd enjoy, just give it a try. You might be pleasantly surprised. I know it can seem silly or preposterous to some out there, but remember: A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men. Thank you, Roald Dahl, for that beautiful reminder.