Define Fantasy: An Introduction

A few years ago, I walked through the grocery store one day and noticed they were giving out free samples. Like most human beings, nothing is sweeter to me than the prospect of free stuff, let alone food, so I approached the woman and tried the margarita mix she was handing out.

She asked me what I did and I told her I was in grad school for English Literature.

“Oh, what kind of literature are you studying?”

“All kinds,” I told her. “Topics depend on the class at this point. I want to get my PhD and research genre fiction, though, specifically science fiction and fantasy.”

“Like Fifty Shades of Grey?”

I did a double-take.

“Fifty Shades…”

“I mean, it’s not unicorns and dragons,” she said. “But I’ve read it and I think… you know, it’s a fantasy. It’s what women think about.”

I’m tabling any conversation about Fifty Shades of Grey itself and women think it’s romantic… for now. I want to focus on this woman’s point of view of what the fantasy genre is. Because I think it’s a good illustration of the way the everyman sees fantasy versus how the academic sees it. The definition you get from Spark Notes versus Darko Suvin, versus Tolkien. Suvin sees it as “cognitive estrangement,” taking your senses out of the real world and into the story, suspending your disbelief. Bruno Bettelheim and GK Chesterson see it more psychologically, helping us face our real-world problems in the forms of metaphor and allegory.

(Note: I’m not getting into theoretical nuances, just generalizing. I might pick apart a theory or two in a later entry, but if you’re interested in looking further into them, Google is your best friend!)

Laymen, as we all know, view fantasy as either dragons and unicorns, or a daydream, or both.

Fantasy is a multi-layered genre which has a lot of different functions and serves a lot of needs for different people – nerds, academics, and writers of the genre use it in their lives differently, and therefore, operate within the genre based on their own understanding of it, or lack thereof.

I’ve been watching fairy-tale movies and reading fantasy books since I was a kid. I turned in my novel to my agent (more in later posts) last week after ten-and-a-half years of making it pass muster. Since I was 15, I hand-wrote it, typed it, mapped out the world, laid down character motivation, changed major plot points three times and grew it into a five-hundred page monstrosity that had to be combed through and edited and rewritten through two undergraduate degrees and a master’s. I’m still trying to figure out how I define fantasy in my writing and how I use it in my reading. Even after ten years working with fantasy, I’m still learning about it. Mostly, like with everything else, it’s a more-I-see-less-I-know deal.

Now that the novel’s done, the obvious next step is to start a new book, but I feel like I’m in limbo. I want to take a break from the trilogy for a while; I’ll work on it when I want until I get an offer from a publisher for the first one. Then, after more edits from the publisher, I’ll ramp up production.

In the meantime, I’m getting my name out there. I write. I draw. I do photography in my spare time. I make art. I knit and crochet. I’m something of a renaissance woman and on top of that, I’m planning my wedding. I’ll post every week about what I’m doing next (with pics, if it’s visual), along with musings about my trade. Anyways, I hope you enjoy and I’ll write soon!