As you all know, my favorite genre of literature is fantasy. I've loved fantasy stories ever since I can remember, and most of the stories I've made up (and both of the ones I've written down) are also fantasy. Apparently I'm not alone in this. It seems like no matter what bookstore I walk into, there's a new installment of some fantasy series on the best-seller shelf. Part of the reason probably has to do with the Harry Potter craze, and the fact that every children's author in America is trying to imitate it, but I think a lot of people simply find fantasy appealing.

Being one of those people, I've decided to devote a short series of posts to my favorite genre. To start things off, I'm going to describe what I see as the two main catagories of fantasy books. Later I'll look at what attracts people to fantasy, the purpose of fantasy, and maybe a few suggestions on how to write fantasy.

Fantasy is kind of a broad term. Because most fantasy literature involves some kind of magical world, the possibilities for what you can do with that world are endless. That's one of the things I like about fantasy. However, in my mind, most of the fantasy books published nowadays fit into one of two catagories: the modern fairy-tale and the fantasy epic.

1) The modern fairy-tale. This catagory is usually written for children, and it takes place more or less in our world. The story-line basically goes like this: a couple of ordinary children (usually a girl and a boy) discover a magical secret. Oftentimes it's a door into another world, but sometimes it's a magic creature or object from our world, hinting that planet Earth is not as ordinary and predictable as it might seem. The children then have a series of adventures, during which one or both of them usually receives a gift which will help them accomplish some mission in the new world.

Books in this catagory are characterized by magic and fairy-tale type creatures. They always involve some sort of battle against evil, but they're usually pretty light-hearted and kid-friendly. The best example of this kind of book is The Chronicles of Narnia, of course, but there are a few good modern examples as well. 100 Cupboards is one of them.

2) The fantasy epic. This catagory is probably the most popular and the least well-done. It's targeted more towards adults and teens, and it takes place entirely in the fantasy world. The basic story line is very simple, and goes like this: a dark power rises and tries to take over an imaginary world. The forces of good fight back, and there are several epic battles, but an unlikely hero ultimately saves the day. This type of book is usually very detailed, full of creatures, countries, cultures, and often even languages invented by the author.

The only problem with this catagory is that, to my knowledge, there's only one author that ever did it right. J.R.R. Tolkien invented the fantasy epic, and he also set the standard for it. Unfortunately he set the standard so high that no one has been able to reach it since. He did everything right, so there was nothing left for future authors to do. Every modern attempt at writing a fantasy epic just sounds like a copy of The Lord of the Rings. A prime example of this is the Inheritance trilogy, which includes almost a word-for-word quote from The Fellowship of the Ring. The fantasy epic is, in theory, a great genre, but the standard is just too high. So, unless you consider yourself a genius of Tolkien's caliber, don't attempt to write one.

I'm not saying that every fantasy book ever written fits into these catagories. There's the traditional fairy tale, of course - we all know what that's like - and the anti-fairytale, which has become pretty popular in the last decade or so with movies like Shrek and books like Ella Enchanted. But there aren't as many of those books, so I didn't think they needed a catagory of their own. There's also the wizard's tale, which was started (I think) by Harry Potter and is a little more common. I didn't include that for two reasons: one, I've never read a book in that catagory, and two, it seems to have the same problem as the fantasy epic. Everyone is just copying J.K. Rowling.

And then there's sci-fi fantasy, which, in my opinion, is a different genre altogether. That's where things can get really weird (and cool). But that's another post.