There are as many kinds of fantasy fiction as there are publishers of the genre. What's your choice? Multi-volume epics spanning generations and continents? Stories based on fairy tales and myths? Present-day urban fantasies, or medieval or futuristic tales? Parallel worlds? New worlds? This world?
And how much magic do you like? Lots? Not much? Do you prefer to read or write about battles between nations, or conflicts between only a few people? Wars or romances? Dark fantasies or light and humorous ones?
My choice is something dark, something romantic, about conflicts that are between individuals not nations, and about characters who possess quiet, personal magic. I can see the attraction of clashing armies and magic that controls the destiny of races--of warring wizards and evil rulers and lost artefacts of great power--all the ingredients of the six-volume fantasy saga, but it's not what I write.
Looking through the books in my bookcase, my favourite fantasy novels--Beauty (Robin McKinley), Taming the Forest King (Claudia J. Edwards), Dragonsinger (Anne McCaffrey), The Magicians of Caprona (Diana Wynne Jones)--all have something in common: protagonists who either have small magic or no magic, and who have to win their battles through courage and intelligence and physical endurance. And this is what I have found myself writing. The confrontations my characters have are human against human, human against beast, not a contest of magical spells.
Yes, I write fantasy. Yes, there's magic and yes, it's integral to who my characters are and to the plot. But it's not huge, flashy magic. It won't save a world, but maybe--if my characters try hard enough--it can save themselves and those they care about.
My favourite fantasy books all have something else in common: worlds that are easily recognisable. People dress and talk and eat in ways that are familiar. Grass is grass and sheep are sheep. Again, this is how I choose to write fantasy. My debut fantasy novel Thief With No Shadow (Solaris, UK & US April 2007) is set in a recognisable world with characters who could be you or me--ordinary people--except that some of them possess magic. The unfamiliar is balanced by the familiar. It's a down-to-earth, everyday world--a man hauls water from a well in the yard; the characters sweat, their clothes get dirty--but the thief can become invisible. The hero can literally speak with his dog.
I've written a familiar world edged with magic, where characters have to find the courage to save themselves and each other. A world that has a hint of nightmare to it. This is one of the bonuses of writing fantasy: it's possible to explore the darker side of things. In the world of Thief With No Shadow, the nightmare is alive. It's solid and breathing. Fun for me, as the writer. Not so much fun for my characters!
Writing fiction is an exercise of the imagination, the what if let loose. All writers, whether literary or genre, create worlds and fill them with imaginary characters. The fantasy writer can create not just people, but magical creatures that step onto the page, real and alive.
Salamanders, anyone?
How do you envisage a salamander? Is it small or large? Benign or aggressive? Lustful? Asexual?
The salamanders in Thief are as tall as men. They breathe fire. They're fierce and cruel and avaricious. And they trade sexual pleasure for gold and jewels. Not quite how you'd imagined a salamander? I'm guessing not--and that's one of the great things about writing fantasy: being able to create your own world, your own creatures.
Obviously, 'anything goes' is not the recipe for writing a compelling fantasy novel. Stuffing a manuscript full of every creature you can imagine, every form of magic, will result in something confusing and unwieldy. Knowing when to discard elements is crucial, as are richness of detail and consistency. Personally, I also like a tight focus and a reasonably small stage. The fantasy novels I mentioned earlier--my favourites--are all wildly different. There's a fairy tale retold, a story about dragons and fire lizards, a parallel world where magic is part of everyday life, and a cavalry regiment fighting both rebels and supernatural creatures. But each of these books has a tight focus on place and time.
You may be like me in what you like to read; you may not. Whatever your taste, the fantasy genre has something for you. There are readers who never pick up romance novels because of preconceptions about the genre; and there are readers who make the same mistake with fantasy fiction. These people miss out on some marvellous books.
You don't read fantasy? It's too mystical? Too fantastical? Too unbelievable? Think again. There are fantasy novels of all types. The genre is huge. It's as varied as the authors who write the books. There's room for magic big and small, for worlds of any shape and size, for humour and pathos, for shape-shifters and wizards and dragons--and even salamanders. There's something out there for everyone.
