# Why do we read and write fantasy?



## Garren Jacobsen (May 19, 2016)

The title says most of it. Why do we read or write fantasy? What is fantasy's purpose? Is it for pure escapism? Or can it go into and deal with the real world in a fantastical way? Where do you fall on the spectrum? I'll offer my own views later but I wanted to start this discussion based on an interesting question raised in the Jodie Foster thread.


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## Heliotrope (May 19, 2016)

So Brave BSA! 

Ok, I'll start. 

For me, I read (and write) and watch films to learn something. I am always interested in seeing the world in a new way. I love a narrator that challenges my world view and makes me see things differently. 

I also love the possibility of "what if"... what if magic really existed in our world? What would that mean? How would things be different? What if that happened to me? 

I get very bored very quickly with books or media that is simply there to entertain. What is the point? I wonder. So what? What is this supposed to mean? If it is sort of shallow then I get bored and move on. 

I think this is why my favorite genre tends to be Magical Realism... my favorite films include: 

_Big Fish_
_Amelie_
_Pan's Lybrynth _
_Midnight in Paris_

And in literature I tend to lean towards the literary vs. the commercial: 

Margaret Atwood's _Oryx and Crake_, _The Year of the Flood_ and _Madd Addam_
_The Last Unicorn_
_American Gods_ - Neil Gaiman
_The Mists of Avalon_
_A Wrinkle In Time _
_Galapagos_
_The Slaughterhouse Five_

among many others. 

I like my fiction to have some meat. Make me think. Make me learn. Expand my horizons. I don't read to escape my world. I read to understand my world.


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## Nimue (May 19, 2016)

For me, the magic of fantasy isn't only the fascination and novel images of imagined worlds...it's the ability of the fantastic lens to heighten emotion, beauty, thematic ideals, and character grandeur.  To be honest, the heavy fictionalization of the real world to me (as in romance novels or thrillers) seems sometimes dishonest or indulgent.  Somehow, removing the story from the context of the real world makes it into a Story, a legend, a fairytale, and everything can be shaped to serve that.

I am not invested in realism.  Aside from the amount needed to make a world feel tangible, to make a character's mind inhabitable.  What I am devoted to is the emotion that can be crystallized through characters that are purer and greater than people, scenes that are wilder and more dramatic than life.

Tolkien had a word for the great joy that descends at the moment when all seems lost: eucatastrophe.  To me, this is an even greater feeling than tragedy, and fantasy fiction seems to be the greatest place to find the true eucatastrophe.  The triumphant happy ending that comes after great sorrow, suffering, and struggle, that redeems so much of what happened, that makes the whole experience of reading and becoming mired in the fictional world worthwhile.  And afterwards you find yourself with the book in your lap, staring out the window, satisfied and yearning at the same time.

That is certainly my reasoning--not "ours", not a proscription of any sort.  Hope it makes sense--I've had plenty of cold medicine today.


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## skip.knox (May 19, 2016)

I'm with Nimue. Fantasy is very much escapism for me. I'd argue that this has always been its function, even before it was called fantasy and was simply fantastical stories. When I _do_ want to think deeply, be profoundly moved, learn more about myself and my world, I turn to literature. In a phrase I sometimes use, literature takes me into myself while fantasy takes me out of myself. Obviously this is not a binary condition; there's overlap, but that's the general direction.


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## Demesnedenoir (May 19, 2016)

For me, reading it and writing it are two different things. 

Reading: I'm done with my critical lit days, been there done that, I read for fun, whatever fun might mean. 

Writing fantasy is a two part answer: 

1- It's what my brain does, even my most real, real world stories contain elements that would plug straight into some sort of fantasy... a western screenplay I wrote could be turned into a fantasy novel, my fantasy novel could be turned into a western, +/- magic, of course.

2- fantasy to me is a far more interesting and superior vehicle with which to explore reality than realistic fiction... just my opinion, of course, probably related to how my brain seems to function, heh heh..


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## We Rise Above (May 20, 2016)

I think I read it for escapism, or because it exercises some part of my brain that non-fantasy novels don't touch.

I write it because that seems to be the way my writing seems to go. It doesn't matter if I'm determined to set a story in the real world - very quickly, during my planning or initial thought process, some odd element will appear and the story will take a turn for the weird or fantastical. 

My friends have pointed out that practically anybody who can write a good romance or detective thriller can sell thousands of books. Sadly, my brain just won't go down those routes, unless the romance involves somebody who's dead/dying and the detective is not from this world...


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## Svrtnsse (May 20, 2016)

I think that most of all it's the journey to different worlds that does it for me. When the rules are different it opens up for new and interesting opportunities. 
Similar stories and adventures can be told in real-world settings, but there's just not the same sense of wonder to them. In a real world setting, real world rules must be obeyed. The real world comes with so much background and history, and there's only so much that can be changed. 
With reading and writing fantasy you start with a blank slate.


I really should put some actual thoughts into this kind of rant.


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## FifthView (May 20, 2016)

For me, there's not much difference between imagining life on a fantasy world and imagining what life on another planet in our own universe might be like, or even what a life in a different culture on a different part of our own planet, past or present, would be like.  The culture, the thoughts, the technology, the stories I can imagine or experience from another's imagination seem to tell me of possibilities that are actual rather than merely quaint fancy.   I read to discover those things, to throw myself into the midst of those things.   But for me this isn't any sort of "escape" from my own life, but an extension of my own life.  I do suppose that these are vain explorations, in the sense that I am unlikely to ever actually see, up close, those possibilities come to life; but nonetheless, I like that kind of exploration.  (And this isn't only an exploration of the strange and unusual potential.  It's also a rediscovery of things already common but now found in a surprising new context.)


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## Chessie (May 20, 2016)

Is there something wrong with reading and writing fantasy as an escape from the real world? I don't understand why that keeps coming up. Everyone is drawn to art for different reasons and there's no right or wrong.


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## Svrtnsse (May 20, 2016)

I'm not sure this is a right or wrong question, or an argument/debate about what's better/worse. It's just interesting to see how people relate to it in different way - and also sometimes how people seem to say roughly the same things, but in very different ways.


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## Chessie (May 20, 2016)

Agreed. I just caught something in the Jodie thread that prompted that question, is all. 

EDIT: Back to the OP, Nimue's response is beautiful and spoke right to my heart. Not trying to sound cheesy (prob too late) but that's really how I see books and writing, as my escape into another world, being exposed to other perspectives. I enjoy being romanced by words. Good books can seriously make my knees buckle.


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## Heliotrope (May 20, 2016)

@ Chesterama, I don't want to derail the thread, but I don't think there is anything wrong with that at all! This is why my husband and I can't watch movies together though lol. For him media is totally for entertainment. He doesn't need a 'spiritual awakening' as he calls it. lol. He wants to forget about real life. He loves Transformers and Super Hero movies. He loves Sci-Fi like Alien and Predator and Star Trek. For him he just wants escapism. I totally get that. That is why there has to be so many genres. Everyone wants something different.


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## Chessie (May 20, 2016)

But it can be a mixture of reasons, no? I love being entertained by literature but I also like to learn things. I don't think it needs to be one way or another.


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## Heliotrope (May 20, 2016)

Of course it can be! I love watching comedies and watched The Hot Chick last night. I don't think anyone has said it has to be one way or the other? I own all the Bridget Jone's Diary books.


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## Chessie (May 20, 2016)

Heliotrope said:


> Of course it can be! I love watching comedies and watched The Hot Chick last night. I don't think anyone has said it has to be one way or the other?


No. I was just adding food for thought is all when what I really should be doing is writing.


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## MineOwnKing (May 20, 2016)

As a kid in the early 80's, I immersed myself in fantasy books because my friends were into it, and my father is a bibliophile with a huge collection of books. I had the material handy, plus the content and artwork was like candy to me. I was named after Conan the Barbarian, because my father read all the books in the 60's, which I thought was cool. I wanted to be Conan, travel with a sword, fight wizards, drink ale with a tavern wench by my side. 

So for me it was the thrill of pretending to be something better, or the best I could be be. Sports fans do the same thing with their favorite players. I didn't want to be the quarterback, I wanted to be the King of Aquilonia. 

As I became older I still enjoyed fantasy but was more interested in exploring the real world. Besides seeing it for myself, I also delved into travel books and narrative fiction based on real events. I like those because I can be that guy that rode his bike around Australia, or I can imagine tagging along with Hunter S. Thompson in Costa Rica, or jumping down a mountain with Jack Kerouac. 

What keeps me writing is the pleasure I feel at trying to create the best prose possible with my abilities. I want to craft a story that readers will enjoy but I want to do it with good prose. Writing a sentence with emotion, and then rewriting it until it sings gives me great pleasure. To me it feels sensual. I want to be as excellent as I possibly can in all things. Especially writing. 

Crafting an excellent paragraph is like throwing a perfect pass to win a football game. I can't always make it happen, but when I do---Bow Chicka Wow Wow.


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## Miskatonic (May 20, 2016)

Because it's becoming harder to find the types of stories I like to read.


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## Garren Jacobsen (May 20, 2016)

Thank you for all your responses. Let me say that neither answer is, in my estimation, right or wrong. I tried to deliberately frame the question using neutral language. As for myself I read in part to be whisked away into a new world, to read about new powers, and to fill that void Ive had from childhood that can only be filled with wonder. But I also love it when a book can help me to look at myself and my world in a new or different way. And to me the best books can do both. 

I write for similar reasons as to why I read. My first task is to escape and to cause people to escape. But my ultimate goal is to have people see the world and themselves a little bit differently than they did before. Hopefully they see the world as a brighter place full of the same wonder and hope that they had when reading what I wrote.


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## skip.knox (May 20, 2016)

Svrtnsse said:


> In a real world setting, real world rules must be obeyed.



True, but that also makes me envious. In a real-world novel, the author can make cultural references that the fantasy author cannot make. This is especially useful for creating irony or humor, but also for creating pathos. A single word or image can conjure up a whole cloud of emotion. I get jealous, sometimes.


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## Sheilawisz (May 21, 2016)

I read stories of various genres because I love to be told a good and entertaining story. I want to meet great characters, see their lives, experience their feelings and remain beside them during the events of the book. Also, if there is a special meaning or message of some kind in the story, it's even better.

I love reading Fantasy in particular because good Fantasy can transport me to a different world, sometimes I even forget that I am actually just reading a book and I enjoy it much more than other genres. I love to dream that I could have those powers, that I could visit those places, that I could do all of those great things... As others have said before, to me Fantasy is the pleasure of escapism and the celebration of magic and imagination.

I write Fantasy because I have no other choice, and also I love it.

When a story comes to me, sometimes there is no real click between us but other times the story just clicks the hell out of me. When that happens, I am cornered: The story is not going to leave me alone until I have told all of it and it's like a very intense relationship between us, like dancing together until the moment when the words _The End_ come... and I can enjoy it like crazy, it's really an incredible thing to do.

I know that I shall always be telling stories, because without them in my life I would simply go mad. The art and pleasures of Storytelling are _that_ beautiful and important to me: Telling stories is sacred, and I would never be able to abandon it even if I wanted to.


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## FifthView (May 21, 2016)

Chesterama said:


> Is there something wrong with reading and writing fantasy as an escape from the real world? I don't understand why that keeps coming up. Everyone is drawn to art for different reasons and there's no right or wrong.





Chesterama said:


> But it can be a mixture of reasons, no? I love being entertained by literature but I also like to learn things. I don't think it needs to be one way or another.



It may be—and I cannot know, because I am not in your mind—that what you and I experience when reading fantasy is quite the same thing, but we have different ways of interpreting or remembering it after we put the book down.

I do not like the idea of a clean break between entertainment and learning, as some have implied in this discussion.  Maybe we split concepts in order to come to a better understanding of them when discussing them; but then the tendency to continue to separate them obscures the reality of our experience.

Montaigne in his essay "Apology for Raymond Sebond," described two types of skeptic.  One believes we can know absolutely nothing—and perversely actually _knows_ this, or is dogmatic about it!  The other, which he called the Pyrrhonian, merely suspends judgment and enjoys the chase, the search for knowledge, which must begin with the thought that we are lacking knowledge and would be hindered by any belief that we have actually found it:

Democritus, having eaten at his table some figs that tasted of honey, immediately began to seek out in his mind  whence came this unaccustomed sweetness; and to clear up the matter, he was about to get up from the table to see the situation of the place where these figs had been gathered.  His maidservant, having heard the cause of this stir, laughed and told him not to trouble himself about it, for the reason was that she had put them in a vessel where there had been some honey.  He was vexed that she had deprived him of this occasion for research and robbed him of matter for curiosity:  "Go along," he said to her, "you have made me angry; I will not for all that give up seeking the cause as if it was a natural one."  And he willfully sought and found some "true" reason for a false and supposed effect.

This story of a great and famous philosopher shows us very clearly this passion for study, which keeps us amused in pursuit of things of whose gain we have no hope.  Plutarch tells a similar case of someone who did not want to be enlightened about something he was in doubt about, so as not to lose the pleasure of seeking it; like the other who did not want his doctor to rid him of the thirst of the fever, so as not to lose the pleasure of quenching it by drinking....

Just as in all feeding there is often the pleasure alone, and not all we take that is pleasant is always nutritious and healthful; so what our mind derives from learning does not fail to be voluptuous even though it be neither nourishing nor salutary.​
For me, there is that entertainment value, that pleasure, in searching out these various _potential_ realities, as I described in my previous comment, even if my search is often in vain in the sense that I'll not suddenly find myself actually surrounded by all that exists in those fantasy worlds and/or am unable to put into practice or use whatever I find there.

At the same time, those things like loyalty, love, bravery, dedication, etc., that we can find in the fantasy story are not things I consider to be absent from our own world.  Nimue has a point in describing the way that fantasy can allow us to "heighten emotion, beauty, thematic ideals, and character grandeur."  But these are not unreal things; they exist in our own world even if we are often blind to this fact.  That bit I quoted above describes people who were once alive and breathing in our world, Democritus, his maidservant, Plutarch; and although this might actually be a fictionalized account or idealized account (I, not having lived at that time, cannot know), it describes something fully possible in our own world and at the same time reads almost as if it's a passage from some fantasy novel.  Just change the names and have someone else tell it.

For me, this desire to learn, this entertainment value in that search, is fully possible within our own world, and I can feel myself "transported" within this real world of ours as easily as I can experience that effect by reading a fantasy novel.  But I put that word in quotes, just as I put "escape" in quotes earlier, because for me those are figurative descriptions.  Maybe the mind is distracted, diverted from contemplating the things around us, in this pursuit of discovery, and that is the "escape" people keep mentioning.  But my own mind experiences that sort of thing throughout the day while I am awake, even if I am not reading.  Sometimes my mind is on some new exoplanet just discovered, sometimes it's thinking about those two 14-year-old boys lost off the coast of Florida nine months ago or some other dramatic and tragic (or happy, serendipitous) event that happened on our own real Earth.  Sometimes it's on the birds I watch, or my cat, or my family doing whatever elsewhere while I'm taking an extra long break at work.


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## Necroben (May 29, 2016)

Two quotes that I don't remember who said them.

"The only person who should really be concerned with escapism, is a jailer."

"I write fantasy because I can do everything else any genre can, and have dragons."

That pretty much sums it up for me. I've stuff from romance, westerns, to  zombie sci-fi. My true love is the fantastic.


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## writeshiek33 (Jun 2, 2016)

for me reading become a type of hunger, i want/need to write as fantasy is mainly hard to explain with the symptoms of dyslexia  my creative thoughts and imagination is in overdrive it become very heavily part of my personality man i i now read 3-5 books a week and two at time yeah for most it would get confusing for it seems i have no choice at this point now i my life and when you well read as myself you can't help but to create something it the first thing and last thing i think about


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## Chessie (Jun 4, 2016)

I've been thinking about this topic today. My writing is divided between two genres: romance and fantasy. The reason why I write romance is because I enjoy a heartwarming love story and I'm a sucker for anything romantic. I truly get a kick out of writing relationships where characters end up in love or married at the end. Love is beautiful, mystical, and powerful.

But then there are my fantasy stories. If I'm a sucker for chocolates and champagne, then dragons and elves and magic make my knees buckle. There is no genre like fantasy (except Sci Fic because it's pretty darn awesome). Writing about different worlds, made up races, adventures with witches and vampires and werewolves...sigh. It all does something magical inside of me. Nothing compares to the wonder that is fantasy for me.


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## bradford177 (Jul 22, 2016)

I read to escape.  I want to fall in love, or become that character.  I want to stumble across a magic staff myself, so I am going to read about it and hopefully will it to life!

Write it?  Because it is fun when my mind get's lost in a story that I am inventing, and the ideas keep rolling in.  I enjoy getting excited about writing down a new plot idea then adding fantasy to it!  It's like spreading icing on a angel food cake!  MMMM.


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## DragonOfTheAerie (Jul 22, 2016)

The answer to this question (two questions, actually) will be complicated. I'll do my best to express my thoughts.

Why i read fantasy? Well, i read in just about every genre. I enjoy a good story no matter the genre. In fact, i'm not sure i read or enjoy fantasy any more than i read and enjoy a book of any genre. Good fantasy is hard to find. (Good writing generally is hard to find, but especially fantasy.) Fantasy engages my imagination and makes me think in ways i have never thought. It takes me t places i could never visit. It gives me experiences that are outside the realm of human existence. 

Why i write fantasy? I have a wild, untamed, vibrant and voracious imagination. A part of me never stopped being a five year old. I'm always asking questions beginning with, "What if?" I'm always preoccupied with the nonexistent. To me, the real world is only a tiny speck in infinite vastness of possibility. I guess you could say i write fantasy because conforming to the rules of any other genre puts unnecessary limitations on my imagination. I mean, in a real world story, you can't have liquid wolves or shirts with wings on them that enable you to fly if you put them on or talking animals or telekinetic powers or dragons that wear spectacles. If i were writing anything other than fantasy, if i wanted to write about these things, i couldn't. And of course i would want to write about these things. I'm always straying outside of what exists and what is proven. I'm always creating something new. The real world seems so painfully narrow compared with all my mind can conceive. 

I believe there is a deeper reason we read and write fantasy, however. Fantasy enables us to explore the deep recesses of human nature. Through writing about an immortal, we explore what it means to be mortal. Through writing about a character who is non-human, we explore what it means to be human. The fantastical nature of fantasy magnifies these themes and aspects of the human existence and enables us to see them more clearly and explore them more thoroughly. The unfamiliarity makes the familiar aspects, those things that are common to all people, those experiences that we all share, larger and more relatable.  The themes fantasy often deals with are huge and complex. Good and evil. What it means to be human. Death. Sacrifice. Love. Family. Self-discovery. Fantasy tends to deal with the deepest and most fundamental aspects of humanity. Fantasy characters face their inner darkness, they discover themselves, they sacrifice, they love deeply, and they survive great pain and hardship. This is why fantasy is so widely loved. It is not focused around one aspect of the human experience, like falling in love(romance). It encompasses all of human existence.

So, dragons and wizards and magic are actually secondary to what fantasy really is, in my opinion.


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## DragonOfTheAerie (Jul 22, 2016)

Also i'd like to add that theres nothing wrong with using books as an escape. We read to escape from the world, yes. But we come back with new experiences, new perspectives, and new tools to help the world become a better place.


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## ChasingSuns (Jul 22, 2016)

The basic answer for me would be escapism. When I read, I want to really dive into a whole different world and have my imagination experience new things. To me though, any good story will have some kind of subtext that can be related to by the reader. It's what helps us connect with characters and care about the outcome of the story. I write because I have never really felt comfortable in this world. I'm an introvert with loads of social anxiety, so I feel much more at home in fantastic worlds that don't resemble ours much at all. That being said, in my writing I do try to address certain topics and include certain subtext about deeper issues that people experience, because as I said, I think that a good story has at least some level of that.


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## Ronald T. (Jan 9, 2017)

As an extension of what ShielaW said, I read and write fantasy because I have no other choice.  I read and write it because that's who I am.  I do so because SF/F give me something no other genres have provided:  escape from the real world and the excitement and thrill of being in a magical world where the heroes actually do have the ability to change their worlds.  

I don't read fantasy to think or learn.  I already think too much -- sometimes to my emotional detriment.  And if I want to learn something, there are far better resources available...resources that are specific to a particular subject.  

I read to escape our world -- a world so filled with antipathy and ignorance that it shames me to acknowledge I'm part of it.  I want to be part of a world where heroes exist and can make life better for the entire world.  The SF/F genres give me that.

But what do I know?  I'm just a kid.


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## Michael K. Eidson (Jan 9, 2017)

Fantasy is my drug of choice. I don't drink, smoke, or partake in many other vices. I like looking at awe-inspiring scenery in the real world, but I don't travel much, and reading non-fiction travelogues doesn't do it for me. Books of fiction, especially fantasy, have been what I turn to for inspiration and opening the mind to possibilities beyond mortal ken. It's spiritual for me. Fantasy frees my mind, grants me wings in my dreams and haunts my nightmares. A world without fantasy would have no place for me.


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## Gribba (Jan 11, 2017)

I read books in many different genres and I do so depending on my mood and what I want to experience or feel at that given moment. 
But also regarding fantasy, sometimes I read it to escape the real world and sometimes I want to experience  something or learn or even be inspired, depending on that, I read different fantasy authors to achieve those things. 

Why I write fantasy: It allows me to take seemingly ordinary characters and put them in extraordinary situations. 
A person with great or even not so great magical power can become a threat that he/she would not be in a world of ordinary rules.
Also it allows me to explore the growth of a character through feelings, that are brought forth, through so vastly different circumstances, something the real world can not offer.
I like making my own rules and my own imagination gets to visualize a world the story takes place in, I am not bound by any rule or setting.   

Well said! (plus this, when it comes to why I write fantasy...)


DragonOfTheAerie said:


> Through writing about an immortal, we explore what it means to be mortal. Through writing about a character who is non-human, we explore what it means to be human. The fantastical nature of fantasy magnifies these themes and aspects of the human existence and enables us to see them more clearly and explore them more thoroughly. The unfamiliarity makes the familiar aspects, those things that are common to all people, those experiences that we all share, larger and more relatable.  The themes fantasy often deals with are huge and complex. Good and evil. What it means to be human. Death. Sacrifice. Love. Family. Self-discovery. Fantasy tends to deal with the deepest and most fundamental aspects of humanity. Fantasy characters face their inner darkness, they discover themselves, they sacrifice, they love deeply, and they survive great pain and hardship.


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## Miskatonic (Jan 15, 2017)

Because real life is boring and real people are boring, most of the time.


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## DragonOfTheAerie (Jan 15, 2017)

Miskatonic said:


> Because real life is boring and real people are boring, most of the time.



What people are you hanging out with?  People are weird and crazy. I love them for that.


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## Gurkhal (Jan 16, 2017)

I read and write it because its less constraint from my other favorite topic; historical fiction. The bonus with fantasy is that I can twist things and don't have to be a professor for things to be acceptable to my readers.  

But the main thing is that I essentially prefer things to be light with magic and focused on characters operating in a historical enviroment. You could probably ask why I don't want to write only historical fiction, but I am a huge sucker for original stories and in a historical setting most of the great events have already been decided and we already have the main players squared down. Thus I like the freedom that fantasy provides.


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## Hazardous27 (Jan 17, 2017)

We read and write fantasy because its just fantastic.

Ok. But seriously we love fantasy because its a reflection of our ideals and desires with a bit of magic on top for flavour I think.

Think about something like Lord of the Rings. Tolkien didn't set out to write allegory of any sort by his own admission but it drips with tropes we (collectively as a society) just love. Little guys standing up to the big baddy who wants to take peoples freedom, the glory of fighting in battle alongside a reliable band of brothers to defend your people, an epic quest where you have to war with your own temptations and push your own limits to benefit everyone (self-sacrifice).

We love fantasy because its the things we already love and admire in life but with a bit of added spice and shift in context.


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## Miskatonic (Jan 19, 2017)

DragonOfTheAerie said:


> What people are you hanging out with?  People are weird and crazy. I love them for that.



I've had enough of both for one lifetime.


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## neodoering (Jan 24, 2017)

I read fantasy not as an escape but as a way to refresh my imagination and survey the world's cultures and peoples.  

I _write_ fantasy about people you never hear about in most fantasy novels:  mentally ill people, people of color, American Indians.  I'm tired of reading and will not write yet another faux-medieval European fantasy novel.  Been there, done that, don't want to do it again.  I look for diversity.  Found a page on Goodreads that lists some American Indian fantasies, and I'm going to explore that next.  Good stuff!


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## DragonOfTheAerie (Jan 24, 2017)

neodoering said:


> I read fantasy not as an escape but as a way to refresh my imagination and survey the world's cultures and peoples.
> 
> I _write_ fantasy about people you never hear about in most fantasy novels:  mentally ill people, people of color, American Indians.  I'm tired of reading and will not write yet another faux-medieval European fantasy novel.  Been there, done that, don't want to do it again.  I look for diversity.  Found a page on Goodreads that lists some American Indian fantasies, and I'm going to explore that next.  Good stuff!



It's really cool that you're doing this. I too am sick of European based fantasies and wish writers in general would write from a broader range of inspiration. Also, representation of mental illness in books is really important to me. I've said before that what I want most is a badass character who happens to suffer from anxiety and it's just part of her character. It doesn't affect the story any more than her eye color does, it's just a fact of who she is. She has to use coping skills and occasionally wakes up having a panic attack, but other than that she's just a badass dragon rider/pirate/whathaveyou. I REALLY want this. 

Some Native American mythology is super cool to use in a fantasy novel, but I don't see anyone doing it. I don't think I've read anything based on African or Australian Aboriginal cultures either. There's so much opportunity for amazing stories out there that seems untapped...

You know, they say, write the book you want to read...looks like I've got my work cut out for me...


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## neodoering (Jan 25, 2017)

*Readers are Conformist*



DragonOfTheAerie said:


> It's really cool that you're doing this. I too am sick of European based fantasies and wish writers in general would write from a broader range of inspiration. Also, representation of mental illness in books is really important to me. I've said before that what I want most is a badass character who happens to suffer from anxiety and it's just part of her character. It doesn't affect the story any more than her eye color does, it's just a fact of who she is. She has to use coping skills and occasionally wakes up having a panic attack, but other than that she's just a badass dragon rider/pirate/whathaveyou. I REALLY want this.
> 
> Some Native American mythology is super cool to use in a fantasy novel, but I don't see anyone doing it. I don't think I've read anything based on African or Australian Aboriginal cultures either. There's so much opportunity for amazing stories out there that seems untapped...
> 
> You know, they say, write the book you want to read...looks like I've got my work cut out for me...



Dragon;
I agree with you wholeheartedly--write the books you want to read.  But if you stray from what's trendy, you are in for a hard fight.  Readers seek out what they know and are familiar with, and if they are in the mood to try something different, they look for what's popular.  I trained as an anthropologist, and I have favorite cultures I've read widely in, so I have peculiar tastes I like to indulge.  I like the Arabs, and I'm deep into the Maya Indians.  If you want a fantasy novel about the Maya for free, you'll find it here:  http://www.rdoering.com/temples.html.  This is an illustrated novel; you can download it chapter by chapter or as one single document.  It's always a risk trying something different, but if you don't like it, all you ventured was a little time.  And who knows, you might dig it.  

As for the Arabs, there's always the Richard Burton translation of _The Arabian Nights_, or some abridged editions.  Good fantasy stories about monsters, genies, sorcerers, etc.  My favorite fantasy story in the work is Ma'aruf the Cobbler, and you can read it for free here:  Arabian Nights: Tale 169 - MA’ARUF THE COBBLER AND HIS WIFE.


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## Kinzvlle (Feb 5, 2017)

My signature on another writing forum is a quote by Lloyd Alexander. "Fantasy is hardly an escape from reality. It`s a way of understanding it." There`s a writer I follow T.A. Barron he`s a conservationist who writes mainly children and young adult fantasy novels with a environmental message and focus on ecology and such in mystical settings. I appreciate his message but what really draws me to him is the writers philosophy he talks about in a video or two on his site. Basically, the idea of using fantasy as a type of fractured lens allowing you to phase certain things out and focus on one thing in a way you couldn`t in other genres.


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## skip.knox (Feb 5, 2017)

I made an earlier post on this thread, which I've just re-read, and I'd like to modify that. I agreed with others that for me fantasy is escape. While that's why I read fantasy, I realized it's not why I write it.

For me, I spend so much time and effort constructing my fantasy world of Altearth, it is very real to me. Certainly as real as any other place I have never visited. I think my writing of fantasy is about a couple other things. One, of course, is to give purpose to all that world building. Only by constructing stories does Altearth actually come alive, and it deserves that much.

The other reason is the creation of specific peoples and cultures. I can't think of any other venue (except SF, of course) where the author can play around with beliefs, relationships, prejudice, gender, appearance, architecture, all of it; while at the same time being held to high standards of verisimilitude because our readers are demanding and discerning.

What a fun place to play!


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## writeshiek33 (Feb 12, 2017)

For me it started out as escapism. Now it more than that it become an addiction, need and hunger to feed my creativity and my core personality. As i am happiest when i write.


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## Eyeofdreeg (Feb 13, 2017)

I write because it gives me some sort of way to escape into a world that I would actually want to live in. A world where I don't have to work a boring 38 hour work week and be a nobody. Instead I can be a roaming adventurer, a devilish sorcerer or a swashbuckling warrior. I can explore amazing lands, learn about amazing characters, fight giants and talk to God's. So that is why, in a nutshell


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## DragonOfTheAerie (Feb 13, 2017)

Reality seems so narrow and boring to me. Fantasy gives me the chance to experience and explore every possibility out there I can imagine.


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## TheCrystallineEntity (Feb 13, 2017)

^Agreed!


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## Thomas Laszlo (Feb 13, 2017)

I think mine has always been a slight mix of wanting to learn AND escapism. I don't make friends easy and very few people keep up with my dizzying train of thought so characters became my best friends


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## Mike Chara (Feb 15, 2017)

This is really a simple question for me, not that I don't respect all the philosophical escapee's above.

Wizards are cool.
Swordfighters and gunslingers and fantastical races are cool.
Dragons and other fantastical creatures are cool.
If they all happen to have conflicting interests, or conflicting interesting personalities, and reasons to fight each other, and so do, that too is cool.

It's just cool.


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## EmilyMcIntyre (Feb 20, 2017)

For me, fantasy is the ultimate lens on 'real life'. I'd like to believe that any meaningful literature is at its core is an attempt of the author to share a perspective of life with the reader. Fantasy allows us to dispense with the factual niceties of documentation, and to concern ourselves with exploring universal principles. Granted, there's plenty of fantasy that seems "pure escapism", but I think the best fantasy offers us something more... magical/bigger/beyond.

And, Nimue, you said it perfectly. We need 'bigger-than-life' story to grasp Story; our own fumbling attempts at making it through life aren't fascinating in the least, and thus we often miss the greater meaning that could be found in our own stories. Through fantasy, through the intensification of emotion, character, conflict, and wonder, we learn/feel beyond our usual capacity.

That said, I love well-written escapism...


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## Peat (Feb 20, 2017)

The following is a true story.

Once upon a time I was dreaming, and in my dream there were three men. One was old and grey with skin like old leather, and one was tall and dark and bearded, and one was young and laughing with hair like butter. All three of them only had one eye, and all three stood on one leg, and all three of them pointed at me with one finger and spoke to me:

"Mark our words well, young Peat, for they are true words concerning your fate, that which no man nor woman nor god can turn aside. If you write fantasy fiction, then you shall always know happiness. And if you read fantasy fiction, then you shall always know contentment. And if you do neither, then your mind shall be like fog and your heart shall be like mud and your kidneys shall be like a maggot farm, and long shall be your misery."

"Oh, and if you say a bad thing about David Gemmell, we'll bloody batter you."

So there we go. I have no choice. Its the truth I swear.


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## Drakevarg (Feb 21, 2017)

I like to contemplate alternative realities. Sci-fi doesn't really do it for me most of the time because it's all about exploring what's possible. I prefer fantasy because it comes in admitting "it probably isn't possible, but what if it was?" Much less restrictions there.

However, on the other hand, I prefer low fantasy over high fantasy. It's easier to feel the impact of the changes the closer you keep it to that collective delusion we call reality. Too much magic and it's just a dream sequence. Just a little magic and you can watch the ripples.


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## valiant12 (Feb 21, 2017)

> This is really a simple question for me, not that I don't respect all the philosophical escapee's above.
> 
> Wizards are cool.
> Swordfighters and gunslingers and fantastical races are cool.
> ...



This.
Also we live in an age when our whole planed is explored, yet we don't have the technology to expllore other worlds.


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## Mike Chara (Feb 21, 2017)

Drakevarg said:


> Sci-fi doesn't really do it for me most of the time because it's all about exploring what's possible. I prefer fantasy because it comes in admitting "it probably isn't possible, but what if it was?" Much less restrictions there.



I know I'm off-topic, but this is probably the best off-the-cuff explanation I've heard of the separation of the two genres, for those books that stick to the genre hard and fast. It's why I like [hard] sci-fi, because I love thinking that it could actually happen, and it's also why I like fantasy, because it's cool to be creative about what can't.


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## Peat (Feb 21, 2017)

Wee story aside, its everything for me.

Fantasy is cool. The aesthetics are cool. The mix of myth and history, two things I love, is awesome (although I feel the mix is off these days most times).

It is also a great tool for examining reality. Any story can be, but I think fantasy's ability to put down whatever we please makes it a very useful tool. But it can be an excellent way to escape reality too, sometimes even in the same story.


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## Christopher Michael (Feb 23, 2017)

Why do we read and write fantasy? Bit of a loaded question there.
First of all, every single fictional genre is, at its core, fantasy. Science Fiction, both hard and soft? Absolutely fantasy. They just use "sufficiently advanced science" instead of "magic." Romance and erotica? Pure fantasy, in almost every way. Spec fic? Not even trying to hide it.
So, in essence, everybody who reads and writes is involved in fantasy.

That being said: I don't "write fantasy." Nor do I "read fantasy." I write and read stories. In both cases, the fantastic tends to be what grabs me. But I know very few people who specifically read and write one genre deliberately.


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## LuxMyalis (Feb 24, 2017)

It's curious. People always ask me why I read fantasy. I could go into long winded explanations about the escapism aspect, or how certain fantasy stories are allegories for our modern world with ways to deal with current problems. While both are valid to a certain extent, those aren't the reasons I am drawn to it. I read fantasy because I feel good when I do. It makes me happy. I get take part in a creation of art and I find that beautiful and inspiring.


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## LuxMyalis (Feb 24, 2017)

Here Here! Well said.


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## LuxMyalis (Feb 24, 2017)

Christopher Michael said:


> Why do we read and write fantasy? Bit of a loaded question there.
> First of all, every single fictional genre is, at its core, fantasy. Science Fiction, both hard and soft? Absolutely fantasy. They just use "sufficiently advanced science" instead of "magic." Romance and erotica? Pure fantasy, in almost every way. Spec fic? Not even trying to hide it.
> So, in essence, everybody who reads and writes is involved in fantasy.
> 
> That being said: I don't "write fantasy." Nor do I "read fantasy." I write and read stories. In both cases, the fantastic tends to be what grabs me. But I know very few people who specifically read and write one genre deliberately.



Here Here! Well Said.


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## valiant12 (Feb 24, 2017)

> Science Fiction, both hard and soft? Absolutely fantasy. They just use "sufficiently advanced science" instead of "magic." Romance and erotica? Pure fantasy, in almost every way



I don't agree with your definition of sci fi, but you are spot on romance and erotica.


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