Modern Fantasy

[Twilight Goblin]

Everyone always reads the magical ancient stories reminiscent of a medeival style. But what about a more modern fairy tale? Why can't the high school girl go out and find the magic orb of doom and save the world?

 

[Svrtnsse]

Variations of this are fairly common in the Urban Fantasy or Contemporary Fantasy genres. Most commonly that involves vampires, werewolves and magicians, but other fantasy elements aren't unheard of.
What usually keeps these stories apart from "normal" fantasy is that the supernatural/fantasy elements of the story are generally hidden from the public whereas in traditional fantasy everyone knows there are elves and magic around.


This also ties nicely in with my current WIP which is about taking as many of the traditional fantasy elements as possible and putting them into a modern day setting.

 

[Penpilot]

Yeah, check out urban fantasy. If you want something more along the lines of a modern fairytale check you Neil Gaiman. American Gods is about old and new gods in modern times. In Neverwhere he takes us into a fairytale like world hidden within our own and Anansi Boys does something similar.

On tv, there's Buffy the Vampire Slayer. That can be considered modern fantasy. Buffy saves the word... a lot.

 

[JCFarnham]

Everyone reads and writes high fantasy? That's a new one on me. I and countless others going by sales records love a bit of contemporary fantasy fiction.

I'm even writing one myself. Urban Fantasy is fun, but please don't think it starts and ends with twilight paranormal romance, that would be a huge falacy. Neil Gaiman is good. Jim Butcher too if you can stand the PI tinge.

So yeah, it doesn't always have to be high or epic fantasy. You can and should write about the girl who saves the world with a magical orb of doom... if that's what you want to write about.

 

[Svrtnsse]

I'd like to add Ben Aaronovitch to the authors mentioned above. I've greatly enjoyed his Rivers of London books.

 

[JCFarnham]

I'd like to add Ben Aaronovitch to the authors mentioned above. I've greatly enjoyed his Rivers of London books.

How did I forget Ben Aaronovitch?! That's some good stuff right there. The first book was a top notch urban fantasy police procedual, and I look forward to getting time to read the next... or any time to read. or make time to read...

Hell I have plenty of time I'm just not reading when I should haha

 

[yachtcaptcolby]

That's exactly the kind of fantasy I prefer to write. Introducing magic and fairy races into modern life can lead to a lot of fun, interesting stories. It lends itself well to themes that are reminiscent of science fiction; magic enables things that previously weren't possible, and those things come with juicy sets of moral questions and a wide array of local and cultural side effects. And don't forget about the effects the modern world can have on traditional fantasy races and themes, either.

My apologies if this kind of shameless plug is inappropriate, but if that's the kind of stuff you like, check the link in my signature.

 

[Ireth]

I write what's possibly a variation of modern fantasy... ordinary people from the 21st century are drawn into Faerie and must fight to keep themselves and each other alive. The heroes are heroine are nothing special in and of themselves; they don't have magic or anything on their side, just their own knowledge of the Fae (which changes as various misconceptions are brought to light and rebuffed).

 

[Saigonnus]

What usually keeps these stories apart from "normal" fantasy is that the supernatural/fantasy elements of the story are generally hidden from the public whereas in traditional fantasy everyone knows there are elves and magic around.

Why? I always wondered why more authors don't simply take a traditional fantasy world with all the trappings and with the fantasy races intact integrated in society and simply move the world forward in time into the modern era. I would like to see orcs, elves or goblins as engineers on a train, bellhops in a hotel or even as architects or deep-sea divers. It could be fun to have a commune of elves living in a place not unlike Central Park, making trinkets out of beads and selling them to passerbys to make money.

 

[JCFarnham]

Why? I always wondered why more authors don't simply take a traditional fantasy world with all the trappings and with the fantasy races intact integrated in society and simply move the world forward in time into the modern era. I would like to see orcs, elves or goblins as engineers on a train, bellhops in a hotel or even as architects or deep-sea divers. It could be fun to have a commune of elves living in a place not unlike Central Park, making trinkets out of beads and selling them to passerbys to make money.

As far as I can tell a lot of people have this very idea. I know I have, and I do at some point intend to write something to that effect. So honestly? I believe the reason we don't see much of it is because it doesn't sell. No idea why. Perhaps all it needs is for famous authors like China Mieville to come out with such a setting (ignoring the fact that he already has with Bas-lag, despite it being an alternate world setting).

 

[thedarknessrising]

Would Harry Potter count as Urban Fantasy? It does take place in the modern world, but in a separate "universe".

 

[JCFarnham]

It rarely gets called that but it has quite a few of the marks of an urban fantasy I'll give you that. Odd that it isn't often classified as such.

 

[Saigonnus]

As far as I can tell a lot of people have this very idea. I know I have, and I do at some point intend to write something to that effect. So honestly? I believe the reason we don't see much of it is because it doesn't sell. No idea why. Perhaps all it needs is for famous authors like China Mieville to come out with such a setting (ignoring the fact that he already has with Bas-lag, despite it being an alternate world setting).

I have had some thoughts along these lines for years, but I have never really had the motivation to sit down and outline what such a world would be like until last night. I came up with a couple of world building ideas, what my world would look like moved forward in time. Mostly just the basic concepts for now; transportation and infrastructure, but whose to say where that will take me as I continue to develop it.

It seems a shame no one has published something like it; that we have to wait for some famous writer to get a bee in their ear to "create" or "popularize" a new genre; but unfortunately I understand why all too well considering how the media and film industries are at the present moment.

 

[Mindfire]

As far as I can tell a lot of people have this very idea. I know I have, and I do at some point intend to write something to that effect. So honestly? I believe the reason we don't see much of it is because it doesn't sell. No idea why. Perhaps all it needs is for famous authors like China Mieville to come out with such a setting (ignoring the fact that he already has with Bas-lag, despite it being an alternate world setting).

I think part of it is escapism. People are drawn to epic fantasy because its not like the real world, so making it exactly like the real world is somewhat defeating the point. Even in books where the fantastical and mundane coexist, there is usually some kind of barrier between them, whether it be physical distance, secrecy, or simply tradition. It allows you to include modern elements while keeping the sense of escapism, of "coming out" of the mundane world. Whenever fantasy and mundanity directly clash its seen as a negative thing, e.g., an (alien) invasion, a tear in reality, etc.

 

[Mindfire]

Another thing is that the modern world is seen as inherently hostile to magical or fantastical elements. The time period "cutoff" for including fantastical elements seems to be around the 17-1800s. (But anything fantastical set during that period is obliged to feature pirates or Napoleon.)

Legend of Korra and The Avengers are notable exceptions because they stray from realism in the way they portray the modern world itself. The world of Avengers has futuristic elements, and Korra's world has the influence of bending and the Avatar at its very core.

Or you could just go for a "Pirates" era. That's always fun.

 

[Christopher Wright]

Making a fantasy world more modern has been done. Randall Garrett created his Lord Darcy books which were set in the 60s--only it's the 60s with magic, and telephones were replaced by magic wand thingies that worked pretty much exactly like telephones...

Lord Darcy (character) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It was a pretty cool set of stories, if I remember right.

 

[Penpilot]

I heard Brandon Sanderson's mistborn sequel shoots ahead 300 years to a modern time with electricity and skyscrapers etc

 

[JCFarnham]

I heard Brandon Sanderson's mistborn sequel shoots ahead 300 years to a modern time with electricity and skyscrapers etc

Alloy Of Law is more like the wild west isn't it?

 

[Penpilot]

Alloy Of Law is more like the wild west isn't it?

I'm not sure. I'm just going on a brief statement I read, which said skyscrapers, trains, and electricity, so if it's wild west, I stand corrected. That'll learn me to do some research before I yap.

 

[JCFarnham]

I'm not sure. I'm just going on a brief statement I read, which said skyscrapers, trains, and electricity, so if it's wild west, I stand corrected. That'll learn me to do some research before I yap.

Guess we'll both have to read it then. Only ... I want to read at least the first Mistborn book to get a decent grounding in the setting.