Sub-genres

[Monshala]

So, when I say, "Sub-genre", I know that we're writing under the "Fantasy" genre, but what kind of fantasy? Vampires, Werewolves, Magicians, Aliens, Animals, etc. etc.

Just curious as to what people are writing about?

I'm writing about animals in a fantastic sense.

 

[Sheilawisz]

That's a very good question, Monshala!! Actually I have absolutely no idea what Fantasy sub genre my stories would belong to, and I just call it Surreal Fantasy because I write about worlds, settings and powers that are like something taken from surreal paintings or even from dreams =) Welcome to Mythic Scribes!!

 

[Devor]

This has come up a few times so I was kind of wondering myself. Here's a list that looks official-ish given to me just now by the good people at Google. Of course, now I feel compelled to look up "Mannerpunk," but ah well.

Alternate worlds
Arthurian
Bangsian
Celtic
Christian
Comedic
Contemporary
Court Intrigue
Dark
Dying Earth
Erotic
Fairy Tale
Fantasy of Manners or Mannerpunk
Feghoot
Heroic
High or Epic Fantasy
Historical
Historical High Fantasy
Juvenile
Low Fantasy
Media tie-in (Buffy novels, etc.)
Medieval
Mythic (mythopoeia, mythpunk)
Prehistoric
Quest
Romantic
Science Fantasy
Series
Superhero
Sword & Sorcery
Urban Fantasy (nerd outfoxes supernatural)
Vampire (Dracula, Nosferatu, sexy youth)
Wuxia


I'll add a few quick items from the SciFi list which seem relevant as well. The first two are obvious, and I've seen Steampunk merged with fantasy a number of times.

Science Fantasy
Sword and World
Steampunk

(edit) Apparently I've listed Science Fantasy twice. I'll leave it like that.
(edit again) Woops, I meant to give the source. http://www.cuebon.com/ewriters/genres.html

((edit still again))

To answer the OP's question, by this list I'm writing a piece of High Fantasy and a piece that's Mythic.

((edit just one last time))

There's also a Fantasy sub-genre of Young Adult. So . . .

Young Adult: Fantasy

 

[Sparkie]

Wow. Nice list Devor. I will, however, be the first to admit that I have no idea what sub-genre any of my stuff falls under. If I ever try to get published then I suppose it will matter more to me. Until then, I'll just keep reading and writing whatever interests me.

 

[Monshala]

Wow. I'll be honest... I didn't know there were so many. Devor, thank you. I would think that my focus story falls under alternate world.
Are you working on anything particular?
I've tried to get published before (about 5 years ago). The story wasn't ready. I've been researching and working with it for about 16 years. Crazy...? Not really. I've written it 4 times with different character leads, different perspectives, etc. etc. It's over 300 pages so it's a novel, but my focus now is the last chapter and the synopsis.

 

[Devor]

Are you working on anything particular?

I've got two items that I'm working on. I'm mostly brainstorming and not really writing much at the moment, though, because I'm home with a newborn, so I'm pretty sleep deprived and having trouble focusing long enough to get through many pages. But I'm hoping that'll change soon, unless the Holidays have thrown him off his night schedule.

One of the pieces is about a very small country, refugees who fled from an invasion of their homeland and settled on an extremely dangerous piece of land. But over the years they've learned to prosper and isolate the danger, while the nation who once invaded their homeland has grown more ambitious. All of this provides a nice contrast between a peaceful, well-developed fantasy kingdom, as well as constant tension and the possibility of growing threats from abroad.

The other is, well, a piece about Vikings, where there's an ever-growing growing chain of death and destruction. It opens with the town hero and his girlfriend having a pleasant moment on a hilltop, but then, rather suddenly, he dies and she has to step up to the plate. But there's many, many additional characters, and most of them will die before the end.

 

[Erica]

Some of the subgenres I've seen defined are:

High fantasy-often what we think of as traditional fantasy set in some kind of fantasy world (may or may not parallel ours or be historic) where there is magic of some kind and the laws of nature may be quite different from our 'real' world. The characters typically are born and live their entire lives in this world and have no connection to our own.

-Epic. This usually involves a reluctant hero who gets sucked into a world altering event of historic proportions. Think Lord of the Rings. Often written as trilogies or short series with a definite ending (once issue is resolved) and characters who go back to their normal lives (orwin back their kingdom or something) once the story is over.

-Swashbuckling (or S&S). This involves protagonists who are adventurers and are more habitual thrill seekers who never really settle down to a normal life. Think Conan or Fafherd and the Gray Mouser. Often written as long series where each book is a new adventure for our hero or heroes.

There can be a lot of overlap between epic and swashbuckling. Especially when the MCs resolve the epic threat to their world and then the writer writes more books where they or others set in the same world have new adventures later.

Low Fantasy: Set in our world or a world that works pretty much the way ours does but there are some exceptions to the rules we usually accept as normal (such as a talking animal or animated toy or a nasty witch). A lot of juvenile fantasy is like this. Think of Coraline or the Indian in the Cupboard.

Urban Fantasy. Set in the modern world, but magic or supernatural creatures exist (usually unbeknownst to the majority of people). A lot of wherewolf stories (Patricia Briggs) or Vampire stories are like this. The protagonists often have day jobs and live in the 'real world' and interact regularly with 'normal' people but have access to a community of magical beings or creatures that live in secret.

A subset of this is where there is a parallel world of magic embedded within our world, but the world is more separate. Harry Potter or Neverwhere would be this subset. The magical people have some contact with the 'real' world, but their existence is dominated by the parallel fantasy world.

Then there is parallel world fantasy where the protagonists start out in our world and end up in a fantasy world (from which they may or may not return eventually) via some magical portal. Think the Narnia books.

Science Fantasy. A fantasy world where there is magic or things that people can do that are not explained scientifically, but there is a rational connection to the real universe. It could be a lost Earth Colony, for instance, where magic works for some reason, or scientifically explained abilities that seem fantastical are the norm. Defining a book in this category can be a judgement call. For instance, many consider Anne McCaffrey's dragonrider books to be science fantasy (because they had dragons that could do things like fly and time travel which are abilities that defy scientific explanation), but she always said they were science fiction because Pern was a lost colony and the dragons were genetically engineered aliens.

There are a lot more I've missed, and of course, there is considerable overlap between genres. It seems to me that if you have a good story and compelling characters, it shouldn't matter.

 

[Monshala]

Sub-genres...

Erica,

Thank you for that in depth little piece. I would say that I've been writing an Epic Fantasy series. It's about 5 books long, but I'm only on my first book, which is about 350 pages 27 chapters long. 5 books is what I've got plotted out as of now, but only the first book is near complete. One last chapter to go.

I'm going to place the first 2 - 3 pages on the forum tomorrow for people to read and critique. I'd love for you or anyone you know from the forum to check it out and give some honest feedback.

Again, thank you very much.

 

[Kelise]

I write science fantasy. Sky pirates quite similar to Balthier in Final Fantasy XII, or the Firefly crew in Firefly/Serenity.

OR, it could be known as space opera as Star Wars is known to be. Personally I hope to be closer to science fantasy than space opera.

 

[Elder the Dwarf]

I guess mine is medieval fantasy, though it is not set in our world.

 

[Hans]

I have two main settings.
One is a post destructive high magic world. There has been a big magic war that destroyed nearly all culture and left some nasty critters created to destroy the respective opponent. People are not fighting against a big evil, they are fighting for plain survival.

The other is heroic fantasy. Or sword and sorcery with very few sorcery. Or sword and tities. The world as such is not endangered, but there are lots of opportunities for adventure below that.

 

[Philip Overby]

Most of my stuff is similar to Terry Pratchett's take on fantasy. Make it enjoyable, fun, whatever. I kind of don't like just straight, traditional fantasy, but I like to use sword and sorcery or epic fantasy styles mixed with anachronistic elements.