Why do you read/write fantasy?

I read (watch, listen to) fantasy works, because it's the only way to visit the worlds captured in those stories. For me works of fantasy (and sci-fi too, especially those in more far-fetched genres) are the chance to experience unique places, ideas, cultures and people that I couldn't get to know any other way than via books, movies or TV shows.

Also, fantasy has amazing ability to make experiences and events far removed from our normal life understandable, engaging and relatable - and that's a really powerful tool. It can make people see things in ways they would never consider in real life (i.e. I'm from a country that's super homogenous so especially as a child/teen I wasn't quite aware of racism/discrimination based on nationality and fantasy literature helped me understand those concepts and prompted me to learn and examine them in real life - to the point when I realized there were TONS of racism/national discriminations in my country but the groups affected by it were too small to raise much awareness of it and it just went unchallenged and therefore invisible for the most part).

And since experiencing things unattainable by any other means and opening myself to ideas and experiences outside of my common frame of reference is the essence of fiction for me, then obviously I fell in love with fantasy Both as a reader and a writer.

 

I want to write fantasy because the niche that I really want to read about seems to have been completely abandoned for decades. There are some old classics, but you've quickly read through all of them, and the rest isn't really that great to read.

I want to do my part to show that it can still be fun and worth writing new material for, and that the antiquated elements of the old classics only seem offputting to some because they are old stories, not because they are integral to the style.

 

Classic oldschoool Sword & Sorcery of the more cerebral kind, like Kull, Hyberborea, Elric, and Kane, instead of the brain dead muscles and boobs junk that followed.

And the Why is because the age of myths is a great setting and making hellish beings strange and alien is awesome. And modern fantasy really can use more adventure and action and less brooding in castles and taverns.

 

Sounds good to me. I enjoy adventure.

 

I agree with this. I like to read and write about settings in nature.

 

I'm a professional gardener and now study horticulture, but I also once used to study ancient and tribal religions as part of a previous abandoned career path. I find the relationship between people and the environment very fascinating and realized that most of western society doesn't actually know what nature is. Except for remote parts of Scandinavia and North America, there are no natural environments in our world left. When we go out of the cities and into nature, the environments we are entering are agricultural land and tree plantations, that have been constantly worked and managed for centuries. In most of Europe it has been for over a thousand years, and we exterminated all dangerous predators long ago. And there are roads everywhere, which can take us to the next food store or hospital in under an hour
I think this is creating the impression that nature is beautiful, peaceful, and healthy. But that's a really distorted picture. We think outside of the cities is nature, but most of Europe is one big, safe, cultivated park. It's a beautiful fantasy that certainly has its place, but I also think there is huge potential for fantasy fiction that explores what wilderness would have been like for people for 99% of human existence. I very rarely see that, and it's the other main thing that makes me want to write something.

 

Always wrote it, even if it didn't always hit the page, heh heh. A bit like Malik, I write what I can't find elsewhere, but no matter what I'd be writing. I like what I like how I like it written, and very few writers achieve that. I spent years figuring out what I don't like about other writers, and eliminated that from my writing, heh heh. I was probably 8 when I officially decided I wanted to be a writer... I just lost my way experiencing life in between then and now.

I like heavy realism and heavy magic, and that blend is something few writers seem to achieve to my satisfaction... no idea why. So, I try to read a lot of fantasy, but either the writing or the story itself typically loses me. More often than not, I'll find myself rereading my own stuff looking for improvements rather than reading somebody else. I'm obsessed with my story, and I'm finding that at least some people out in the world are as well, LOL.

 

I like history. Fantasy is fictional history. The end.

Well, I also enjoy worldbuilding, which includes exploring the worlds other had built.

 

Because stories and characters based in reality tend to be boring and limited by said reality. The only limitation in fantasy is your imagination.

 

When I read/write fantasy, I get a chance to escape reality and explore what's possible in a world that I've never been to. It's a place to be myself or someone else; someone I wish I could be.

 

I just never grew out of it. It just matured and developed, and I think I will always enjoy escapism.

 

Fantasy is not something you grow out of. Almost all fantasy writers are grown ups or old people, and the vast majority of readers too.

 

Agreed.

 

I also agree! But goodness, it was so special to me as a kid. Really saved me. I’m so glad it still gives me the same feeling.

 

Right? Otherwise, I would have been dead inside like the rest of my senior class!