Writing fantasy where magic isn't super relevant to the plot.

[JLiana]

Hello lovely people.

Just wondering what the take is on stories set in a fantasy setting, but lack a lot of the elements that make a story...fantasy. Like magic or dragons. The book I'm writing is more character focused and the obstacles don't include slaying monsters and whatnot (though a monster encounter, minus the slaying, will probably be involved at some point).

How can I signal early on that the setting is fantasy? I don't want readers to be confused, but I'm finding it hard to put in "tells" because they feel out of place with the scenes I'm writing/have written.

 

[RoccO]

There are many fantasy stories that are driven by time-period rather than plot. I can think of a few off the top of my head. They have the fantasy element in them because that is what is familiar, what is relevant. I think high fantasy is the only case where dragons and wizards are required, but there is a hole in the market for tribalism that has never gone astray, and that is what I think you are speaking of here.

Shamanism is one step further, that is the realisation of dreams, and though a fantasy can have illusion, like some others I can think of, it does not make it in the real world. There are however all sorts of fantasy items in a book that would make it fantasy, a bowl of all the changes in setting from the real day world to fantasy. There may be some mishap in the world, that could only be deemed magic, but that is a deviation from what is dramatic or adventurous about our own existence.

There are time travel stories with fantasy ancient kingdoms that are still deemed fantasy, even though all that is different is a name change and a stretch of the imagination. There are some I can think of that have a seperate time from our own, still deemed fantasy, only perhaps because it could not happen in our own time-line.