What is Epic Fantasy?

[Watcher]

In my fantasy novel my hero undergoes a quest (journey) across a vast land in order to save the woman that he loves, a woman that the villain had stolen from him. In his quest he gradually fulfills his destiny which is linked with an old prophecy. He faces giants, vampires, beasts, monsters as well as dragons and participates in epic battles.

Which fantasy genre does my plot qualifies for?

 

[Ireth]

Sounds like high fantasy or epic fantasy to me, especially if it takes place in a world that isn't Earth.

 

[skip.knox]

Epic fantasy is one of two things:

1. a book so named by a critic (or an agent, if you're lucky)
2. a book to which you attach an "epic fantasy" metatag

Beyond that, it's anybody's call.

 

[Jabrosky]

In my fantasy novel my hero undergoes a quest (journey) across a vast land in order to save the woman that he loves, a woman that the villain had stolen from him. In his quest he gradually fulfills his destiny which is linked with an old prophecy. He faces giants, vampires, beasts, monsters as well as dragons and participates in epic battles.

Which fantasy genre does my plot qualifies for?

I'd describe it as an old-fashioned high fantasy.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

My understanding is the the "epic" refers to the scope of the story. Does it involve a single person on an individual quest eg your guy trying to save his woman, or is there instead some world wide or at least country wide crisis - war usually - which he's going to solve along the way? To give examples from the world of alien invasions. Indpendance Day is an epic sci fi while Signs (Mel Gibson) is not. Both involve world wide alien invasions, but in the latter the story is focused entirely on one man trying to save his family etc and the war is just a back drop.

Your story does sound like high fantasy because of its use of I assume a lot of magic and a great many fantasy creatures.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[Watcher]

Thank you so much. I now know that my novel is Epic or High Fantasy. And yes, my fantasy world is not Earth (I named it Distant Earth, with five continents : Aryana, Lemuria, Atlantis, Polaria and Arctica. I tried to use another name for the Sun and Moon but it didn't work out so I added two additional moons called Nephele and Nemesis. I hope that I am in the right direction. Thank you so much for your reply, I appreciate it a lot!

 

[Watcher]

Thank you so much. You made me very happy. I had the intention to write a High Fantasy novel and I am glad that you also think it belongs to the High Fantasy genre. Thank you for your valuable reply.