Why do I write fantasy? When I watched Lord of the Rings, it was the first time I sought out fantasy books. There’s just something about the medieval settings, usually deep in nature, sword battles, magical creatures, and horses that appealed to me as if they were ingrained in my DNA.
And then there’s the good versus evil themes. I love a classic epic fantasy of the good guys versus the bad guys, dark against light. And they are mostly in other worlds other than our Earth. I live in the real world, so it’s fun to write something in a made-up universe.
I don’t think I could write a contemporary fiction book and have to deal with all the issues of using brand names, business names, and getting everyone and everything accurate and recognizable. I’d rather write in a world where I shape it how I want it to be, using history as a guideline. Then, the only thing I have to worry about is continuity errors.
Fantasy can be grand, rich, majestic, and magnificent. It can be anything you want it to be. The sky is the limit, and you also get to set what that limit is. Animals can talk, dwarves can ride dragons, and a character can deal with mental illness while also figuring out how to escape an ancient fortress before the creature hunting her kills her.
You aren’t stuck in a box. Fantasy is flexible. You can dream up worlds and characters to your heart’s content that could never be seen or heard of in the real world. I was listening to a director’s commentary of Spaceballs, and Mel Brooks described writing as feeling “godlike” when you start with a blank page and then create a story. This feels especially true with fantasy that takes place in another world, and it’s why I love writing in this interesting and awe-inspiring genre so much.