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Genre Conventions: What is fantasy?
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<blockquote data-quote="RSKennan" data-source="post: 2264772" data-attributes="member: 8256"><p>I wouldn't say that fantasy *has* to get rid of any laws of reality to be 'in genre'. My loose, working definition of fantasy is <strong>the presence of magic</strong>. That alone does it for me. Fantasy is a template that can be applied to any base genre. It could also be thought of as a metagenre. </p><p></p><p>One thing that I haven't seen so far is the fact that any decent imaginative work <em>replaces</em> any rules it gets rid of with others. For example, if instead of becoming inert, a murderer's corpse reanimates with a spirit of rage, you've replaced one rule (the rule that dead people generally stay dead) with another. </p><p></p><p>Every set of writer's guidelines I've seen for novels rightly says that any magic system you create for a novel to be published has to be rigorous and self-consistent. </p><p></p><p>I don't see how this is complicated. </p><p></p><p>This may seem hypocritical in light of the above, but: </p><p></p><p>Worrying about what defines a genre is fine for academics and publishers, but I don't see it as a practical excercise for the rest of us. In my opinion, all a genre is, is a percieved pattern in a set of stories. The best stories redefine a genre for the simple reason that genre is artificial. If a story is beloved, it gets wedged into the closest genre, breaking any constraints it has to to set the taxonomist's mind at ease. I guess my position is that genre is a matter of convenience. I might say that my story is fantasy or hard science fiction when discussing it, but ultimately, I don't believe in genre in the strict sense that critics and such do. </p><p></p><p>The rules of drama and storytelling are more important than any arbitrary rules of genre; which is at best a convenience. </p><p></p><p>I hope this doesn't come across as rude, I don't intend it to be.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="RSKennan, post: 2264772, member: 8256"] I wouldn't say that fantasy *has* to get rid of any laws of reality to be 'in genre'. My loose, working definition of fantasy is [b]the presence of magic[/b]. That alone does it for me. Fantasy is a template that can be applied to any base genre. It could also be thought of as a metagenre. One thing that I haven't seen so far is the fact that any decent imaginative work [i]replaces[/i] any rules it gets rid of with others. For example, if instead of becoming inert, a murderer's corpse reanimates with a spirit of rage, you've replaced one rule (the rule that dead people generally stay dead) with another. Every set of writer's guidelines I've seen for novels rightly says that any magic system you create for a novel to be published has to be rigorous and self-consistent. I don't see how this is complicated. This may seem hypocritical in light of the above, but: Worrying about what defines a genre is fine for academics and publishers, but I don't see it as a practical excercise for the rest of us. In my opinion, all a genre is, is a percieved pattern in a set of stories. The best stories redefine a genre for the simple reason that genre is artificial. If a story is beloved, it gets wedged into the closest genre, breaking any constraints it has to to set the taxonomist's mind at ease. I guess my position is that genre is a matter of convenience. I might say that my story is fantasy or hard science fiction when discussing it, but ultimately, I don't believe in genre in the strict sense that critics and such do. The rules of drama and storytelling are more important than any arbitrary rules of genre; which is at best a convenience. I hope this doesn't come across as rude, I don't intend it to be. [/QUOTE]
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