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Totally Guy
2013-06-27, 03:34 AM
I was reading this blog (http://fantasyhandbook.wordpress.com/) and saw this question asked frequently. "Define "fantasy" in 25 words or less."

Erin M. Evans: When you take reality and add an external form of the internal—making myths, symbols and other bits of the unconscious real, too.

Jim Minz: Fantasy is a narrative form that contains elements of the “Other” for which there is no underlying scientific explanation.

Mike Resnick: Fantasy is fiction that purposely and knowingly breaks one or more of the known laws governing the universe.

Peter Adkison: I look to fantasy for entertaining stories about heroes, their beliefs, how those beliefs are challenged and dealt with, and how that changes the hero.

Cool question bro!

Me? Fantasy is about the people who fight for their beliefs despite incredible situations and how they are changed on the other side of that.

You?

Craft (Cheese)
2013-06-27, 03:45 AM
Fantasy is the feeling of being four years old and running off by yourself to explore the woods after a snowstorm for the first time.

Dark Fantasy is the feeling of realizing you aren't wearing winter clothes, it's 10 below out here, and you have no idea where home is.

EDIT: 26 words, whoops!

Souju
2013-06-27, 04:21 AM
6 words: Fantasy is giving reality the finger.

Xefas
2013-06-27, 04:43 AM
Part of me really likes the Erin Evans, Jim Minz, Peter Adkison definitions.

The other part of me wants to say: "Fantasy is a genre of media. As a genre of media, it is completely worthless for meaningfully describing anything whatsoever." (20 Words)

Bulhakov
2013-06-27, 05:11 AM
Wikipedia has a pretty satisfactory short definition:

"Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary plot element, theme, or setting. "

I also like Mike Rasnik's definition about breaking laws of physics.

Gettles
2013-06-27, 05:21 AM
There be magic, yo.

Krazzman
2013-06-27, 05:42 AM
One word answer:

Awesome.

Eldan
2013-06-27, 05:42 AM
In Fantasy, we arrive at a different reality from ours by extrapolating from different laws of nature or different starting conditions.

21 words. As opposed to:

In Science Fiction, we either make assumptions of the future from our present or from the past following a diverngence.

20 words.

I think a lot of the definitions in the first post are problematic.

Minz: there can be science in fantasy. It will just be researching different laws.
Resnick: laws of our universe. The fantasy universe will be following its own laws, at least when written consistently.
Adkinson: very narrow. There don't have to be heroes in fantasy, and there can be heroes in reality.

Hyena
2013-06-27, 05:43 AM
Fantasy is the feeling of being four years old and running off by yourself to explore the woods after a snowstorm for the first time.

Dark Fantasy is the feeling of realizing you aren't wearing winter clothes, it's 10 below out here, and you have no idea where home is.

Science fantasy is the same, but in cold of space with the space wood and space snowstorm.

Scots Dragon
2013-06-27, 06:32 AM
Fantasy is the wonder of imagination, mythology, fairytales and adventure combined with the joy of storytelling.

Sixteen words.

graymagiker
2013-06-27, 06:39 AM
Some fairytales are real. There are no guns. Some other advances of science may never happen. But the need for heroes remains.

Eldan
2013-06-27, 06:48 AM
Why no guns? The Alloy of Law is certainly fantasy. Or the Dresden Files. As are a lot of other stories. There's entire subgenres like fantasy western, gothic horror, space fantasy, urban fantasy, pirate fantasy and so on that are set in time periods where guns are relatively common place. Even some authors of medieval fantasy finally realized that guns existed and if you set it in an Asian-inspired setting, it fits even earlier.

Raineh Daze
2013-06-27, 06:53 AM
Why no guns? The Alloy of Law is certainly fantasy. Or the Dresden Files. As are a lot of other stories. There's entire subgenres like fantasy western, gothic horror, space fantasy, urban fantasy, pirate fantasy and so on that are set in time periods where guns are relatively common place.

Yes, yes, you've said your piece, I don't think it's required that you pick at other people's ideas of fantasy, or constructive.

Mine: "Go beyond the impossible and kick reason to the curb! "

Well, not that I came up with the original phrasing, but it encapsulates things nicely. :smallbiggrin:

Eldan
2013-06-27, 06:54 AM
Yes, yes, you've said your piece, I don't think it's required that you pick at other people's ideas of fantasy, or constructive.:

This is a discussion forum. I was rather under the impression that the idea was to discuss things. Like, ask other people why they have a certain opinion.

Yora
2013-06-27, 07:20 AM
"A genre of fiction in which supernatural forces and events shape the world of the protagonists and differentiate it from normal everyday experience."

Aliens and theoretical physics are not supernatural. Almost all fairy tales known to me fall under this category; religious myths are excluded because they are not fiction (in the sense that the recipients do not consider them entertainment but either fact or educational).

There be magic, yo.
Or this, in slightly fewer words. :smallbiggrin:

In Science Fiction, we either make assumptions of the future from our present or from the past following a diverngence.
Personally, I think that all "hard" science fiction is actually defined by being a social critic of the contemporary society of the creator. It does not have to be preachy, but it always has an element of either painting a symbolic image of a future (or present) that could come into existance if we are not careful about how we deal with issues in the present, or it creates a symbolic image of a future that the creator believes to be desireable.
Interestingly, the science part is of minor relevance. I consider Inception a sci-fi movie even though it has only a single fictional gadget that is never really explained. And I think Mirror's Edge feels very much like a sci-fi game, even though it does not have any technological gadgets at all. But it has all the themes and the atmosphere.
I exlude space-themed horror fiction from this. They are usually bunched together with science fiction for good reasons (business- and marketing-wise), but generally lack all the elements I listed above. Basically everything by Michael Bay and Roland Emmerich. :smallbiggrin:

Totally Guy
2013-06-27, 07:33 AM
Adkinson: very narrow. There don't have to be heroes in fantasy, and there can be heroes in reality.

Adkison's is my favourite out of the ones on that blog. It's grounded in people, not spectacle.

Plus he's got the WotC street cred. :smallcool: :smalltongue:

Eldan
2013-06-27, 09:17 AM
Oh, I'm not saying his writing is bad. Just that I don't see "has heroes" as a defining genre characteristic.

Grinner
2013-06-27, 09:34 AM
"Laws, schmaws. Fantasy is all about the infinite wonder of infinite possibility."

Man on Fire
2013-06-27, 10:26 AM
Fantasy - a story featuring elements, events or beings impossible in real world without attempting to make them look "scientific", futuristic" or solely to scare.

Barsoom
2013-06-27, 01:13 PM
A genre of fiction that uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary plot element, theme, or setting.

That's not me, that's Wikipedia...

A Tad Insane
2013-06-27, 01:21 PM
In actuallity, what ever you want because reasons

Dhavaer
2013-06-27, 04:03 PM
What if something that could not be, was?

Mastikator
2013-06-27, 05:06 PM
Fantastical, wondrous, mystical and horrible.

Kane0
2013-06-27, 05:53 PM
Fantasy is where imagination, and to a lesser extent magic, takes precedence over reality and logic.

ko_sct
2013-06-27, 06:10 PM
I do like the definition that you find on wikipedia.

One thing a lot of people dont mention, is it's not fantasy just because it include one or two supernatural element, it really has to be a primary element of the plot or the setting.

For exemple:

Slice of life humour tv-show set in arthurian time with wizards, mythical sword and monsters ? Fantasy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaamelott)

Slice of life humour comic set in morden-time where talking cactus are a thing and ghosts have been seen once or twice ? Not fantasy (http://www.girlswithslingshots.com/)

(According to me)

tensai_oni
2013-06-27, 06:22 PM
Fantasy is what I point a finger at and and call fantasy.

Weimann
2013-06-27, 07:23 PM
Here's an auxiliary question: if you've read it, would you consider The Master and Margarita (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Master_and_Margarita) to be fantasy?

AgentofHellfire
2013-06-27, 07:47 PM
In Fantasy, we arrive at a different reality from ours by extrapolating from different laws of nature or different starting conditions.

21 words. As opposed to:

In Science Fiction, we either make assumptions of the future from our present or from the past following a diverngence.

20 words.

I think a lot of the definitions in the first post are problematic.

Minz: there can be science in fantasy. It will just be researching different laws.
Resnick: laws of our universe. The fantasy universe will be following its own laws, at least when written consistently.
Adkinson: very narrow. There don't have to be heroes in fantasy, and there can be heroes in reality.


I agree with everything here.

Jay R
2013-06-27, 09:29 PM
It's not 25 words or fewer, but I'm not going to argue with the source. From J.R.R. Tolkien's essay "On Fary Stories":


For my present purpose I require a word which shall embrace both the Sub-creative Art in itself and a quality of strangeness and wonder in the Expression, derived from the Image: a quality essential to fairy-story. I propose, therefore, to arrogate to myself the powers of Humpty-Dumpty, and to use Fantasy for this purpose: in a sense, that is, which combines with its older and higher use as an equivalent of Imagination the derived notions of “unreality” (that is, of unlikeness to the Primary World), of freedom from the domination of observed “fact,” in short of the fantastic. I am thus not only aware but glad of the etymological and semantic connexions of fantasy with fantastic: with images of things that are not only “not actually present,” but which are indeed not to be found in our primary world at all, or are generally believed not to be found there. But while admitting that, I do not assent to the depreciative tone. That the images are of things not in the primary world (if that indeed is possible) is a virtue, not a vice. Fantasy (in this sense) is, I think, not a lower but a higher form of Art, indeed the most nearly pure form, and so (when achieved) the most potent.

Endarire
2013-06-27, 10:12 PM
My "Fantasy" definition as it pertains to the genre:

Dragons. Knights. Castles. Magic. Fantastic. Kings. Princesses. Forests. Villages. Legends. Ancient. Adventure. Imagination. Wish-fulfillment. Heroes. Villains. Characters. Caricatures. Drama. Fairy tales.

Flickerdart
2013-06-28, 12:48 AM
Fireballing orcs.

Tvtyrant
2013-06-28, 01:04 AM
A genre that focuses on the agency of individuals on a world stage and often downplays the role of the mundane.

Scots Dragon
2013-06-28, 01:51 AM
It's not 25 words or fewer, but I'm not going to argue with the source. From J.R.R. Tolkien's essay "On Fary Stories":

The rule of Tolkien is that he's allowed approximately twenty times as many words to say the same thing as other writers. Not that this is a bad thing, though, since he's rather good at using those five hundred words, and does better than many other writers would with a thousand.

inuyasha
2013-06-28, 01:54 AM
Imagination with dragons

The Endbringer Xaraphim
2013-06-28, 02:36 AM
"Fantasy" in 25 words or fewer? Hmm.

"A trio of delicious brown elves wearing corsets and little else."

Sounds about right.

Kitten Champion
2013-06-28, 02:44 AM
Stories that have important human themes.

Lord Raziere
2013-06-28, 02:45 AM
I will do it, in three:

Beyond The Normal.

SuperPanda
2013-06-28, 03:31 AM
Something I might eventually do a literary / linguistic study to investigate whether or not it holds up:


Fantasy, the genre, is the continuation and retelling of our shared cultural heritage, the dream of what we were.

Science Fiction, the genre, is our dreams - both wonderful and horrible - of what we are becoming.

EccentricCircle
2013-06-28, 04:18 AM
Fantasy is a chance for us to venture into realms of dreams and lands of wild imaginings, where every tale we ever told is true.

Totally Guy
2013-06-28, 04:24 AM
It may be redundant but I think that the slightly longer ones say more. :smalltongue:

I really like the two most recent ones by SuperPanda and EccentricCircle.

obliged_salmon
2013-06-28, 10:06 AM
Fantasy is the place where truths of the soul, as opposed to just truths of the mind and body, can come out and play.

24 words.

Arkhosia
2013-06-28, 12:36 PM
Easy:reality ruled by imagination.

Fits any type of fantasy settings except for historical fiction, mainly.