The type of writing commonly called “fantasy” is further defined as “fiction with a large amount of imagination in it.” The identifying trait of fantasy writing is the inclusion of fantastic elements in a self-coherent setting (wikipedia.com). So the writer of fantasy creates a world peopled by believable characters, albeit with traits or features uncommon in our daily existence. The fantasy writer brings them to life in a believable alternate reality, not only to the writer, but to those who would read his/her words.
Much of fantasy writing is based on myth, legend, or history. Some of the oldest known written documents, i.e.,
Epic of Gilgamesh,
The Odyssey,
The Arthurian Legends contain elements of fantasy blended with then-current reality
Fantasy is simultaneously ‘classic’ and ‘new’ ~ as dynamic as the authors who regale us with their perceptions, reality, research, and imagination. Some fantasy stories of the ‘50s and ‘60s envisioned travel to the moon. That is now a page in our history books, albeit missing some of the more colorful antagonists (at least that we know)
.
As a dynamic form, fantasy writing incorporates and embraces knowledge and technology, along with history and vision. Today one can read of battles with fire breathing dragons in medieval times, and tomorrow of battles with Ragnarok in a Final Fantasy manga story. (Did you note the incorporation of Norse mythology in this futuristic other world setting?).
Manga stories in particular blend elements of role-playing games with mythology, history, science ~ (Dungeons and Dragons, Final Fantasy. The adventures created by manga writers and depicted by anime artists might be fantastic and visionary today, but who knows, like the fantasies penned half a century ago imagining space travel, they could one day be someone’s history.
To Wake the Muse of Imagination and Fantasy
As we mortals dig out from beneath snowdrifts, so too are the nascent buds of spring pushing through their carapace of earth and ice.
I challenge you to spend a few minutes observing the first green fronds reaching up toward the sky, warmed by the sun, and envision what they can become given only the boundaries of your imagination
~ Will your fronds take flight on spindly feet, soar to the sky with twirling buds, or lull to sleep a crying babe with the jasmine scented petals they produce.
Send me the link to your fantasy by email, or post it directly, in form of a poem or flash fiction (500 words or thereabouts) by
Friday, March 23rd, and I'll send you 313 gps (real, not fantasy ones)
.