Why Fantasy?

I’ve considered this question of my own accord many times, and I have been asked many more times why I prefer to read and write fantasy. My immediate response: creativity. Its unadulterated imagination and escapism sit comfortably alongside powerful themes. As a child I was exposed to classic fairy tales in film and print. As a teen I discovered romance novels, and I preferred sweeping historical sagas. Then I met my husband who in many ways is the final and major curator of my love of fantasy. He introduced me to the creationism that is the essence of roleplaying games and he was a reader of novels that ran in volumes of 3 or more. The characters were enchanting, the worlds had seeds of the familiar but introduced magic users, monsters and gods that walked openly upon strange worlds. Along with the foreign worlds came races and cultures that were believable yet fantastical. And the quests! Facing immeasurable odds, saving worlds, defeating gods and evils – these were just the start of where the incredible tales led many formidable characters.

Soon, I was making lists of strangely spelled names with questionable pronunciations. I was drawing characters with crowns, swords or pointed ears. I was creating character after character with histories so full that I was inspired to build a whole plot-line from. Some of these never saw an adventure, it was the joy of creating them and their stories that carried me. I was pulling graph paper from my math binder to create maps complete with legends and journey lines. I wrote pen on paper literally filling notebooks and binders with culture descriptions, maps colored in pencil crayon and character descriptions. In highschool, my final creative writing project was what my english teacher called a novella, complete with a point form plot line to fill the spaces between full chapters. In university, when I had the opportunity to do a project on greek tragedies...I wrote one of my own in short story format.

Looking back now I see these elements of fantasy in my earlier interests settling new and unfamiliar worlds as a pioneer. The love triangle that swings the character from good to evil like a pendulum. The dark secrets and troubled pasts of flawed and fascinating characters that in the hands of a skilled writer find growth if not resolution. As with any art form, writing regardless of its genre is a human experience and there will be similarities that surface time and time again. Yet it is interesting the allure that one format or another can have on a person. I listen to non-fiction focusing on news radio, and crime podcasts. I watch fiction and non-fiction in series or movie format ranging from documentaries to reality shows to movies, movies and more movies - of almost every genre. While I have read other fiction and some classics, I am drawn to the section of the library and the bookstore that has many of the longest running series’ and in my opinion the most whimsical art.

Fantasy is my true escape, yarns that pull me deeply into the pages and tangle up my time in a most delightful way.