Why I write fantasy

I was discussing with some friends the other night about the genre of Fantasy. I was expressing how even after all this time, I still hesitate to tell people I write fantasy. I grew up during the 80s and the 90s, and during that time, Fantasy, D&D, and the genre in general was made fun of and ridiculed. You're a gamer? You mean you play that geeky game where you pretend to be an elf and roll dice? Yes. Yes I do.

But at the time, if you did play D&D, or if you like dragons and elves, you kept your mouth shut about those things unless you absolutely knew the other person was cool with it. Otherwise, you were going to end up the butt of someone's joke, or most likely... jokes.

So, despite everything that has happened to the genre over the past decade or more, Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, Big Bang Theory and even shows like Strange Things, or to some extent comic book movies. (They may not have elves or dragons, but they are just as fantastical.) Despite all of this, I still am afraid of being judged when I tell people I write fantasy.

Gradually, I am getting over it, but it is often times a knee jerk reaction. But I digress, I was supposed to be telling you why I write fantasy. Well... in a way, I just did.

Fantasy, has been my life for as long as I can remember. When I was given the book, "The Magical Beast of Eld," by my sister. I was hooked. From there it went to Narnia, and Wrinkle in Time(I know it's a little sci-fi, but it is also fantasy in my opinion) Then I was gaming. Playing D&D. Eventually, that turned to DMing. I was a poor kid and a little bit stingy when it came to money, so I always felt, why buy a module when you can just create one? So that is what I did. I wrote my own modules, and they were well liked. Eventually, this led to a desire to write more than just modules, and while I played around with writing, I never really poured myself into it. That would come later.

I think the beauty of Fantasy and even Sci-fi is that you can have all of the other genres inside those genres. If you want to have a murder mystery involving orcs, go for it. If you want to have a hot steamy romance novel involving Dark Elves, awesome! If you want to have a western with cowboys and goblins, that is cool. If you want to write a political intrigue story that is ultimately inconsequential because of the frozen zombie apocalypse, then you are George R. R. Martin.

The point is, I feel like Fantasy is one of the holy trinities of genres. It is like the one of the three grandfather genres that all the other genres reside in. You have Real World, Fantasy, and Sci-fi. All the other genres fit into these three in one shape or the other.

And that is why I like to write (and read) Fantasy. The story is just as important as the world. But when you have a world you have created, or someone else has, it brings it to a whole new level. I want someone to be blown away by the world that I have created, but also be drawn into the story and never want to leave.

When I created the Lycan War Saga, I did not choose to write a contemporary fantasy novel. The story chose it, and I went with it. I am happy I did. While the story of Sylvanis and Kestrel is fascinating (and yes, I plan to revisit their origins) the real story was how this would play out in modern times. That is how the story unfolded in my head. "Shards of the Coven" I am itching to get to work on, because I will be returning, in a way, to true fantasy. The world is my own, the people are my own, the societies are my own. Everything has come from my head and no where else. But I need to finish the Lycan War Saga first, then "Shards." In the meantime, I do plan on releasing some short stories that will introduce you to the world in which, "Shards of the Coven" takes place in. Those I will make available to those who have signed on to my newsletter, and also, to those who go on instafreebie.com.

Till next time...