There are many things about being a writer I love, but the best is how far my imagination can go. As a fantasy writer, everything is real. Characters can fly and walk through walls and become invisible, and be shape-shifters.
I have control over them and I can let my imagination run as far and as wild as I want. It’s extremely liberation, for a writer, to have a blank space where absolutely anything can and will happen.
It’s a great escape from reality for me and, I hope, my readers. I want to take them places they never knew existed. The beauty of stories is that they transport you to another place.
It just opens up the possibilities for plots, characters, and storylines. In fantasy, we can go wherever we like and get there in many more unconventional ways. We can go to places that only exist right here in this story.
I think that’s what makes it so appealing to writers and readers of fantasy. It’s pure freedom. Anything is possible and that is really quite magical. A world where anything can happen without risk.
Fantasy stories lend themselves nicely to going further and doing follow-ups or a series of books. You may get a great idea that just simply doesn’t fit in with the story you are working on but would be perfect later on.
Epic quests are a big part of fantasy, regardless of what the characters are after. You can take them on their journey and throw all sorts of fantastic challenges at them.
Mythical creatures and strange, unbelievable places are fun to read and write. They can all be based on something real with their own fantastic attributes. You can go back in time or shoot way ahead to the future.
That’s not to say that absolutely anything goes. There needs to be character development and plots and the characters need their own parts that make us sympathize, despise or cheers for.
I also think it’s fun to mix the ordinary with the extraordinary. It makes it more believable when regular things can come to life or transform. It’s also fun when they don’t.
As kids, I think we are all fascinated by magic. The first magic trick we ever see takes us to another plain. It’s something that can’t be real but we are watching it happen right in front of us, so it has to be real.
Whether it is a simple card trick or the lady being sawed in two, it changes our perception of things and we want to pry it open and see how it all works. That’s the beauty of it. You can show the work and let all the magic unfold.
I think people like the release from reality. We all need to escape sometimes and a great fantasy book can do that. I think all genres of books can do that, transport us somewhere new for a while.
Being a writer means I can do it any time I want. I can jot down ideas that come to me and then when I sit down to write, I have all these bits that can add and work in.
There is a great deal of freedom to being a writer. Sometimes I might feel inspired in the morning, sometimes I might feel like writing in the evening. I can get out of my regular space to work as well. I can go to the park, a cafe, the library, or just various places in my home.
I think many people don’t get to utilize their imaginations as a writer can. Not that they lack any, but many likely don’t have the time or the outlet. It really is the ideal way to answer, ‘what if’.
And with fantasy, that ‘what if’ can be endless. Whether it’s magic portals, magic carpets, or magic potions, once you want a character to do something or go somewhere, you just find ways to take them there.
I like pushing myself to come up with ideas that are new and have new twists. It’s exciting because you can do anything you want. That’s the freedom of fantasy writing.
I think there is a release for the reader in all types of stories, romance, and history, but fantasy for me is the more fun and the most freeing. I think it takes just as much imagination to write a novel based in reality, but it deals with the emotions of the characters.
Fantasy is bigger in some way and takes us further along in the journey to escape and visit other worlds. I can take the characters and the readers along on such a marvelous journey, and that’s the best part of writing and writing fantasy.
