Friday 2 July 2010

Final Post: Dolly Garland - Why I Write Fantasy?

According to Oxford Dictionary, Fantasy is "a genre of imaginative fiction involving magic and adventure, especially in setting other than real world."

Magic. Adventure. Heroism. Fantasy makes it all possible. Even the least brave of us can travel through jungles, climb the highest mountain and fight the fiercest tiger. Fantasy makes impossible possible. Even the science fiction I like is because of its fantasy element - imagining things that could be or might be. Worlds that are similar enough to ours to portray humanity that we can relate to, characters we can care about, but different enough to show us a glimpse of a different, magical world that at some point in our life we wish to be in.

Fantasy opens the doors of imagination. It enriches our ordinary world. Fantasy offers a wide scope, with little magic that changes a person or something that changes a world. It could be a new way of looking at our own world, or a journey to completely different one. Fantasy could be anything, and as a writer and a reader of it, it makes me feel that I could be anything. 

I also like the freedom of being able to create my own worlds, and play with magic and creating societies. The most amazing thing is to make it believable, to portray it with such vividity that while people read it, they believe in the existence of that world. To sit in one's living room, and face the dragons or wield a sword or fall in love with a wizard or a vampire....where else could you have it all, but in a fantasy? 

P.S. "Why I Write..." series is at the end. Thank you to all the contributors and all the readers. I have enjoyed reading about what makes you love your genres.

6 comments:

  1. Dolly, I have thoroughly enjoyed this series! Great job.

    I love how you say that fantasy opens the door to the imagination. Even as a reader I feel this.

    I also left an award for you on my blog. Come check it out! :)

    Have a GREAT weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Karen,

    I am glad you enjoyed it :-) Thank you so much for the award. Just checked it out, and I will do a post about it in a few days.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This was such a great series, I'm sorry it had to come to an end!

    I like the definition the Oxford dictionary gives fantasy: "a genre of imaginative fiction". That pretty much says it all, doesn't it?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Glad that you enjoyed it Carol. But you know what they say -- all good things come to an end ;))

    Now I will just have to think up another interesting guest post series.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I really enjoyed this series, Dolly! Loved your take on why you write fantasy! It is a nice excape to read about amazing made up worlds!

    Nice job, and thank you for having me be a part of it ;o)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Well said. I love fantasy because it is a world of possibility.

    ReplyDelete