An (Attempted) Defense of Fantasy

This post has been reworked from a paper from last year.

When asked about my occupation I find myself dreading the invariable string of questions that follow my admission to being a writer: “what do you write,” they always ask, and then I have to admit that generally I write fantasy fiction (though I have taken to saying ‘fantastic fiction’ to include some of my other works), which is just not something you do in polite society. Other questions often follow: they ask things like “have you written anything worth-while?” (as if fantasy fiction itself is not worth their time) or “what made you decide to write fantasy?” (like it was a bad decision). These seemingly simple questions bring up a whole morass of hidden assumptions that plague my field. Fantasy fiction is invariably looked down upon by both art critics, literary professors, and often even by the ordinary man on the street. Many, if not most, people consider fantasy to be mere escapism, not worthy of serious consideration and certainly not worthy of a serious writer, but there is value in fantasy fiction that is often overlooked. There are truths that can more easily be communicated in a world well constructed separate from our own.

The first thing that has to be recognized to come to a clear understanding of fantasy is that there is more to fantasy fiction than scantily clad women in fabulously impractical ‘armor’, hulking men with huge swords, and antagonists who invariably return from the dead. While these things have become iconic of the genre, and admittedly have influenced more than their fair share of works, the heart of the genre is about a lot more. At it’s heart Fantasy is about looking at the world through a new lens; about comparison and contrast, about seeing the details of our own world reflected against an alien background; about showing what it means to be human in a world that has different stresses than our own.

When an author starts writing fiction their goal is to draw the reader into another world, whether that world resembles the world the reader lives in or not. As the author does this he is forced to focus his interpretation on specific aspects of the world; it is impossible to portray every aspect of the real world in a fictional setting. As such the author interprets the world as he sees it and focuses his interpretation into a ‘false reality’; with respectable generic fiction this reality is often assumed to be closer to the truth, but by being ‘closer’ to the truth it also hides the differences between it and truth. By presenting a reality that is clearly differentiated from our own fantasy gives the reader a better contrasted background against which to draw out the truth. Fantasy fiction allows the author to place events in a context of differing ethics, politics, and assumptions which allows the author to play out human psychology in situations that are impossible in the real world and which can bring revelation of human nature closer to the surface. The more literary-inclined might say that this is merely the easier way to achieve clarity of truth, but when you look at the detail necessary to create a believable and interactive world that differs from our own—that claim rings false. It might be less nuanced, but that doesn’t make it simpler or less true.

Worldbuilding takes a lot of effort to accomplish well: the author should take into account many aspects of human psychology, physiology, and sociology as he constructs a believable sense of humanity against a backdrop of different geographies, biologies, politics, religions, even physics. Every aspect of the world around them affects an individual human in different ways, the equations to figure out the human mind become more complicated the farther you move from reality.

Another misconception is that fantasy fiction is easier to write because you can just make anything up and it will work, but fantasy still bears the burden of plausibility, in fact it bears the burden even stronger than most other forms of fiction. Fantasy relies on the reader being willing to suspend their disbelief and enter another world; to do this effectively the author needs to give the reader reason to suspend disbelief; the author needs to give the reader a world which the reader can accept as possible for the story to be effective. As soon as the author loses internal consistency—the reader has left the world and the structure of the story is shattered. An author writing in a world that is exactly like our own does not bear as heavy a responsibility; he just has to stay true to what can actually happen and the reader will generally be willing to go along with it. Fantasy fiction is certainly not easier to write than it is to write any other type of story. Every genre has its own difficulties, weaknesses, and strengths, but they all require a certain level of effort and skill to do well.

Another conception about fantasy is the belief that escapism is necessarily and always a bad thing. I’m not saying that this is necessarily wrong, I myself try not to engage in mere escapism. But I would like to raise the question. In our own world situations are so complex that we often have difficulty separating the right decisions from the wrong. This complicated web of muddled perceptions and difficult decisions is a confusing and frustrating mess. Sometimes it is nice to be able to take a step back into a world where absolute truth is easier to find, where evil can be recognized by the color of their robes, and where decisions are easier to make. Escape in that sense could even possibly bring clarity to situations when the reader comes back into his own world. But even if it doesn’t it certainly can provide moments of relaxation away from the troubles of reality by showing the reader a world where troubles are much more obvious but just as expansive, where evil is clearly delineated, and where good will actually triumph. All of these things can bring a sense of peace and relaxation into an otherwise tense and hectic world. Whether it is in a right or wrong way, fantasy gives us hope.

Fantasy is often looked down upon as a lesser form of art, if it is considered to be art at all. While it may be true that many of the representatives of the genre do not present works of high art, the same can be said of practitioners of literary fiction, general fiction, and any other genre you could consider. The genre itself has just as much artistic potential as any other. Inferior works of art have been created in all genres, persuasions, and languages. To dismiss the artistic potential of an entire genre based on the flaws of a few, or even many, specific instances is not a fair assessment. There are great writers who have made use of the fantasy genre. I need only point to Tolkien and George MacDonald to prove that the potential exists (If I were trying to make this a more solidly supported paper I should probably back that claim up with actual support, but since this is just a blog post I’ll let it slide).

Fantasy fiction has its place, it might not be the most important genre, but let it not be said that it is silly, trivial, or completely lacking artistic potential. It can bring out truth about humanity, it can communicate ideas and philosophies, and it can provide relaxation. All of these things are worthy goals and I spend hours doing the best that I can to create artistic, believable, and consistent worlds through which to explore serious concepts that have real bearing on this world. Do not dismiss what I do just because it is ‘fantastic’. Give it a chance. Read it before you make a decision.