Living the Fantasy Life

The following was originally posted at Nicole Basaraba‘s Uni-Verse-City during her Writing in Different Genres series. I was pretty darn excited to be part of it. Here is the article in its entirely, free from commercial interruptions…

Living the Fantasy Life by Sonia G Medeiros

image via wikipedia

I blame my parents for my obsession with love of fantasy. As a child, I had what you might politely call an active imagination. I was often in trouble at school for daydreaming (though, really, I had already finished the work…usually). But did my parents act quickly to contain this? Did they enforce the boundaries of reality and the dangers of  dwelling in imaginary worlds?

Nope.

In fact, fueled by their passion for science fiction/fantasy, they fed my taste for the unreal with a steady diet of A Wrinkle in Time, Narnia, King Arthur, Wonder Woman, Conan, Lord of the Rings, Edgar Allen Poe, The Twilight Zone and WWF Wrestling (my dad *shrug*). They encouraged me to tell them my odd little tales and allowed me to pretend that I was a warrior princess from a magical world sadly marooned in this one without my powers.

Despicable, right?

Okay, okay. It’s not all their fault. They had some help from my grandfather who, while he may outwardly appear all CNN and Sunday Morning, further indulged my growing predilection for the fantastic by charging me with the task of collecting all the alien pods (actually the fruit of the sweetgum tree) from the lawn (a mighty sneaky way of getting the yard cleaned, if you ask me), listening to my sprawling Smurf epics and allowing me to watch The Neverending Story something like 642 times (although I’m sure he never intended me to make a career of all those wild imaginings).

So, there. As you can plainly see I have my parents (and grandfather) to blame for not being able to keep my feet on the ground or my head out of the clouds.

And I thank them for it every day.

image via wikipedia

Wikipedia neatly defines fantasy as “a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomenon as a primary element of plot, theme or setting” and distinguishes fantasy from two of its closest cousins, science fiction and horror, in that it generally “steers clear of scientific and macabre themes”. Yet, the overlap between fantasy, science fiction and horror is sometimes so great that it may not always be possible to tell where one ends and the next begins.

It seems generally acknowledged that science fiction accepts the natural laws of our universe and so is about stuff that could really happen, fantasy often flagrantly ignores natural laws and is therefore about stuff that couldn’t really happen, and horror could go either way.

I’m sure I don’t have to point out the problem with such a definition.

It’s true that fantasy is full of created worlds where magic reigns, and where there are dragons, wizards, elves, heroes of prophecy, Excaliburs, and kingdoms under siege by Dark Lords. But fantasy isn’t about any of those things as much as it is a way of looking at the world with a childlike openness to Mystery. It does not seek to limit what could be by what is generally considered “real.” The passage to a mystical realm could really be behind that cupboard door, never mind how many times you may have opened it only to find the cereal bowls. Fairies exist even if we never see them. And toys have a secret life.

This openness cuts both ways of course. The child accepts the horrible right along with the delightful. A monster might  live in your closet, no matter what your parents say.  That passage to another world could leave you stranded there forever. And the world is different in the dark.

Fantasy looks at the world with all the wonder and terror of raw childhood.

While science fiction insists on an explanation and horror is often about what should be unreal intruding on the real world, fantasy allows the world to simply be. What is fantastic isn’t necessarily in violation of the natural laws of the universe or unexplainable but neither is essential to the story (besides, sometimes the real seems at least as implausible as the fantastic…quarks, anybody?). Fantasy is the genre of limitless possibilities and the freedom to explore them, whatever the story consequences.

I love science fiction and horror but fantasy holds the dearest spot in my heart because, like Mulder, I want to believe.

A few fantasy suggestions to tickle your fancy:

• Piers Anthony’s very punny The Magic of Xanth series.
• Patricia Brigg’s urban fantasy Mercy Thompson series (yes, it contains hot werewolves and vampires…but they don’t sparkle).
• Greg Keyes Kingdom of Thorn and Bone series, especially The Briar King.
• Michael Ende’s The Neverending Story. As much as I loved the film version as a kid, the novel is vastly superior in every way.

What is fantasy about to you? What are your favorite fantasy stories, movies or television shows? Bonus question for writers: What inspired the genre you write today?

Image Attribution (In Order of Appearance):
Image via Wikipedia
Pain Inducer (Sweetgum Pod) by Jeff Kubina, on Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0
Image via Wikipedia

Are You Brave Enough? – A Not Quite Review of Pixar’s Brave

*What follows is not exactly a review, just my take on Disney-Pixar’s Brave. It may or may not contain spoilers (depends on your definition of spoiler, really).*

Brave is the story of Merida, a princess who prefers riding, exploring and archery to her “proper” duties and her mother, who wants her daughter to grow into a great queen and carry on the ancient traditions of the land. The two cannot see eye to eye and it sparks a conflict that could tear the kingdom apart.

My Little Brony

Rainbow Brite custom MLP by Smantha Claridge as featured on Blog.Spoon Graphics (see link below).

Recently, when we talked about our favorite Saturday morning cartoons, the topic of bronies came up. What are bronies? Bronies are teen/adult male fans of My Little Pony, or MLP (and now I’m hearing Will Smith’s MIB…thank you very much). You know, bro + pony = brony.

And, then, a little light bulb went off…hey, my son is a brony too. Okay, he’s only six, so maybe it doesn’t really count. But he does love the MLPs.

Ray Bradbury Lives On

Last week, I was in the throes of the move (the last one for the next 20 years, at least, if I have anything to say about it) and bereft of Internet. Since I rarely bother to turn on the TV (unless it’s to watch Netflix or something from the DVR) and even more rarely bother to pick up a newspaper, I did not hear about the passing of the great Ray Bradbury until last Sunday.

I wonder what Mr. Bradbury would say about our reliance on the digital word. E-books. Blogs. Google News. Yahoo! News. Search engines. Chat boards. Wikipedia. Facebook. Twitter. Books can be burned at the digital word can be altered. While I delight in the digital, I wonder…

There’s a Story Here Somewhere: Inspirational Images from Flickr

*Looking for the Summer (June – August) Writing Challenge – Every Picture Has a Story? See below for details.*

Flickr is my favorite site to scout for images to use on my blog. There’s a wealth of Creative Commons licensed images and it’s easy to search for them. The images vary widely in quality and artistic value but I’ve rarely failed to find just the right one for a post.

And, of course, it’s all free…which might be the most important factor to a blogger who isn’t making money off her blog.

My Favorites stream over there is already jammed with more images than I can use in a couple of years but I just keep adding more. So many of the images I’ve encountered have captured my imagination, inspiring blog posts, stories and stories-to-be. Here are some that have really stuck with me even though they have no story…yet:

Got Apocalypse?

I have, in the past, admitted a predilection for both disaster and horror flicks. And since a good many movies from either of those genres fall into the apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic categories, it follows that I would also have a twisted obsession interest in apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic stories.

Just what is it about the apocalypse that makes (some of) our hearts go pitter patter?

I suspect it’s the same reason that disaster flicks and horror movies are so appealing. Giant odds and hope. Throw ordinary people into the worst possible situation and watch them rise to the occasion (or die trying).

And maybe we also love it because, on some level, we all worry about the end of everything. We wonder whether will survive. We wonder whether our loved ones will survive. And we hope there’s a hero inside of us instead of a monster.

Living the Fantasy Life

First of all, a couple of announcements:

• The awesome Lara Schiffbauer is posting at the Life List Club blog. Head on over and check it out.
• Stay tuned. I’ve got an offering for that April-May Writing Challenge at the bottom of this post.

And, now, on with the show…

I’m guest posting today and Nicole Basaraba’s Uni-Verse-City! She’s wrapping up the series on Writing in Different Genres and I’m doing a post on fantasy. I am way beyond thrilled to be part of this series. Please check out the other fantastic writers who contributed.

Living the Fantasy Life by Sonia G Medeiros

I blame my parents for my obsession with love of fantasy. As a child, I had what you might politely call an active imagination. I was often in trouble at school for daydreaming (though, really, I had already finished the work…usually). But did my parents act quickly to contain this? Did they enforce the boundaries of reality and the dangers of  dwelling in imaginary worlds?

Nope.

Once Upon a Curse

Welcome to Parallel Tuesdays, where magic and science are two sides of the same coin…

What if your happily ever after was taken away along with everyone you ever loved? What if you were ripped from your world and imprisoned forever, without hope or even the memory of hope? What if your one chance at freedom didn’t even believe in happy endings?

That’s the premise of the new ABC show Once Upon a Time. Jealous of Snow

And the Writer Said, Let there be Blogs (and a ROW80 Check-In)

blog fatigue: (blawg fuh-teeg) noun

1.  the condition of being overwhelmed by one’s blog and/or the number of blogs to read, often characterized by an avoidance of blogging related activities and a loss of the pleasure previously associated with those activities

Last week, we discussed whether or not an epidemic blog fatigue was on the horizon. The consensus seemed to be that the risk of blog fatigue has indeed sky-rocketed but it doesn’t have to take any of us down.

Blogging and social media gives writers the opportunity to connect with a vast number of other writers, to see

In the Company of Wolves – Little Red Riding Hood, Part 2

In Part 1 of this series, we explored the meaning of Little Red Riding Hood and a bit about its origins. If you missed it or want to refresh your memory, you can find Part 1 here.

Little Red Riding Hood is a tale so rich with meaning and archetypal imagery, it begs to be reimagined and retold. Two such stories are Kait Nolan‘s  Red and Jackson Pearce’s Sisters Red. Both novels draw us into the world where the Wolf is very, very real.