What is soft fantasy?

Soft in this context refers to the amount of "fantasy" in the main story. For example - ASOIAF would be considered soft fantasy because the fantasy elements are played down (more so than in other fantasy). Ties in with this idea of "hard" SF being more technically intense than "soft" SF or "space opera".

Is Harry Potter low or high fantasy?

Harry Potter is considered low fantasy, sort of. It's set in the real world, but a wizarding world also exists, which is high fantasy. This is similar to works like Alice in Wonderland, His Dark Materials, The Chronicles of Narnia and so on, where both reality and a false-reality exist.

What is considered low fantasy?

Low fantasy, or intrusion fantasy, is a subgenre of fantasy fiction in which magical events intrude on an otherwise-normal world. The term thus contrasts with high fantasy stories, which take place in fictional worlds that have their own sets of rules and physical laws.

What is considered hard fantasy?

Hard fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy literature that strives to present stories set in (and often centered on) a rational and knowable world. Hard fantasy is similar to hard science fiction, from which it draws its name, in that they all aim to build their respective worlds in a rigorous and logical manner.

What are the two types of fantasy?

There are a few essential subgenres of fantasy: High or epic fantasy. Low fantasy.

On Writing: soft magic systems in fantasy [ Tolkien l Game of Thrones l Harry Potter ]

What are the 4 types of fantasy?

Mendlesohn posits four categories of fantasy—portal-quest, immersive, intrusion, and liminal—that arise out of the relationship of the protagonist to the fantasy world.

What is a personal fantasy?

A fantasy is a situation imagined by an individual or group, which does not correspond with reality but expresses certain desires or aims of its creator. Fantasies typically involve situations which are impossible (such as with magical thinking) or highly unlikely (such as world peace).

What is middle fantasy?

Middle fantasy or mid-fantasy is a middle ground, the sub-genre for fantasy books that are high-ish but also low-ish. In middle fantasy, the rules are bent, known mythologies and folklores are explored, and magic abounds!

Is Harry Potter hard or soft magic?

There are dozens of potions, charms, monsters, plants, and spells that appear, make an impression, and then vanish into the history of read pages. Because of all this, the wondrous and often whimsical world of Harry Potter sits in the middle of the Hard/Soft Magic spectrum.

What defines dark fantasy?

Dark fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy literary, artistic, and cinematic works that incorporate disturbing and frightening themes of fantasy. It often combines fantasy with elements of horror or has a gloomy dark tone or a sense of horror and dread.

Is Harry Potter a urban fantasy?

The same is true for Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse series and other works of urban fantasy. Harry Potter, by contrast, does not take place in urban environments (a few isolated moments aside) and the majority of the story takes place in fictional locations, mostly in and around Hogwarts Castle.

What is grounded fantasy?

Grounded Fantasy is fantasy that has one foot firmly planted on solid ground, and one firmly planted in fantasy. There is magic, but it's not over-powered. There is the fantastic, but it meshes with harsh reality.

What is high fantasy vs fantasy?

High fantasy, also known as epic fantasy, takes place in a secondary world that is unfamiliar to anything that we know. This difference in the setting is the main element that sets high fantasy apart from low fantasy, which exists in the primary world, Earth, or something similar.

Is Game of Thrones high fantasy?

Both The Wheel of Time and Game of Thrones are “high fantasy” stories. That means they take place in a fully imagined world entirely divorced from our normal reality. This is the opposite of a “low fantasy” story, like the Harry Potter series. That series takes place in the world as we know it.

Is Alice in Wonderland high fantasy?

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, a fantasy novel by the Oxford mathematics don, Charles Dodgson under the pseudonym, Lewis Carroll, was published in 1865. It is the highly imaginative tale of a girl who falls through a rabbit hole into a dream world populated by an array of fantastic characters.

Is LOTR low fantasy?

The Lord of the Rings is considered an epic high fantasy saga.

What is soft magic?

Soft magic systems are the opposite of hard magic systems: they don't need to have a clearly defined set of rules. As the reader, you may never truly understand what can and can't be accomplished with magic, but that's okay—you don't feel you need to in order to enjoy the story.

What is liminal fantasy?

Liminal Fantasy

A fantasy of estrangement, of the possible, of the fantastic lurking at the edge of the perception of both reader and protagonist, with neither quite accepting the other's understanding of what the fantastic elements are.

Is Witcher low fantasy?

Obviously there are a lot of monsters and magic in The Witcher, which points towards a high fantasy setting. But the storyline revolves around character conflicts and realms at war with no clear good or bad guys. This would hint at low fantasy. In the end, it's a mix of both genres.

What is a portal fantasy?

Portal Fantasy is a sub-genre of Alternate World Fiction and similar to Crosswords Fantasy. Portal Fantasy invites readers to travel with ordinary characters, through a doorway [portal of some type] into another world, where they find an escape from the.

What are some woman's fantasy?

Overall, sex in "unusual" or "romantic" places was the most common fantasy, and fantasies of sexual submission were also among the most popular. Interestingly, past studies have found that women who reported having sexual fantasies involving submission were more sexually satisfied than women without such fantasies.

What is an emotional fantasy?

The Emotional Fantasy

It is mildly addictive, as individuals strive to hear the same song over and over to take them to another place. People may think of relatives, a long-lost love, a place they visited, or even another planet.

What is fantasy in a relationship?

A fantasy relationship is a one-sided relationship where one person develops feelings for the other person and obsesses over being in a romantic relationship with them. Also known as limerence, it includes constantly daydreaming and fantasizing about their object of attraction.

What is the most popular fantasy genre?

High Fantasy / Epic Fantasy

Perhaps the most traditional sub-genre, high fantasy or epic fantasy takes place in an entirely fictional fantasy world. The stories are often lengthy and epic, involving multiple characters and large-scale quests where the fate of the world rests on the shoulders of the heroes.

How do you write a dark fantasy?

Some dark fantasy writers combine elements of horror with elements of fantasy to create a story set in an otherworldly place. Other dark fantasy writers apply psychological elements to a fantastical premise and create stories that are more about dystopia or the apocalypse.