This month at the Speculative Salon, we're discussing blended genres in fantasy fiction. It’s easy to see the
popularity of adding romantic elements to fantasy, as evidenced by the thriving
paranormal romance and urban fantasy genres. Even many epic tales include
stories of love, yearning, and passion. Why?
Two good reasons.
Fans of fantasy crave an escape from ordinary life. Authors in the genre pride
themselves on world-building techniques that will deliver those thrills. Give
an epic fantasy book to a non-fantasy reader and their heads will spin with the
number of characters and details of setting. To me, I love to visualize nooks
and crannies of an alternate world, looking for hidden joys and treasures I
might never find in real life. Why then would an author be wise to include
something as ordinary and commonplace as a love theme?
While escapism
does fuel the need for most to read fantasy, readers usually don’t want to
become totally lost from all known mores and customs. Without some familiar
elements, it’s difficult to judge character development and interactions. As
much as we eagerly anticipate the wildly imaginative worlds, we also need a
thread of normalcy to allow comparison. Otherwise, readers would be incapable
of feeling connected to the characters. The depth of emotional commitment to
even the most rigorous fantasy quest would be intangible—the thrill of the
adventurous ride meaningless. So authors seek to include a universally known
element. Love relationships are part of our everyday lives. The associated feelings
transcend language and culture. What could be better as a commonly understood
theme to allow the reader a comparative ruler?
Using that
technique, romance can serve as a lifeline back to reality for a fantasy
aficionado who becomes overwhelmed by the newness of the fantasy world. Also, readers
can hold onto the love theme while cautiously immersing into the newness, like sticking
a toe into the unfamiliar environ. Urban fantasy is an entire subgenre that
purposely employs this writing device as a foundation, requiring the works be
set in a known city.
While that reason
is a highly technical, writerly answer, there’s another that is more alluring. Consider
all the highs and lows the average person faces during a lifetime—schooling,
career, finding a partner, caring for family, aging. The part that most closely
approximates the otherworldly rush of emotions, where you feel like you’re
living in a fairytale, is romance. It’s an everyday magical experience, where
you expect your dreams to be fulfilled. Of course, many times they aren’t and
we suffer heartache, but most often we soon get back on the horse and renew our
faith in the promise of magic in someone’s smile.
That fantasy is too
tempting to avoid. We yearn to find someone who believes we’re special beyond
compare. That tendency is imprinted in our human nature, as evidenced by
psychologist Abraham Maslow in his Hierarchy of Needs. The need to be loved is level three of five,
just after safety and security. This is more important to the human psyche than
self-esteem or self-actualization of individuality. Considering the importance of being loved,
it’s not hard to understand how adding romance to our fantasy plays on our
inherent nature. Romance undeniably enhances that dream-world. Little else so immediately
recognizable releases such a rush of oxytocin and dopamine neurotransmitters,
transporting us to another place—our own cloud nine where the birds sing more
sweetly and the sun shines a bit brighter. A perfect complement to a fantasy
plot.
Art credit: By Creator:John Anster Fitzgerald ([1]) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
2 comments:
Such a lovely post, Marsha. I really like the part about romance being an everyday sort of magic. It's so true and does bring a bit of fantasy of a sort into our lives :)
It puts some color into our lives! :-)
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