Fantasy Sub-Genres – What do you write?

[Stephanie FlintParticipant]

Hey there! For those of you writing Fantasy, what sub-genre do you write? Thought it might be nice to see who’s working with what sub-genre.

I write:

* YA Epic/Secondary World Fantasy (beginning leans younger YA or middle-grade, but leans more older YA later in the series)
* Epic/Secondary World Fantasy (same series, but older characters and themes)

How about you? 🙂

If I do two cookies for this challenge, I’m thinking of basing my second cookie on my YA epic fantasy series.

[Benjamin SmithParticipant]

You had me at epic fantasy, Stephanie! Probably my favorite subgenre, from Raymond Feist to Robert Jordan to Brandon Sanderson to David Eddings to Kate Elliott.

I’ve been trying to nail down the genre of my secondary world Necrolopolis universe. There are dark elements to it since the main character is a necromancer and he deals with the undead and all the various woes that come from that, but the tone isn’t bleak like a lot of dark fantasy is. So far, the only stories published in that universe are short form, so I’ve shied away from epic storytelling, although the worldbuilding is there for it and the novels will feature epic plot-lines and situations from time to time. There’s a mystery detective feel to some of the stories, so we’ve got a bit of noir going on.

…Yeah. That’s been a problem of mine. I don’t mind blending the genres since I’ve done probably close to a dozen short stories in this world, but trying to categorize it has been a trial, and one I need to overcome if I’m to market this first book properly.

My cookie will be an origin story that shows how the main character, necromancer Adelvell Brightmere, wound up as the assistant to the director of Necrolopolis, home to some four million undead souls waiting for their chance to cross over to the other side. That’ll be to attract new readers to the mailing list.

If I end up doing a second cookie, it might be the one I want to add as back-matter to the first book. “Want to know what happens to the B-Team while Adelvell and his A-Team are over here? Well, sign up here and…”

[Jobie BaldwinParticipant]

I write YA urban fantasy but I have a spin-off which is adult urban / contemporary fantasy. One of my cookies this month is going to be YA urban.

[Katje van LoonParticipant]

/waves. Hey all!

So the two series I have books published in are Epic Fantasy and Portal Fantasy. Ish. Genres tend to get murky for me really quickly, but so far that’s what I have them pegged as.

The epic fantasy is set on a planet that was colonized by Terrans many millennia in the past for them — gives me a lot of room to work in that universe to write all sorts of stories, which is good because my brain is bursting with plot bunnies and having to start from scratch with worldbuilding every time is a pain.

That said, I do have to do some worldbuilding for my main cookie…help I keep making more work for myself.

I’m planning on doing a villain origin story for my epic fantasy series, though while I was planning in the planning pop-up session I came up with an idea for a cookie for my portal fantasy series…so I may end up doing 2 cookies for this challenge!

I’ve also now realized that two side-stories I want to do within those series will work much better as cookies than actual releases, so I just keep adding cookies to my baking sheet… XD

[TammiKeymaster]

“help I keep making more work for myself.”

Girl, you have come to the wrong place if this is the help you need. 😂

[Katje van LoonParticipant]

I have realized that… 😀

[SabrinaParticipant]

I write usually write:
*Adult (Erotic) fantasy
*Paranormal fantasy
*Futuristic
*Low fantasy

The cookie for the series I’m writing for is a bit darker than my usual stories, so I’m expanding out of my normal genres. I’m not sure if it would be considered a dark fantasy or a grimdark fantasy.

My book series I’m writing is about a magical criminal organization. My main character, Esias, has to rise through their criminal ranks or risk being assassinated. The cookie itself explores the relationship of the two love interests, Callum and Hyatt before they became allies with Esias and then a throuple.

[Michelle McLennanParticipant]

I write YA Sci-Fi/Fantasy but I would also call it Urban Fantasy with aliens.

[Katje van LoonParticipant]

>urban fantasy with aliens

I’m intrigued. O.O

[Michelle McLennanParticipant]

Genres get murky for me too, Katje!

[Isla ElrickParticipant]

Under the pen name Genevra Black, I write urban fantasy! Under this new pen name, I’m trying my hand at fantasy romance 🙂

Nice to meet everyone!!

[Andrew GordonParticipant]

So far I’ve written mostly epic fantasy – of the high fantasy variety. I’ve also released one urban fantasy with a new series starting next month. All of my books have LGBTQA+ characters (mostly Gay men – that whole write what you know? IDK) although I rarely have sex on page in my books.

I’m pretty happy to see so many fantasy writers in the challenge – opens up a whole new set of books I can check out and read. Glad to “meet” you all.

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