by Jenelle Schmidt

If I could only pick one reason to read fantasy novels, that reason would be dragons.
Is there anything in fiction cooler than a dragon? I submit that there is not! They fly, they breathe fire, sometimes they even talk! And if you're like me, you're convinced that the leviathan discussed in Job 41 was not an alligator... but a DRAGON!
"His snorting throws out flashes of light; his eyes are like the rays of dawn. Firebrands stream from his mouth; sparks of fire shoot out. Smoke pours from his nostrils as from a boiling pot over a fire of reeds. His breath sets coals ablaze, and flames dart from his mouth." Job 41:18-21
A lot of things make up a fantasy story, but dragons are the heart and soul of fantasy. Other mythical beasts are cool, but there is something about a dragon that just makes the heart beat a bit more quickly, that inspires awe, that make the spirit soar at the mere possibility. Good or evil, there is something inspirational and immediately adventurous about a story that has dragons.
Some of my favorite quotes about dragons were penned in The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien:
"Never laugh at live dragons."
 “It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him.”
What is it about dragons? I honestly don't know.
But I think this other quote by Tolkien might answer the question:
"I should like to save the Shire, if I could - though there have been times when I thought the inhabitants too stupid and dull for words, and have felt that an earthquake or an invasion of dragons might be good for them."
And there it is. Dragons catch our eye. They mesmerize us. They leave us breathless. They shake us out of our routine and our comfort zones. Perhaps, though unpleasant, they may even be good for us. They threaten what we know to be stable and secure, and make us re-evaluate our priorities. They are so much bigger and stronger and cleverer than we... and in the face of their might we are like children looking up at the stars and realizing how insignificant we really are in the face of such a vast universe. And yet, dragons can be defeated, overcome, conquered... some can even be tamed and ridden! And that is where the true glory of dragons in fantasy comes in - because they remind us that our trials and troubles do not have to defeat us, they do not have to define us. Like Eustace in Voyage of the Dawn Treader, who encounters the worst dragon of all: himself... we can overcome the dragon before us... and thankfully we who are Christians do not need to face them or defeat them on our own.
​

Jenelle is a rare and elusive creature known as an "author." She enjoys wandering through the woods and opening doors in search of hidden passageways. She can sometimes be found in darkened corners of libraries or coffee shops sipping hot chocolate and carrying on animated conversations with those strange and invisible beings known as "characters."

http://jenelleschmidt.com  
http://www.facebook.com/JenelleLeanneSchmidt/  

by Jenelle Schmidt

​If I had to pick a single reason to love fantasy, however, today's topic would be it. The characters. Fantasy characters are something special, wouldn't you agree? I'm not sure what it is about them, but there is a depth and a refinement that occurs in fantasy characters that can be hard to find in other genres. The best characters in any genre step off the page, they mirror ourselves, they shed light on our souls and reveal hidden strengths and give us courage to face our own circumstances with heads held high.
Fantasy boasts many different types of characters, and I cannot hope to touch on all of them, but I'm just going to address two main types...
The seemingly-inconsequential character who gets swept up in events too large for him or her. So much fantasy starts right there, and I love it. An ordinary human, dwarf, halfling, elf, what-have-you character is minding his own business when BAM! A wizard shows up during his morning pipe, or rolls into town and stays at your father's inn, or you get picked to bear an honor or position you did not seek and many think you don't deserve! This takes the ordinary character and demands that he or she become extraordinary, or they die and the story ends. I think this character speaks to the ordinary in all of us, the part of us that feels perhaps slightly overlooked or taken for granted. We love this character because he or she reminds us that we all have a purpose, a reason for existing. We may never take the ring to Mount Doom... but, as the Doctor says:
In 900 years of time and space, I've never met anyone who wasn't important. ~ Doctor Who
Then there's the person who does hold some sort of important position. Perhaps it's a king, queen, prince, princess, heir to the throne, a trusted body-guard, someone who is by definition important in the eyes of the world. Maybe their kingdom is about to come under attack, and their decision will change the outcome of the approaching conflict. Perhaps they begin the story by running away from their responsibilities, and then must deal with the consequences of that choice. Maybe they are sent on a quest or they choose to take their destinies into their own hands rather than marry the person they are supposed to marry or accept the throne they are meant to rule from... these characters tend to be quite fun to read about, because they remind us that an enviable position of authority or prestige may not be all it's cracked up to be. They still have problems to face and if you get past the crowns and tutors and palaces... they're still just people underneath - with fears and doubts and worries of their own - and they actually resemble ourselves quite a bit.
Of course, then there are wizards tasked with protecting mankind or finding the one destined to defeat the ultimate villain. There are side characters and supporting characters and traitors and betrayers. But the point is, fantasy characters are consistently exceptional.
I have my own theories on why this is... something to do with the backdrop and setting being so fantastical that it frees the reader to stop worrying about how "realistic" everything is and just focus on the characters and how they deal with their various trials and tribulations. Tying this all back to yesterday's post, I think that's another reason why Mistborn fell flat for me. Sanderson spent so much time trying to explain the perfect magic system to the detriment of both plot and character development... which meant I never really got all that invested in what was going on with the characters - with the exception of Kelsier and possibly Breeze, all the characters are pretty one-dimensional and flat.
But whatever the reason, I would argue that strong characters are up there at the top of the list of reasons to read the fantasy genre. Characters like Aragorn, Boromir, Samwise, Haplo, Eugenides, Cimorene, Morwen, King Arthur, and all the rest... if I were to list all my favorites here, this post would get far too long!

Jenelle is a rare and elusive creature known as an "author." She enjoys wandering through the woods and opening doors in search of hidden passageways. She can sometimes be found in darkened corners of libraries or coffee shops sipping hot chocolate and carrying on animated conversations with those strange and invisible beings known as "characters."

http://jenelleschmidt.com  
http://www.facebook.com/JenelleLeanneSchmidt/  

by Jenelle Schmidt

“I don’t like anything here at all.” said Frodo, “step or stone, breath or bone. Earth, air and water all seem accursed. But so our path is laid.”

“Yes, that’s so,” said Sam, “And we shouldn’t be here at all, if we’d known more about it before we started. But I suppose it’s often that way. The brave things in the old tales and songs, Mr. Frodo, adventures, as I used to call them. I used to think that they were things the wonderful folk of the stories went out and looked for, because they wanted them, because they were exciting and life was a bit dull, a kind of a sport, as you might say. But that’s not the way of it with the tales that really mattered, or the ones that stay in the mind. Folk seem to have been just landed in them, usually their paths were laid that way, as you put it. But I expect they had lots of chances, like us, of turning back, only they didn’t. And if they had, we shouldn’t know, because they’d have been forgotten. We hear about those as just went on, and not all to a good end, mind you; at least not to what folk inside a story and not outside it call a good end. You know, coming home, and finding things all right, though not quite the same; like old Mr Bilbo. But those aren’t always the best tales to hear, though they may be the best tales to get landed in! I wonder what sort of a tale we’ve fallen into?”
“I wonder,” said Frodo, “But I don’t know. And that’s the way of a real tale. Take any one that you’re fond of. You may know, or guess, what kind of a tale it is, happy-ending or sad-ending, but the people in it don’t know. And you don’t want them to.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings
Fantasy is wonderful. It's fun, it's beautiful, it's an escape from the drab and dreariness that reality can sometimes become. It's filled with excitement and heroes and adventures... but really, besides it being fun, is there a point? Is there a good reason to read fantasy fiction? Is it applicable to everyday life?
If you've read any fantasy at all, you probably know the answer. I met a lady a while back who told me she did not enjoy fantasy fiction... that she wished she could, but she just didn't feel like it was very applicable, and therefore she felt like it was a waste of time.
Well.
Fantasy won't help you learn how to solve calculus equations. It won't teach you how to organize and declutter your home. It won't necessarily teach you the things you can and should learn in school... but there is a lot about fantasy that is useful and applicable to everyday life.
The first time I tried to write this post it was full of disclaimers about how of course I don't think you should read fantasy to the exclusion of making real friends, how you should definitely be discerning about what you read and that if what you are reading isn't God-honoring or is filled with objectionable content you should put it down and go find something else to do or read, and how of course fantasy isn't the only genre that teaches good lessons, and not all fantasy is good, and of course you can have a full, happy life without reading fantasy fiction, and of course we can be friends even if it's not your cup of tea. But that post was boring. So... knowing that, yes, I believe all of the above is true, and keeping it in mind... here's why I love fantasy fiction:
Because it teaches me about perseverance. One of the reasons I shared the JRR Tolkien quote above is because I feel that it captures the essence of why I love stories in general, and fantasy in particular. The characters in fantasy fiction often teach us how to reach down deep inside ourselves to a heroism we didn't know we possessed in the face of all odds and confronted with daunting obstacles that would make most others turn aside. They teach us that some things are worth standing up for, and some things are worth fighting for, and yes, some things are even worth dying for.
Fantasy fiction is often riddled with characters who go out of their way to help others, particularly those who cannot protect or help themselves. It teaches selflessness and sacrifice.
Friendships like the one between Aragorn and Boromir (in the BOOKS, not the movies), Samwise and Frodo, Harry and Ron and Hermione, Han and Luke, Cimorene and Kazul and Morwen and Mendanbar, Brant and Oraeyn and Kamarie and Kiernan and Yole... they teach us about loyalty. About sticking by someone no matter what. About forgiveness when we are betrayed, and understanding when a friend is struggling with something too big for them to handle on their own.
Fantasy teaches us about courage. It teaches us that sometimes we need the kind of courage that walks up and knocks on the Gates of Mordor, and sometimes we need the kind of courage that stays home and waits for our heroes to return like Odysseus's wife and son.
It teaches us to stand up to bullies and tyrants.
It teaches us about right and wrong, good versus evil, and the disasters that can occur when that line gets blurred.
Often, fantasy can hold an allegory of some kind, like in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, which holds a beautiful parallel of Aslan choosing to take Edmund - the betrayer's - place and sacrificing himself to appease the "Deep Magic" the way that Jesus sacrificed himself for all of us - betrayers - to appease God's wrath. It will not always be that obvious, but there are gemstones of truth scattered throughout most of the fantasy I have read (and I have read a lot of it), even the stories written by non-Christians. I believe that all truth is God's truth... and that He can even use stories written by non-Christians to teach... often in incredibly powerful ways.
You and I will never face a fire-breathing dragon in single combat. But we may face things that look and feel a whole lot like dragons: an unexpected diagnosis or death, a financial crisis, a falling-out with a friend or family member, a betrayal, the loss of a job, an injustice of any kind... fantasy fiction can teach you how to have grace under fire when facing your dragon... whatever it looks like.
It may seem that you have to dig a little deeper in a fantasy fiction novel to find the truth, to find the lesson, to find the application therein, but I truly believe it is well-worth it. The applications you can take away from it, like beautiful stones carefully removed from the rocky walls of a dark cave, may not be quite as tangible as the ones you find in other types of stories, for they are character-building lessons, teaching courage, integrity, honesty, loyalty, and valor. But, if you take the time to do so, these are the applications that will definitely shine the brightest if they are allowed to be found and polished.​

Jenelle is a rare and elusive creature known as an "author." She enjoys wandering through the woods and opening doors in search of hidden passageways. She can sometimes be found in darkened corners of libraries or coffee shops sipping hot chocolate and carrying on animated conversations with those strange and invisible beings known as "characters."

http://jenelleschmidt.com  
http://www.facebook.com/JenelleLeanneSchmidt/  

By Laura VanArendonk Baugh

Today I intend to justify fantasy as a genre. Not that it needs justified, no more than any other genre, but I'm going to anyway.
But first, I'm going to tell you a story.
Schmaltz
I've taken only one real writing class, if we don't count that Creative Writing hour every Wednesday afternoon in third grade. I'd always written stories, since elementary school, and my senior year of university I finally took a real class on writing fiction. I was terribly excited and I felt like a Real Writer.
We had a lot of guided writing assignments, of course, but once we were given free rein to turn in whatever we wanted. I chose the opening chapters of a novel I was working on, The Sightless Sisters. My instructor called me in for a private meeting. “This is pretty good,” he said. “But you realize this is fantasy. It's schmaltz. Nobody but twelve-year-old boys will ever read this stuff.”
And for the next decade, I told myself I didn't write fantasy. I wrote historical fiction, I said, and sometimes I would write historical fiction for places that didn't exist, with histories I made up, but that was okay, wasn't it? If I wrote a little fantasy on the side but mostly in a legitimate genre?
And whenever I would notice that I had written a lot more words in fantasy than in historical fiction, I'd tell myself that when I got serious about writing, I'd write more historical work. I was just goofing off with the fantasy stuff.
Recovery
Nearly two decades later, I'm mostly over that, but even in recent years one could still detect traces of embarrassment and denial. If you asked what I wrote, I'd answer with a joke about Big Fat Fantasy. My body language would change subtly. I might have mentioned more than one genre, camouflaging.
And I do write other genres, too. But it's okay to write fantasy.
Fantasy is not just a step-child genre for sci-fi and historical writers who were bad at research. And it's not just a place to explore Myth, though of course that's important too. It has its own purpose in helping us assess who we really are and who we should be.
Oh, right, the skeptic responds. A story about dragons and wizards in a fake medieval country is going to tell me who I am in suburban Middle America. Riiiiiiight.
Stick with me a minute.
Story
Before we talk about fantasy, let's talk about story for a minute. Why do we even have story? I mean, sure, it's good entertainment; literature, theatre, film, radio drama all require story as basis. Even wordless music tends to be based on story, either the story we bring ourselves or a literal story which the music brings to life (“The Sorcerer's Apprentice,” “The Moldau/Má vlast,” “Danse Macabre,” and a host of others). But aside from entertainment, why story? And why is it even entertaining?
It's entertaining because it's vital to our survival, first physically—story keeps us alive—and then mentally—story helps us cope.
I got to completely nerd out with a new (to me) book on the neuroscience of storytelling. For a person who works in behavior, this is pretty cool. And there are a couple of great points right up front about why story matters.
Story, as it turns out, was crucial to our evolution—more so than opposable thumbs. Opposable thumbs let us hang on; story told us what to hang on to. Story is what enabled us to imagine what might happen in the future, and so prepare for it—a feat no other species can lay claim to, opposable thumbs or not. 1 Story is what makes us human, not just metaphorically but literally. Recent breakthroughs in neuroscience reveal that our brain is hardwired to respond to story; the pleasure we derive from a tale well told is nature’s way of seducing us into paying attention to it.
-- Lisa Cron, Wired for Story: The Writer's Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence 
Think back to your earliest childhood instructions. Odds are, there's some sort of story attached. If your childhood was anything like mine, you might remember some instructional stories like these:

• “Let me check your Halloween candy, because I heard of a guy putting poison/needles/razor blades in candy and passing it out to kids.”
• “Keep your gloves on, because if your skin is exposed you will get frostbite.” (We have a family legend of my panicked cry, “I got snow on my skin!” as a three-year-old, when I stumbled and snow got between sleeve and glove. I actually remember the incident. Everyone recalls my reaction as hilarious, but no one mentions the hideous and overwrought tales of warning from over-helpful relatives just before we went outside.)
• “Stay close in the parking lot so no one grabs you.” (My grandmother even explained to me the phonological shift from “kidnabbed” to “kidnapped”.)
• “Hold on to my hand on the escalator; a little boy didn't hold on once and he fell and his fingers got sucked completely into that grate at the bottom. Also, if your shoelaces are loose, it will suck down your foot.” (Seriously, if I ever become a successful horror writer, we can credit my grandmother.)

Story helps us to pay attention and relate cause and effect. Then story helps us to imagine scenarios, options, and possible outcomes.
Story originated as a method of bringing us together to share specific information that might be lifesaving. Hey bud, don’t eat those shiny red berries unless you wanna croak like the Neanderthal next door; here’s what happened.… A recent brain-imaging study reported in Psychological Science reveals that the regions of the brain that process the sights, sounds, tastes, and movement of real life are activated when we’re engrossed in a compelling narrative.
Story prepares us for life by letting us experience intense or stressful or life-threatening situations without actually living them, giving us both a rush of experience and a chance to work out response options before actually needing them. When I watched Die Hard and saw the iconic scene in which John McClane must cross a field of broken glass barefoot, my first empathetic thought was, Yipes! All that glass, all those tendons and nerves in the sole of the foot!
And my second was, Why not take off your shirt or even your pants, stand on the bunched fabric, and shuffle through the glass? Yeah, a few shards will get through, but it will be much less damage overall.
I don't mean to denigrate a classic movie moment, but my point is that the story made me think about something I'd never tackled before. I hope I'll never face a terrorist across a field of broken glass in a building rigged to explode—but if I ever need to get through broken dishware, I now have a plan. And if I do face a bad guy trying to kill me? I have a plan for that, too. Sometimes the story gives you the answer, and sometimes the story prompts you to ask the question.
Okay, that's for the physical part. Now for the mental.
Fictional narratives supply us with a mental catalogue of the fatal conundrums we might face someday and the outcomes of strategies we could deploy in them. What are the options if I were to suspect that my uncle killed my father, took his position, and married my mother? If my hapless older brother got no respect in the family, are there circumstances that might lead him to betray me? What’s the worst that could happen if I were seduced by a client while my wife and daughter were away for the weekend? .... The answers are to be found in any bookstore or any video store. The cliché that life imitates art is true because the function of some kinds of art is for life to imitate it.
--Steven Pinker, quoted by Lisa Cron, Wired for Story: The Writer's Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence
Okay, okay, now this sounds like an even better reason why fantasy is wholly unnecessary. Story is about preparing for life. Why waste valuable brain time figuring out options to fight a fire-breathing dragon when I'm never, ever going to face one?
I'm glad you asked.
Dragons
Dragons appear everywhere. Is this a primordial memory of dinosaurs, a cultural obsession we never outgrow, or what?
The dragon is a universal aspect of myth and story. It's a key reference in Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey, whether the story in question contains an actual fire-breathing dragon or not; the hero will face a monster of some sort, and depending on the story, that monster might be a fire-breathing dragon or a verbally-abusive employer or a protagonist's own guilt at cheating on his wife. But it's a monster which must be faced.
And that's where fantasy becomes invaluable.
We often distance ourselves from the things which are the most difficult. It can range from the humorous (“How do you tell a girl you're interested in her? I'm asking for a friend”) to helpful (a child reading a challenging passage to a non-judgmental therapy dog) to the very serious (a rape victim describing the attack in third person, or an abused child using a puppet in therapy). Especially with the most personal of concepts, we need an outside view, a projection, something to experiment with and learn from while we pretend that it's not really about us.
We need dragons.
Some monsters we face are too frightening to call by name, too horrific to think on directly. But our brains are marvelously good at projecting and inferring, and we can work through horrors by pretending they are something else. An army of Nazis bearing down on a tiny island nation, wearing its defenses paper-thin? Terrifying and debilitating. An army of orcs swarming a green shire with only a peace-loving halfling to withstand them? We can face the peril, cheer for the hobbit, and draw another breath.
And three-quarters of a century later, we will do it again, only this time the orcs are not not-Nazis, they are not-terrorists, or not-bill collectors, or not-bullies. It doesn't matter what the dragon is or isn't, what matters is that we vicariously practice how to approach the dragon.
A Mile In His Shoes

Welcome to our All About Sub-Genre Series in which we discuss the ins and outs of various corners of the broader fantasy market. ​
Today author/editor Heather Hayden stops by to explain the Once Upon a Times and Happily Ever Afters of Fairy Tale Retellings.

​Fairy Tale Retellings

Once upon a time...an author decided to write a blog post about one of her favorite fantasy sub-genres.
The author pondered the topic for some time, wondering how best to frame the information. After all, the genre is at once quite specific and very broad, as variable as the fairy tales it embraces and transforms.
For that topic is fairy tale retellings. They exist in almost every form: film, art, the written word. The author loves them all, but her favorite are those scribed upon paper. Her bookshelves and Kindle are filled with such magical tales, and she reads and rereads them, discovering something new each time.
That is part of the magic of fairy tale retellings—though the core remains the same, the tale itself can be twisted and turned in all manner of ways. To the author, it is like visiting a place you have never been, yet recognize deep down.
Having come to this conclusion, the author developed a spell for a perfect fairy tale retelling, though she cautions that all wielders of the magical wands known as “pens” be sure of their intent before casting such a spell.

A Spell for the Perfect Fairy Tale Retelling

Step 1. Pick a tale. Or two. Or three. Cultures all across the world have fairy tales, folk tales, legends... Writers should never feel restricted to a single tale. Some readers prefer a retelling pure as gold, others like the startling spice of a mixture.
Step 2. Pick a setting. The time period of the original fairy tale? Modern day? Steampunk? A fantasy world where magic is slowly being taken over by machines? There are so many options to play with.
Step 3. Write the story as it should be told. The story will know if you are going the wrong way, and you might find yourself pulled in a direction you don’t expect.

“But wait!” the author’s muse cried, his current form that of a crow (after all, crows are quite popular in fairy tales.) “What if those reading this blog post aren’t writers, but readers?”
The author set the spell aside and folded her hands. She smiled at her muse. Many readers are also writers, and a writer must be a reader; it is an inherent part of writing, to bury one’s self in others’ worlds time and time again.
For readers in general, though, the author had one recommendation, which she whispered in quiet reverence. “If you enjoy fairy tales, I know of some retellings you might like.”
The muse nodded sagely. “Her own short story, Beneath His Skin, is about a selkie. You can find it in the anthology From the Stories of Old.”

About the author:
Fueled by chocolate and moonlight, Heather Hayden pours her heart and soul into stories filled with hope (and often magic). She is currently working on Within the Ironwood (working title), the first in a series of gaslamp fairy tale retellings.

You can connect with her through her website, Facebook, and Twitter.

Check out these awesome Fairy Tale Retellings from Fellowship of Fantasy authors: 

The Red Dragon Girl 

by Lea Doue
Rating PG
A cursed land. A tenacious sorcerer. A dagger-throwing princess out to prove her worth. In a race for survival, Princess Melantha must learn who to trust.

Still Waters: A Noblebright Fantasy Anthology

​by C. J. Brightley (editor)
Rating PG
Fall in love with fantasy again! Enjoy the noblebright ideas that make heroes heroic.

The Vengeance of Snails

by Chrys Cymri
Rating PG
The fourth book in the Penny White series!

​The Whispered Tales of Graves Grove

by Various
Rating PG-13
Peculiar things happen here.

Moses and the Dragon Born

​by Dianne Astle
Rating PG
​To save his world, the dragonborn King captured a demon and took it to Farne. But the King never returned from that blighted world.