Blog Postings
5
Creating Characters
September 6, 2014
Twice while writing Fealty to the King I found myself at my keyboard thinking,
4
What is Fealty?
July 2, 2014
I'm surprised more people don't know what fealty means. To say it in two
3
World Building
June 17, 2014
I never decided one day to create a world. It merely happened over many
2
Historical Fantasy?
May 31, 2014
When somebody asked me about my book, I couldn't easily fit it into a broad
1
The Joy of Writing
May 28, 2014
Here it is, the first posting for my book website blog. As I realize my lifelong
Historical Fantasy?
May 31, 2014 - When somebody asked me about my book, I couldn't easily fit it into a broad category,
so I called it fantasy for lack of a better description, although the only fantasy about it is an imaginary world. I think of it more as historical fiction.
More potential readers exist for a familiar genre, but I'm hoping the originality of my book gets it noticed by a niche audience,
and when I searched on Fantasy Historical Fiction, I was pleasantly surprised to discover such a niche exists for a sub-genre called historical fantasy.
According to Wikipedia, three types of historical fantasy are:
1) Mythical creatures or the paranormal exist within the mundane world, while the majority of people are none the wiser (e.g. Harry Potter).
2) The story takes place in an alternate history with clear differences from our own (e.g. Fatherland in which Germany wins World War II).
3) The story takes place in a secondary world with specific and recognizable parallels to the real world.
My novel is the third type of historical fantasy, containing the elements of a fictional universe as described in Wikipedia:
A fictional universe is a self-consistent fictional setting that can be almost indistinguishable from the real world, except for the presence of invented characters and events that characterize a work of fiction.
It has an established continuity and internal logic that must be adhered to throughout the work.
The history and geography of a fictional universe are well-defined, and maps and timelines are often included in works set within them.
The works may introduce fictional cities, countries, or even planets (mine does on a planetary scale). Even languages (e.g. the Snarshyim language) may be constructed.
August 13, 2014 - Since I wrote this entry, I've encountered the term Low Fantasy to describe fantasy that downplays the supernatural in favor of realism.
I would say my book is Lower Fantasy.
Milo Swanton