Let's Discuss - Subgenre
Subgenre is important, because it helps your audience find you, and gives you good titles to compare to when in the publishing trenches. For example, a fantasy romance reader may not be interested in a dark fantasy with no romance.
Before we get into it, this is a whistle-stop tour of each subgenre of fantasy and not a fully comprehensive list.
Let's start with story type:
- Epic Fantasy -> This is defined it's high stakes and wide scope of events. The events in the story shape the world, and usually by the end a massive change has come about.
-> Books: The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkein, The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson, The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan (& later, Brandon Sanderson), The Earthsea Trilogy by Ursula K. Le Guin.
- Fantasy Mystery -> Defined by a question, usually a whodunnit. The events in these stories tend to revolve around a puzzle, a puzzle-solver, and all the things that might help or hinder the solver.
-> Books: The early Dresden Files by Jim Butcher, Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch, The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson, Voyage of the Damned by Frances White.
- Fantasy Horror -> What it says on the tin. Horror pushes boundaries and also comes in many flavours, psychological, gore, body-horror, the list goes on. (I tend to stay away from horror, it's not my cup of tea.)
-> Books: The Devils by Joe Abercrombie, Witchcraft for Wayward GIrls by Grady Hendrix, The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher.
- Romance Fantasy (Romantasy) -> The love story. There's arguments to be made that there is a difference between romance fantasy and fantasy romance, with one being the plot first before the romance and one being the romance is the plot. However, in general terms, they are both called romantasy. There's a focus on the two main characters and their trials and tribulations in regards to their relationship.
-> Books: The Cruel Prince by Holly Black, Of Goblins and Gold by Emma Hamm, A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness, For Whom the Belle Tolls by Jaysea Lynn.
- Adventure Fantasy -> Exploration that is usually defined by a sense of danger for the character, and excitement for the reader. Often-times, they involve journeys and quests. Think, Lara Croft or Indiana Jones, they're thrilling, heart-pounding action without massive worldly stakes.
-> Books: The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkein, The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb, Conan the Barbarian by Robert E. Howard.
Now onto subgenres that are based on the tone or setting:
- Historical Fantasy -> Defined by the use of real-world details and elements of history. Usually these stories are set in historical times and have fantasy elements.
-> Books: A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan, Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke, Outlander by Diana Gabaldon.
- High Fantasy -> Heavy magic presence, often multiple races of people, and often set in another world entirely. Shares a huge amount of books with epic fantasy. This is usually also called "epic fantasy", but for the sake of this list, I've separated them.
Books: Eragon by Christopher Paolini, Depths of Vanalf by Brady Hunsaker, The Sword of Kaigen by M. L. Wang, The Black Magician series by Trudi Canavan.
- Low Fantasy -> Defined by magical events intruding on a world that would otherwise be considered quite normal. Can be related back to other subgenres such as urban or dark fantasy.
-> Books: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan, The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher.
- Dark Fantasy -> Defined by corruption and the world being awful. Often incorporates disturbing or frightening themes.
-> Books: The Witcher series by Andrzei Sapkowski, The First Law by Joe Abercrombie, the works of Edgar Allan Poe and H. P. Lovecraft can both be listed as dark fantasy as well.
- Cosy Fantasy (or cozy fantasy for those in the US) -> Defined by small stakes, themes of hope, and often includes found family.
-> Books: Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldtree, the majority of Discworld by Sir Terry Pratchett, The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst, A Fellowship of Bakers & Magic by J. Penner.
Special mentions:
- Grimdark -> Speculative fiction that's particularly dystopian, amoral and violent. Warhammer 40k is the poster-child for this subgenre.
- Noir -> This crosses over with mystery, and a lot of fantasy mysteries follow noir tropes.
- New Weird -> Lush prose, and subverting expectations. Meiville and Piranesi are definitive authors in this space.
- Magical realism -> Defined as the modern world, but with supernatural elements as a norm.
- 'Punks -> There's so many punk subgenres, from cyber to steam, and each one is worth it's own list.
- Urban Fantasy -> Takes place within a town, or city, with fantasy or supernatural elements.
Each subgenre is able to crossover with other subgenres. For example, dark and horror go very well together, and can result in books such as Lovecraft's The Call of Cthulhu (and also spawned it's own subgenre of cosmic or eldritch horror). Mixing up cosy fantasy and mystery will grant you a book like Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett. No subgenre is final, although each has it's traits, elements, and expectations. So when you're choosing how to categorise your book, make sure you choose wisely to reach your target audience.
