Why are "fantasy" books so popular with people of all ages?

Agree with most of the above, especially the part about making a world which is credible within the context of the story. As a writer myself, I like to think that my universe could be credible to the reader. I used to draw crude maps of the lands in which my stories took place, but sadly I lost them and sometimes when returning to those lands for new adventures, I find that I'm "blind". Maps do help to visualise where the action is taking place, and many fantasy novels include them.

I read a very helpful article called "How to make a Universe which doesn't fall apart three days later" (paraphrased as I can't remember the exact title) and I still try to test myself with these criteria.

In some ways fantasy is easier to write than read, because the writer can really let their imagination run away with them. But the true test is always in the reading, can the material sustain the attention of the reader and maintain its credibility? All the best examples do this and make it seem effortless.

 

well i read em to escape from reality you know,
myfavorite is redwall about animals workin to keep peace but in a town
but a rat comes and takes over and it up to a little mouse to kick some
heavy rat ass

 

I think because you don't have to have any previous knowledge of anything to understand them, and everybody has an imagination to some extent, some more than others. I know some people who hate fantasy books though

 

Fantasy novels are usually based on Good vs. Evil, and that's why people love them. I like WoT because RJ gets you into the good and bad characters, lets you choose who to cheer on.

If you create a world, there are no limits. Fiction books about detectives or the woman in trouble have a very limited set of laws they must abide to. A good fantasy creates a world - a world where the writer sets the rules and makes the plays. This can be a bad thing, of course. Some writers go overboard and leave the reader with more of a sense of disbelief than awe. If a fantasy writer can come up with an original idea and run with it, just up to that point of disbelief, then they have a book. That's as I see it, I could be wrong.

 

i love fantasy. i recently accquired the six assassin and fool books by robin hobb and i'm loving them. i also like tamora pierce, terry goodkind, philip pullman, tad williams, ursula le guin, tolkien, rowling + others

 

I love fantasy books!

Personally, I think that everyone of all ages like fantasy books cuz it takes u 2 a whole other place besides reality. Like your imagination.

 

well 'escape' is really the only reason to write or read fictional litterature.
well almost the only. i suppose it could still be used to make parallel real world points.
yet there is a danger in that too, as being fiction, points can be made believably that
have really nothing to do with any sort of actual reality. often there are even vested reasons, idiological, economic, religeous, for doing precisely that.
which makes 'mainstream' pretty useless.
with fantasy that makes no bones about being fantasy, you're getting away from all that, or some of it anyway. after all there is fantasy and there is fantasy.
so called 'high fantasy' has it's problems too. mostly of being almost styflingly too narrowly defined, and often as a way of grinding axes of belief as well.
but in alternative universe fantasies, your eyes and mind are opened to possibilities not grown stale by repeated familiarity, to the fact that there is a universe out there, more wonderously diverse then every day intrests would have you immagine.

in a sense, fantasy brings you in touch with a greater reality then that which every day vested interests would have you believe in.

so its both an escape from them, but perhapse more importantly, an escape to a conscousness of diversity, that in prinicipal, if not in fine detail, is closer to the reality that exists beyond the coercive machinations of earthbound human society.

=^^=
.../\...

 

hmm... for many people I'm sure it is an escape from reality, a way to get rid of stress. But mainly, i think we go to fantasy books (along with all fiction) because it's a way to... believe. We go back to our childhood innocence, and like someone said, we used to believe in Santa Clause, but as we got older, we forgot him and his reindeer, and we got more stressed, and more mature, and got more responsibilitys; we now are adults or close to adults, and there is no time to believe in santa clause. :santa3: Sometimes it's just better to sit down and read a good fantasy book, and let your imagination go free.

 

I personally like fantasy, but I also like so many other genres... Each one has a different appeal to me, and with fantasy it has always just been that kind of "high" you get from it. Suddenly being somebody else that you know you could never be in real life doing things you couldn't ever imagine doing in reality. Not worrying about reality... I guess fantasy really just feeds my imagination, which is a very important thing to me and I like to keep it healthy! Honestly everybody that reads fantasy I would dare say do it to help quench their thirst for their imagination... If you have one and would like to take care of it, then reading far away novels definitely help. But that's just my opinion! =)

 

i think its popular because there are no limits. it could be about anything at all. nothing is impossible or too crazy to happen. they can be full of surprises. stuff that wouldnt cross your min in a billion years. and that unpredictability, fun, and freedom is what people like i think.

 

Because in all truth all of us love to dream of ourselves in otherworldly places, painting serene visions with our mind's eye. In all honesty I would imagine the older you get the more drawn you'd become to fantasy (novels) or fantasies of any kind. The older you've become the more you've put up with the drudgery or mundaneness that the real world sometimes forces upon us. If I'd worked a 9-5 deadend job for 50 years i'd probly be more drawn to fantasy landscapes than ever before, ya dig??

 

I think some of it is that people fantasize about being someone else. (Note, I am not saying such people are unhappy with their life in the real world...) The problem is that if one creates a 'fantastic' version of one's self and then also personally creates all the challenges that one is to overcome, it becomes boring. With fantasy, one can put one's 'fantasy' self into situations that were created by someone else. that is more interesting.

Also, some stories are just good. I also agree some with the previously mentioned good vs evil attraction.

 

hey sunshine! Yeah i completely agree with you..and the fantasy books are better than any fantasy movies in my opinion because you make the image in your head and how they look isn't decided already.. ya know? I've been trying to find a few new good fantasy books though. I've tried looking for a few but they're not out yet. any ideas?

 

light easy reading that really lets you not think about anything much in the real world. so its a good mental break from life and stress. david eddings still my favorite

 

yes.. another great way to put it.. what's the last book you read? anything good?

 

Research seems to support this observation. Fantasy fiction is one of the highest sellers, coming in behind only rommance and mystery:
http://www.publishersweekly.com/info/CA260302.html?channel=AboutUS&display=wildcard#trade
And, though I couldn't find supporting data in a quick google search, I heard in a lecture on the Odessy SF/F Writers Workshop Podcast that, besides Rommance novels, it is the only genres whose sales do not decrease in a recession. Perhaps because of its escapist quality.

 

Fantasy is a fine thing. I think to stop loving fantasy is to stop being human.

On a somewhat related note, have you noticed how the "science fiction" section in Barnes&Noble is much larger than the "science fact" section? Science fiction is good fun, but I think it's weird that it somehow supercedes science fact in public buying attitudes. To me, science fact is much more interesting, and no less imaginative. Oh well, just one more thing I don't "get" about the world.

 

yeah the escapist quality is really good for these times right? reality can be horrible.. the fantasy fiction movies are doing pretty great too. this article says how much money the harry potter movies have made in total.http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6671416.html 4.5 billion. that would fix the economy lol! it also talks about all these other books coming out like it. Michael Scott’s The Alchemyst, Christopher Paolini’s Eragon, Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass and Jan Bozarth’s Fairy Godmother Academy. Have you read any of them?

 

I've read the entire Dark Materials trilogy but mostly because in the third book the two main characters kill god. It was awesome. No, I haven't read the others. Are they all young fiction? Because, if so, I rarely read young fiction having passed it in reading ability before I was the age to enjoy it. I just started reading the Temeraire Series by Naomi Novik, I wish someone would make a movie out of them. Also, I hear Henson optioned the movie adaptation of the Sandman CHronicles, but, so far, no luck.

 

oh really? where did you hear that??? but yeah all the books are like aimed towards young adults pretty much but i feel like they're really good to read at any age if you have the imagination etc.. like harry potter.. anyone could enjoy that..i am kinda with ya on readin levels but i still like it all ... one of the books isn't out yet that i know of . The Fairy Godmother Academy, i read a chapter of it on the official website though, see if you'd like it. it's definetly worth getting in my opinion.