Today begins the Fruit Moon, during which we’ll create prompts inspired by the sprawling genre that is Fantasy. The hallmark of the genre is that it includes purely fictive elements that don’t exist in the ordinary world.
Some also hold that in true fantasy, the audience understands that what they are enjoying is fictional, which would exclude more ancient forms of storytelling and mythmaking. Nevertheless, myths are common (but not at all necessary) sources for fantastic elements in story.
Subgenres proliferate in Fantasy. Blending genres is a way to keep stories fresh, to push the boundaries of the craft, and to generate new ideas. Fantasy lends itself well to such techniques.
Let’s take a few examples. By mixing the core elements of Fantasy with Horror you get Dark Fantasy and Grimdark. Fantasy plus Romance leads to Paranormal Romance and Erotic Fantasy. Blended with Detective, Fantasy gives rise to Urban and even Arcanepunk. As these examples imply, the ratio of one genre to another, as well as how you balance the tone of each, tends to produce different results.
Likewise, Fantasy stories set in a specific time or place yield further variations: Gaslamp, Steampunk, Gunpowder, Wuxia, and so on.
By blending the fantastic with the mundane in different proportions you get variations from High Fantasy to Low. This month, we won’t limit our prompts to any one subgenre within the broader type. So check back regularly for inspiration.
Wherever your medium of choice takes you, we hope this month’s prompts inspire you in your work!