Sharing Thoughts about Books with Others (STBO) discussion

Please share your personal answers to this question in this topic. Thank you.

Here let me start.

What is fantasy? It originates from the Greek word “phantasia” which comes from “phasma” from the ancient Greek verb “Φαίνω”, that means appear or…seem to appear, think or imagine to appear. So, only by the word’s meaning and etymology one can think it’s all about a mind can produce, ideas or facts that may appear as true but they aren’t. It’s a person’s dreamland.

Fantasy as a genre is any fiction based on not only non-real facts but mainly impossible to happen. Their scenario ideas are from myths. They are non-natural or supernatural or extraterrestrial. They simply cannot be applied or not happening in our reality as we have known it or experienced it. They can contain magical creatures and heroes are varied from vampires, people who shift to animals, fairies, druids, time travelers, immortals, gods, dragons, to whatever the writer’s imagination can produce. Fantasy’s place can be anywhere in this world or another, true or not and so is its time.

The writers are inspired mainly from myths and strange dainties from all over the world. Man’s mind from his genesis has interpreted world and has created myths. For example, Greek mythology offers a great area of inspiration. So, the Scandinavian or Egyptian etc. The writer usually takes one element and builds his/her entire fantasy world around it. So, this is why writer X’s vampire word, for example, is different from writer Y’s.

I read fantasy because not only do I enjoy it, but, mainly because I escape from reality. I’m not "fairy-taken" in mind, don’t get me wrong. I pace strong on reality grounds. But I’m fascinated by the impossible. It’s so simple. I am not a believer, I do not trust but only what my hands can touch, my eyes can see and I am a thinker. I have drawn a thick line between real and unreal. Any book is mind’s travel and in fantasy books anything can happen just like in a dream. Having this in mind you start reading a book and put your skepticism aside. Have your mind clear and have your ears and eyes fertile. Try reading some. I assure you it’s not dangerous.

I, personally, do not know the historical story of fantasy or how authors are able to come up with it. I prefer to focus on how it applies to me, to my life, and to this new technologically advanced world that I am living in. I'm young and, if I'm going to be honest, there are a lot of things that bore me. Biology class, for example. Books, and specifically fantasy books, are the complete opposite of boring. They provide me with a way to leave the heaviness of my real life and disappear into a glorious new world with magic and true love and all the things our world lacks. Not only that but in reading fantasy, I feel that I am able to bring pieces of it back to reality with me and apply the lessons learned to my own life. Think of it as the getaway car during a heist; sometimes we all need to run away from the cops and disappear to a safe place.

Although I have hardly read from the genre since my teens, I will always love it. I would say I got a 'delicious escapism' from fantasy .... for me it started with the wonderful "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe", sometime in Junior School.

Fantasy, in my opinion, can not be specified. In other words it can be anything. It’s different for everyone. For example a goldfish that speaks the human tongue, or creatures bathed in magic. That’s what I call fantasy. Out of the norm. Our imagination’s craziest ideas.
For me fantasy is a little window to a different world. An escape from my daily life. An escape from reality. I read fantasy-based books so as to live in, even for a moment, a world where everything’s out of place. A world full of monsters, warriors, sorcerers, lost kings and queens, fairies...