#fantasy notes

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Fantasy notes => AVES DOLLARS from ATLANTIC FOREST with insects.

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Wolf’s Fantasy Notes: Historical Fantasy

Hello all! I am back again with historical fantasy. This one was a bit trickier to do given that historical fantasy is a little harder to spot. So I decided to focus on the use of historical figures, events, and mythologies as fodder for your fics!

Historical Fantasy

This is an interesting category that has only recently gained prominence. Pop culture wise you have shows like Merlin or books like Abe Lincoln Vampire Slayer and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. More recently you have Harriet Tubman Demon Slayer added to the list. The movie The Black Knight with Martin Lawrence is also a possible example. Some people even consider Game of Thrones historical fantasy given that several of the book’s events draw inspiration from wars and events in Europe. Given that it can be easy to mistake anything with a castle and royalty as high fantasy… finding actual historical fantasy examples is a little difficult!

If you know of any, please comment on the post, I and others would love to see them!

So first up on my list of potential fic fodder: Mythologies!

Now I have mentioned use of these before. They are great starting points! But I wanna go a little deeper this time!

When people think of myths the usual ones that come to mind are the shenanigans of Gods and Goddesses, struggles of demigods, and mighty war stories if one is so inclined. But myths cover more than the epic! They cover the world and how it works, people and their relationships, and history! Greece, for example, has the story of Narcissus as the origin story of the Narcissus flower! Or the story of Archne and Athena, which is the origin of the spider! And that is just two of hundreds!

Mythology also sports a host of beings and creatures that can be added to your story! Searching the various cultures can give you a plethora of monsters to be fought or otherworldly beings to befriend. Various landscapes and magic to explore, too! Google is your friend! Make use of it!

Don’t for religions, either! They have their own mythologies and events that can be looked at. Fairy tales, too! They were often commentary on the time periods in which they were set which can also give you some ideas!

Next on the list: History

There are a ton of cool historical figures that can serve a basis for fantasy stories. Amazing warriors aided by magic. Powerful figures brought low by curses or a broken deal. There are a ton of stories of people surviving or perishing under mysterious circumstances that could be explored!

One of my favorite Tumblrs for this is Rejected Princesses! This blog hosts beautiful illustrations and blog entries about amazing women throughout history doing equally amazing things! There are a ton of lovely stories there ranging from heart breaking to funny to triumphant to epic! Also I strongly recommend using the desktop version of the site. It is far more organied than the mobile version will be!

Even though it specifically details women, there is plenty of room to make them fit who you want!  

Googling urban legends with some grains of truth can help, too! Look into local stories passed down in your area. Researching major historical events and normal people in them can yield some fun nuggets, as well!

Don’t wanna spend time looking for events or people?

Go for time periods! There are many to choose from!

Ancient times (Anything with BC behind it!)

Dark Ages

The Renaissance

The European Revolution

The Emergence of the Silk Road

The Rococo Period where pirates and the like ruled

Industrialization

Victorian Era

Colonization of America

The WIld West

World Wars 1 and 2

Cold War

Heck, within the USA all the decades in the 20th century have their own mythos and culture to dive into!

One of my favorite movies is Cats Don’t Dance which is a fantasy retelling of the struggles facing POC in Hollywood! Anthropomorphic animals struggle to be taken seriously as actors. The whole premise screams fantasy, but it covers a turbulent point in history for a section of its citizens.

Ok! So you have your research done and have a story in mind… now what?

Yes, changing locations… yada yada...

But another way to do it is to change time periods!

-Turn a pirate into a railway smuggler who is running from an angry being that he stole from!

-Make a cursed princes into a cursed cursed high society socialite instead!

-Instead of Cinderella wanting to go to the ball, have her want to go West and make a fortune for herself with the help of a fairy godmother that hangs out at the local saloon!

Another way to use history is to find new challenges or goals for your characters to strive against or for. Magic can either help them or harm them! Same for the creatures involved!

Next time I'll cover Punk fantasy, ie Steampunk and the like. There are several of them and I want to lay out what they are and how you can combine them with what we have already discussed!

Also! I made some changes to my modern fantasy post! You can take a look at it here! If it loops on the mobile app, run it through your web browser instead!

Have any questions about history as a starting point for fantasy works or something you would like me to answer about fantasy in general? Hit me up in my ask box here!

See you soon!

~Admin Wolf

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Master Post For the Fantasy Notes

High Fantasy

https://bnhafantasybigbang.tumblr.com/post/183913863004/wolfs-fantasy-notes-classic-high-fantasy

Modern Fantasy

https://bnhafantasybigbang.tumblr.com/post/184825694906/wolfs-fantasy-notes-modern-fantasy-hello-all

Historical Fantasy

https://bnhafantasybigbang.tumblr.com/post/184905876451/wolfs-fantasy-notes-historical-fantasy

Punk Fantasy

https://bnhafantasybigbang.tumblr.com/post/185354118991/wolfs-fantasy-notes-punk-fantasy

Dark Fantasy

https://bnhafantasybigbang.tumblr.com/post/185373966086/wolfs-fantasy-notes-dark-fantasy

Sci Fi Fantasy

https://bnhafantasybigbang.tumblr.com/post/185393145881/wolfs-fantasy-notes-sci-fi-fantasy

D&D Fantasy

https://bnhafantasybigbang.tumblr.com/post/185435028321/wolfs-fantasy-notes-dd-fantasy

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Wolf’s Fantasy Notes: Punk Fantasy

Hello all! I am back again with Punk fantasy. This one has a decent wealth of subcultures. So I decided to focus on some of the more popular ones that I know of! If anyone knows of others, please let us know in the comments!

Punk Fantasy

This is another fascinating category! Part of what makes it interesting is the same thing that makes it interesting is the same thing that makes it hard to define. Punk is usually created through what if scenarios that focus on a point in history, the present, or even the future that later lead to alternate universes shaped by the changes. In general terms, Punk often refers to the myriad of subculture genres that pop up in literature. This covers all forms of literature from action to romance to horror, even!

So some of the Punk types I wanna talk about today are: Steam, Cyber, and Diesel!

So first up on my list of potential fic fodder: Steampunk

Steampunk is probably one of of the punk genres that most people are familiar with. Usually carrying either a Victorian or Wild West flair there are airships running on steam instead of planes alongside cog and steam cyborgs/robots. Metallic prosthetic limbs made of gears! Top hats and feathers and brooches made of clock parts! Also, don’t leave your aviator googles at home! 

In simple terms, Steampunk is basically a what if scenario that joins the bridge between fantasy and sci fi (I will do a post on sci fi-fantasy as well). What if steam powered technology had flourished rather than being outrun by coal and electricity? What would the world look like and how would it run?

There are several examples of this, some blatant and some not so blatant.

Anime: Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle

While both definitely incorporate heaps of magic and mystery, the background tells a bit of a different story.

In Spirited Away, the bath house Chihiro becomes trapped in relies on magic as well as the water and steam that Kamaji provides. Pulley systems and the moving parts of the building rely on it the most.

In Howl’s Moving Castle, again the background has airships and some robotics, but it is far more subtle.

Television: Firefly

This short lived but well loved show featured a crew on an airship and is flagship when discussing steampunk.

Western Animation: Hullabaloo

Is an upcoming animated series about the daughter of an inventor that is set in a steampunk universe! Their website has more info.

Literature:

Works by Gail Carriger

For adults there is her Soulless series about a female assassin traversing a Victorian steampunk landscape that is not only inhabited by humans but vampires, werewolves, and other paranormal creatures.

For the younger crowd, there is her Finishing School series set in the same universe as Soulless. It focuses on a flagship school that trains female assassins like the main character in Soulless!

The Vampire Empire series by Clay and Susan Griffith

A princess has to team up with a vampire to save her people from their mortal enemies the vampires. It is based in a steampunk environment.

Next on the list: Cyberpunk

Cyberpunk can be thought of as the opposite of Steampunk. Where the inspiration for steam is taken from the past, cyberpunk heralds from the future. Steampunk is usually full of exploration and adventure, and a dash of hope for the future. Cyberpunk is usually bleak, bad end future dystopias. Steampunk usually encompasses vast worlds that are remakes of our own. Cyber usually takes place in the future with virtual reality being the setting rather than the real world. Although there are several that do take place beyond it.

Some popular examples are The Matrix series, The Fifth Element, Looper, and Blade Runner for movies. Ender’s Game, Time Cop, and Ready Player One for literature, although all three have film versions.

A recent serial example, would be Altered Carbon. It was a novel that was recently developed as a series for Netflix! It is wonderful series that explores what happens to humanity when they become practically immortal by being recorded onto discs that can be changed from one body to another. It is made for a mature audience, so viewer discretion is advisable.

Lastly: Dieselpunk

Dieselpunk can be thought of as the offspring of steam and cyberpunk if it had fuel running in its veins. This aesthetic is grungy and brutal like cyberpunk usually existing during a dystopic time period as well. However, it focuses on the real world and the environment created by it. Technology itself maybe dying out or still in its infancy during these stories. So, virtual reality and space settings are usually not present. Dieselpunk is also very present as in tied to the present time. They usually take place in dire circumstances like a war.

A couple of examples would be Mad Maxx and Death Race in terms of movies. Snowpiercer would be another.   

Again, please let us know of any other good examples to include in these categories if you know of any!

Functioning as an aesthetic and/or a genre

Another interesting thing about most punk cultures is that they are often considered sub-genres. This often means they can function as an aesthetic rather than a stand alone universe or story type like we typically think of with genres. They often serve to spice up a narrative rather than support it. But they can be used to support one, too.

What do I mean?

Let’s take Spirited Away as an example of punk as an aesthetic.

In Spirited Away, the story is about Chihiro having to save her parents after they stumble into the spirit realm and get turned into pigs. It is a standard hero’s journey story set in a fantasy world with its own ecosystems, politics, etc, etc.  If we want to classify it, we would call it a pseudo-iseikai of the high fantasy variety. See my post on high fantasy for more info.

Steam comes into play only when the story reaches the bathhouse. It is necessary there as a distinguishing element. It is meant to show how human’s modern industrialization is vastly different from the nature harmonious steam and simple physics driven bath house that the spirits have.

Outside of that, steampunk is not important… that idea is no longer important.

How can this be applied to your story?

-Distinguishing cultures or kingdoms

Perhaps give your dragon kingdom a diesel/iron punk feel while your fairy kingdom is more steampunkish in line with their connection to nature

-Use them as a basis for creating other kinds of power sources or culture

-Use them as obstacles to your character’s goals

They find an abandoned ship but it runs on a special fuel that only the dieselpunk dragon race you made can make

Now for a punk genre example.

In Altered Carbon, mentioned in my blurb about cyberpunk, the main character is a newly “spun up” prisoner (they took his chip and put it in a new body after he was “detained” for 200 years in chip form). He was released to investigate a murder. While he does so, we are given glimpses into his original life. Now this story is clearly a sci-fi murder mystery with a hint of romance and other messy human pathos. But it can easily be called a cyberpunk murder mystery, too!

Now what makes this different than Spirited Away? The cyberpunk elements are tightly woven into not only the setting but the culture and the people… and that makes all the difference.

They have their own terminology that is clearly linked to the cyberpunk nature of the story. Spun up is one such term. Another is sleeves. Sleeves, like sleeves on clothing? What makes this so special? In this universe human bodies are referred to as sleeves! This is because when a body dies the “human consciousness” is not lost it is literally backed up on a chip. This chip is located between two vertebrae in the neck and can be reinserted into another sleeve (body)! There is a whole industry built on creating all kinds of sleeves!

In other words, it shapes the very fabric of your story as a whole.

Let’s take the dragon example from before. Instead of your characters just needing the fuel to power a wrecked ship… the ship is theirs and they are actually water transport personnel that move water across a barren wasteland that has been stripped of all its natural resources. There are few places that have electricity or clean water. Your MC has to get this water to their hometown, a shanty village that is in dire straits, their final stop after a few months of running routes. The Dragon kingdom is one of the few kingdoms that can provide fuel and other necessities in this area. Dragons and humans don’t get along. But it is a confrontation that has to be had.

In this scenario, the crumbling society and scarceness that comes with dieselpunk is woven into your character’s and universe’s story. The Dragons have the upper hand because they have what other characters don’t but need. You can play with terminology and how things are made. Perhaps the fuel is made from their blood and scales diluted in some simple oil that the few tree species in the area give off in huge amounts. The ships are cobbled together shells running on simple combustion engines that work with that special fuel.   

Long story short, if you want to use the different punk genres as aesthetics sprinkle it in every now and again. But if you want this to be the backbone of your story… your story’s genre then make sure you treat it like a character. Or at least make it intrinsic to the story you are telling.

Have any questions about making use of punk genres or something you would like me to answer about fantasy in general? Hit me up in my ask box here!

See you soon and sorry for being late (again)! Next time we start talking about some of the more broad yet niche sections of fantasy starting with Dark Fantasy!

~Admin Wolf

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Wolf’s Fantasy Notes: D&D Fantasy

Hello all! I am here with my final post: Dungeons and Dragons (DnD)! So, I am not going to delve too deeply into this one. I could do daily posts for months on the different aspects of DnD’s world and mythos alone! So instead I am going to talk about what DnD can offer you as a writer and provide some resources. The reason I won’t talk about stories running on pure DnD background is because I am assuming that anyone who has decided to write one has a good working knowledge of it. But, for curious new folks I will give a quick overview.

So what is it?

Dungeons and Dragons is a fantasy Tabletop Roleplaying Game that was started in 1972 in the basement of two friends. Over the years, it has grown into a cultural phenomenon that has influenced the way fantasy has looked going forward.

The most basic premise to a game of Dungeons and Dragons is usually a group of adventurers go on either a quest or treasure hunting in elaborate dungeons or worlds that are full of traps and monsters. The dungeon crawling came first, hence the name. Over the years, however, the world and mythos has evolved to include questing and story driven campaigns in addition to pre-made and custom dungeon crawling sessions.

The players are allowed to build their characters from classes of characters with different skill sets and characteristics, along with different races.  

So… how can it help you?

It can help on the big levels and small levels!

1: Worldbuilding

Not every writer is a JK Rowling or JRR Tolkein or George RR Martin… worldbuilding takes time and effort!

DnD has tomes full of myths, histories, languages, races, religions and other world tibits for you to sample and make use of! There are several websites and even youtube videos devoted to all of that!

2: Classes and Races

Classes are great for designing your characters around. There are easily accessible tables and breakdowns of classes for you to make use of! Reddit has many!

I know this from personal experience! In a Kingdom Hearts fic I am writing, I used DnD classes to design my characters’ fighting styles around. This gave me plenty more options for movement and power in fight scenes and individuating each character from one another… even if they had similar weapons like Keyblades!

And it doesn’t even have to be related to fighting! Classes come with built in behaviors that are necessary for things to work.

For example:

A ranger is likely to have studied archery and they tend to be a dexterity class because of that. They may be a hunter which brings additional skills for things like scavenging and cooking.

While a wizard would be able to cast magic they have to be well read, given they study magic and gain their skills that way. So your wizard may have come from a richer area to have access to arcane tomes or maybe they were from a family of wizards? Or perhaps they found a tome by accident and are looking for more?

Each class has something unique to add! If you add a race to it, the opportunities practically double!

Races in DnD come with their own drawbacks and advantages! They also come with their own baggage conflicts or backstories due to them!

Fairies, for example, can charm people, but are immune to being charmed or persuaded. However, they are tiny and don’t handle weapons well!

Tieflings are half-demonic creatures that were born of peoples that bargained with dark beings for power. So they are able to read daemonic languages and have some resistance to certain types of attacks. But they often have chips on their shoulders because of people’s wariness and dislike of them.

Also, examples of names are also found with Race descriptions so you can use them for OCs or aliases for your characters!

3: Magic and Curses

This goes without saying! There are entire books devoted to the magic and curses that are found in the DnD realms! You can browse them for ideas on attacks and curses! Most magic is tied to something whether nature or a god or elves or fairies or Patrons, powerful beings that grant power in exchange for service!

4: Campaigns

There are plenty of pre-made campaigns that people can use to play a quick game or design their own thing around! These can be great starting points for the author that has a vague idea of characters and what they want them to do but are stumped on how to go about it!

5: Homebrews

Homebrew is a term meaning made from scratch information for a game. Usually they have their own rules, races, classes, and even mythologies!

Another game I play is literally a homebrew Pokemon Tabletop RPG. It has its own rules, classes and everything!

DnD has entire websites devoted to these! People create races, attacks, branches of magic, and mythologies! If you want something specific you could probably find it after a quick Google search.

For example, one of my characters will be a Concubus! A half demon born of a Incubus/Sucubus union with a human! This is a homebrew race with an interesting skill set!

I found a blood based transfer spell too that I plan to tweak for a plot point!

All in All, DnD is a great place to search for inspiration whether you want your story to take place there or not!

I recommend Dnd Beyond and DnD wiki for information!

D&DBeyond is an official site that hosts some basic info for folks to use and homebrew stuff too! There is a paywall. Basic info under the rules tables is free as is the homebrew. The detailed stuff is behind a paywall!

DnD wiki is a fan run encyclopedia that house a bunch of homebrew and more detailed info on the basics without the pay wall!

Just searching for things in Google or YouTube can bring up a ton of videos and other information! Don’t be afraid to use them!

I am happy that you all liked these little posts! A master list will be posted soon! Have any other questions about fantasy or something you would like me to answer about writing in general? Hit me up in my ask box here!

May the magic be with you and fare thee well on your writing journeys!

~Admin Wolf

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Wolf’s Fantasy Notes: Sci-Fi Fantasy

Hello all! Let’s get right to it!

Sci-Fi Fantasy

At first glance, it seems pretty contrary… oxymoronic, right? Data driven, rigid technical science fiction alongside the often hand wavy fantasy… they can’t possibly co exist, right? Wrong!

They can and do! Some of the more iconic stories told through film and TV are in fact sci-fi fantasy!  

Anime:

Digimon and Pokemon are two that immediately spring to mind! Digimon takes place in a virtual realm that is inhabited by creatures that produce nature based attacks that look like magic!

Pokemon, a worldwide phenomenon, has plenty to offer in terms of both fantasy and sci-fi! Some Pokemon are described as aliens and some even Gods. We don’t even need to talk about their move sets do we? The world is very similar to ours in technology and there are entire fields devoted to studying Pokemon!

Voltron features futuristic robotic weapons that have a psychic connection to their pilots.

Akira is a classic in this area... you could call it urban fantasy, too!

Literature:

K.A, Applegate’s Animorphs series. It leans on the sci-fi side more but has some fantasy elements to it especially when it comes to the enigmatic Elliomists!

Artemis Fowl series: Our boy genius is always down to invent something while snarking to whatever mythical being happens to be unfortunate enough to cross his path!

Movies:

Star Wars is an easy one! Light sabers, Death stars, talking robots, and space dog fights are classic sci fi tropes! But add to that the mystical aspects of the Jedi and Sith orders centered around the mysterious Force power and you get sci-fi fantasy.

The Incredibles! Pixar’s superhero saga is more urban fantasy than sci-fi, but the stories consistent use of technology and incorporating it into how heroes look and operate makes it sci-fi like, too! Not to mention both movies center their plots around technology, the good and the bad.

TV Shows:

She Ra balances the mythical power of the Princesses on one side and the destructive mechanical prowess of the Horde on the other!

Steven Universe is another example. Steven Quartz Universe is a mythical creature himself being a half human, half gem hybrid. The background of the war for Earth against the Gem Homeworld provide several sci-fi moments from advanced robotics and spaceships to warp pads. But the gems abilities are very magical in nature and its storytelling classic fantasy!  

Super Sentai/Power Rangers is also sci fi fantasy depending on what cannons you follow! Power coins and their origins are mythical in nature in some, alien technology in others! Sometimes a mix of both.

Similar series include: Bug Rider, Kamen Rider, and Ghostwriter!  

Transformers is another big one! Like Star Wars the settings are futuristic and space driven. But the mythology surrounding the All Spark and Cybertron’s creation are very fantasy like in nature.

Comics:

Green Lantern, Shazaam, Doctor Strange, and the like.  

Functioning as an aesthetic and/or a genre

Sci-fi is easy to incorporate as an aesthetic. Add a concrete magic system to your story… make magic dependent gadgets and power sources! Place your fantasy creatures in a futuristic world. Have your characters be a fantasy creature in a virtual reality game… so on and so forth.

Sci-fi Fantasy as a genre

In order to discuss how to do this, we must first define science fiction. What makes science fiction what it is as a genre?

It mainly boils down to how humanity responds to changes in technology as time moves forward. How does the technology change humanity? What will humanity look like going forward based on what we know today?

How can one demonstrate these characteristics in your story?

-Make your character a an extraterrestrial alien (after all most alien stories are about immigration and what makes us and them humane)

-Maybe Earth is long gone and there are humans that live in space and maybe developed magic or discovered a space particle that grants them magic?

-Perhaps your fantasy creatures are simply alien refugees trying to survive on a planet different from their original one

Have any other questions about making use of sci-fi in fantasy or something you would like me to answer about fantasy in general? Hit me up in my ask box here!

See you tomorrow! For our final notes session we will be discussing D&D (Dungeons and Dragons) and how you can use it in your fics!

~Admin Wolf

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Wolf’s Fantasy Notes: Classic (High) Fantasy

Hello all! We got a few questions about what counts as fantasy. So being the genre nerd I am I thought I could do a short series on different types of fantasy!

So first up is:

Classic (High) Fantasy

aka Sword and Sorcery, Epic Fantasy and many other names 

This is what people usually think about when someone says fantasy. Dragons, wizards, curses, kings, and epic journeys with super-powered opposition. These usually are party heavy pieces. Think Lord of the Rings or the more recent Dragon Prince.

But they don't have to be! They can also be coming of age stories like the story of King Arthur or She-Ra.

Looking for ways to spice up your story?

Try doing a different location. Most people think of European medieval times when they think of fantasy. But what about the Moor caliphate? What about Feudal Japan?! My Hero does take place in Japan and the country has many myths and legends that make for great fantasy fodder. The rest of Asia minor, too!

Don't have a big bad? Or don't want use the usual BnHA villains? 

Curse one of your characters and make time their enemy. There are also the usual culprits of angry Gods and demons to vanquish as well!

No idea where to start…? 

Mythology is your friend. They give you a great place to start. Every culture on the planet has one. Look some up.

Next time, I'll cover modern fantasy.

Have any questions about classic fantasy or something you would like me to answer about modern fantasy or fantasy in general? Hit me up in my ask box here! 

See you soon!

~Admin Wolf

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Wolf’s Fantasy Notes: Dark Fantasy

Hello all! Today we are traversing the shadows as we delve into the dark abyss known as Dark Fantasy!

Dark Fantasy

Dark fantasy is actually a pretty popular genre… however, most people would not know it by that name. Usually, the genre comes under the guise of Paranormal fantasy or fantasy thrillers. All in all, dark fantasy is where you find all the ghouls and monsters that exist in our own fantasies… what we call nightmares. Monsters aren’t the only things that frighten us, either!

Fantasy is also often used to talk about the darker aspects of humanity using fantasy creatures or even animals instead of people! Remember our discussion about Cats Don’t Dance? Fantasy is often used to talk about tough issues to children and adults!

The overall feel of Dark Fantasy is intense. The fights never seem to let up and enemies are around every corner. Ghosts haunt the characters in the real world and in their dreams. Monsters hunger for their flesh while their failures and darker parts might be devouring their sanity and souls. That is not to say that things can’t be played for gruesome laughs, though!  

Anime:

Overlord, Goblin Slayer, Witchblade, Rosario Vampire, Blood+, and the like.

Literature:

Pretty much any paranormal romance of the last couple of decades: Twilight, J. R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series, The Vampire Huntress Legends by L. A. Banks for example,

Others: Goosebumps, Watership Down, Lemony Snicket’s A series of Unfortunate Events, the Cirque Du Freak series, The Witches by Ronald Dahl… a lot of his books were on the slightly  darker side...

Classics: Interview with a Vampire and the following series and The Tales of the Grimm’s Brothers

Movies:

Pan’s Labyrinth, Nightmare before Christmas, Ghostbusters, The Underworld series, Twilight and Interview with a Vampire have film adaptations, We’re Back: A Dinosaur’s Tale takes a pretty dark turn in the second half, The Secret of NIMH, Gremlins, Little Monsters, The Witches (film by DIsney), The Craft, The Brave Little Toaster, Return to Oz, Two Heads are Better than One (a Keenan And Kel Movie), The Addams Family, Alvin and the Chipmunks meet the Wolfman and the follow up movie involving Frankenstein, Disney’s Haunted Mansion and Tower of Terror movies

Several of the Scooby entries:

Scooby Doo on Zombie Island, Scooby Doo and the Witch’s Ghost, Scooby Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf, Scooby Doo and the Goblin King (I am only counting the ones that involved real monsters and magic… not people pretending— I know how it sounds...)

TV Shows:

Stranger Things, Black Mirror, The Adventures of Sabrina the Teenage Witch (Netflix version), Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Supernatural, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes… (I totally just dated myself ^_^;), Street Sharks, Mummies Alive, Goosebumps the show, The Secret World of Alex Mack, So Weird… , and Aaaah! Real Monsters (totally dated myself again…), The Ghost Whisperer, Medium, Saving Hope, Courage the Cowardly Dog, The Munsters (There goes that dating again…), Beetleborgs, and the Twilight Zone series

Comics: Constantine, Hellboy, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Sabrina the Teenage Witch also had a comic run and I am sure there are thousands more… I am just sticking to what I am familiar with.  

Functioning as an aesthetic and/or a genre

Like the punk genres we discussed before, dark fantasy can function as a genre and as an aesthetic. It is often woven into stories as an aesthetic without us realizing.

Most fantasy worlds have light  and dark  aligned counterparts to fantasy creatures. Dwarves vs goblins or fairies vs sprites or pixies (depending on the world), there are classic elves and drows! A benevolent sorceress and her evil witch sister or vice versa! A druid vs a werecreature! Dark fantasy gives us the monsters that our band of adventurers must defeat! It gives us the curses and haunted kingdoms they must survive. As an aesthetic, it is practically there for you to grab!

How can this be applied to your story?

-obvious things like curses and enemies

-Perhaps make use of it in the background to color a plot point that might be boring otherwise!

-Use them as obstacles to your character’s goals

Dark Fantasy as a genre

Like I discussed before, to use something as an aesthetic sprinkle it in every now and again. But if you want this to be the backbone of your story… your story’s genre then make sure you treat it like a character. Or at least make it intrinsic to the story you are telling.

How can one do this with Dark Fantasy?

-Make your character a creature/monster, simple and classic or curse them… an equal classic

-Make your character a monster hunter

-Make a curse work on a world wide scale and give it a different effect for different races, people, animals, etc

-Make your MC responsible for keeping the peace between factions that are paranormal in nature

-Make their house haunted and the like

Have any other questions about making use of dark fantasy or something you would like me to answer about fantasy in general? Hit me up in my ask box here!

See you soon! Next time we start continue talking about some of these niche sections of fantasy by discussing Sci-fi Fantasy!

~Admin Wolf