Urban Fantasy
April 01, 2009, 12:02 AMSo I've already told my story of how I got into Twilight. I was waiting for Deathly Hallows the book, decided I needed something to obsess about. From there was born my obsession with urban fantasy. What is urban fantasy, you ask? Anything with a paranormal or fantasy/magical element to it, set in a world that somewhat resembles our own. Harry Potter is set in the 20th/21st century. It has magic, wizards, werewolves, etc. It is set in a completely separate universe of it's own, but it is still within the realm of the universe we know. Urban Fantasy is, I believe, one of the most difficult genres in which to write well. You need to create your own characters, your own rules, and your own world yet you need to keep it within some sort of resemblance to the world we consciously live in- a world within a world.
To me, urban fantasy is all about the possibilities. It's about the possibilities that dark creatures exist that we don't know about. It's about the possibilities of a virus-ridden tomato killing off almost an entire generation (see Kim Harrison's books if this interest you.). It's about how much we really know about the world we live in, and the kind of people who live in it. And it's a projection of some sort of idealistic standard that we strive for, but can never quite achieve.
That's it for this entry- More tomorrow! I hope you had a nice April Fools day- like every year, one person managed to get me.
And just an FYI, I'm participating in BEDA- Blog Every Day in April. More links and info coming in the next blog entry! But I think you can guess what it is by the title.