Fantasy stories can help us escape our own reality, but they can also help us to understand it—especially when that reality is too painful, overwhelming, or complex to look at directly. There’s a reason moral lessons are often taught to children through stories and parables. Fiction distills what exists, sometimes to the point of caricature, and presents it in its purest form. Fantasy provides a lens of cognitive separation that allows readers to consider and process even the heaviest of themes in an accessible, enjoyable, way.
My books are full of bigotry, twisted logic used to justify atrocities, political manipulations, grief, self loathing, and social isolation, but they’re also fun to read. That fun makes all the difference. Hand me a book about the suffering of real people, and I will be depressed before I even crack the cover. Hand me a book where the same suffering is portrayed through analogues and symbolism wrapped in an adventure, and I will gladly stay up all night reading it. Perhaps that’s a matter of my own psychology, but I don’t think I’m alone.
I write mostly contemporary fantasy, meaning my stories take place in what could loosely be classified as the “real world.” This gives me a believable backdrop from which to expand, and gives readers a solid foothold that lets them easily imagine themselves beside, or in place of, the characters. This combination of real and imagined allows readers to become quickly immersed while still evoking a sense of wonder and discovery.
While I adore epic fantasies, they can be a bit intimidating in their scope, and therefore off-putting to readers with busy lives and limited time. The same can be said of writing them. Extensive world building is a fun but daunting task, especially when you’re starting from scratch. And the sheer amount of description necessary to convey the world you’ve created to a reader takes up a lot of page space.
Contemporary fantasy piggybacks on a world that already exists, one that readers are familiar with, so a lot of the heavy lifting is already done. If I say a character is a devout Catholic, that paints a specific picture without my having to write three pages of explanation as to what that means. I can then confirm or undermine the reader’s likely assumptions to refine their mental image. This allows me to focus more on the unique aspects of my world so they can have the most impact, not to mention writing stories with a faster pace.
Another aspect of contemporary fantasy that I love is that it leans into the moral gray areas of life. Rather than a “good” hero fighting against an “evil” villain for the fate of the world, you’re more likely to see two emotionally scarred people with equally strong convictions and motivations who both believe they are doing what’s “right.” Even when the antagonists are unequivocally evil, the heroes are usually normal people rather than fated chosen ones. They’re messy. Flawed. They have bills to pay and mouths to feed. They make bad choices and have to live with the consequences.
The stakes involved are usually personal. That doesn’t mean the hero won’t end up saving the world—or destroying it, or changing it—but the larger stakes stem from smaller ones: earning a paycheck, finding love, supporting a friend, etc.
When I first began writing the Magicsmith series, it was about Alex learning to accept herself, then it became about carving out her place in a world where she didn’t really fit. It has since evolved into her trying to change the entire world to be a place where everyone can feel like they belong. Small personal stakes grow into big ones over time, but the core remains personal.
When I first started writing, I thought I just wanted to entertain people. I wanted to send them on an adventure that would get them out of their own lives and heads for a little while. This is still true, but I realize now that it’s not the whole truth. While I do want to send readers on fantastic adventures, my books are also a way for me to join a larger conversation about what is happening in our world and share my thoughts in an accessible way. I write about social outcasts and misanthropes. I write about finding acceptance first and foremost within yourself and spreading that acceptance to others. I write about morally gray struggles with no clear solution, and I write with the hope of a brighter future.
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