Inside the Wonder World, Lesson 44

Fantasy and Science Fiction

Welcome to my Friday edition of Substack, which features my paid posts: Inside the Wonder World.

Those paid subscribers who stick with me for a year will get a free copy of the book as soon as it’s out.

Inside the Wonder World is the working title of my developing craft book on writing and publishing for young readers. I’m bringing it to you in pieces, both to help you learn something more deeply (lessons and exercises included) and to push me to finish this lofty goal.

Here’s the next lesson!

Science Fiction and Fantasy

Genre conventions and serious world building are most important in SFF (science fiction-fantasy).

A few common tropes define fantasy, and all its divisions (steampunk, urban fantasy, high fantasy, dark fantasy, etc.) Science Fiction is no different (cyberpunk, speculative fiction, dystopia, etc.), and has its own, almost polar opposite tropes.

Joseph Campbell in The Hero With a Thousand Faces perfectly breaks down the fantasy hero’s journey. There is a heavy basis in mythology within fantasy, with mythological story elements consistent with ancient myths of Greek, Roman, Norse, Celtic, Oriental, African, etc. origin. The hero/heroine sets off to save one’s village, to prove one’s worth, or to defeat the dark lord. These are stories of wide scope, where the hero is out to do something great and become a legend in their time.