Fantasy

Fantasy is fiction or a "made up" story that has elements or parts that are not realistic. Characters may have magical or supernatural powers or use some futuristic technology that allows fantastic things to happen. Fantasies may contain talking beasts, underground kingdoms, secret immortality (living forever or never dying), and mysterious wizards. Characteristics of fantasy include the following:

• A fantasy allows readers to explore the past, the future, and worlds that coexist in the present.
• There may be characters with magical or supernatural abilities such as witches, wizards, superheroes, mythical creatures, talking animals, and ghosts.
• Fantasies takes on many forms, such as stories of enchantment, humorous tales, stories in which animals and toys are personified (act as people), and science fiction tales.
• A fantasy blends fantastic (strange, fanciful, weird, or imaginary) with realistic detail.
• The theme or main idea is quite often serious, involving social and political issues, or the theme may be universal (pertaining to or felt by all people) dealing with human values, emotion, and motivation.
• Common themes include a battle between good and evil, greed versus unselfishness, and the meaning of life and death.

Subgenres include:

Fantastic Stories

Characters can be like or unlike humans with magical qualities such as personified toys, animals, or objects. Personified means behaving like people. Plot can have any kind of conflict. Setting is often the realistic world with some fantastic qualities. Theme and style can vary. Tone is often humorous. Examples are The Borrowers, Charlotte's Web, Winnie the Pooh.

High Fantasy

Characters are realistically portrayed. Plot has any kind of conflict but the underlying conflict is usually good versus evil. Setting is often a special world where the time and place have special qualities of expansion (goes on and on) or limitation (space is small and limited). Theme is universal such as good and evil in conflict. Style is usually highly sensory or descriptive and the tone is serious. Examples are The Hero and the Crown, The Hobbit, Harry Potter series.

Science Fiction

Science fiction often includes futuristic technology with its blend of scientific facts and fantasy. Characters are realistic and often able to perform feats using the possible technology of the future. Plot may have any kind of conflict but often mechanical or natural forces are on the opposing side. Plots are usually progressive (go forward) and suspenseful (very exciting). Setting often distinguishes one story from another and is frequently set in a future time, sometimes on an unexplored planet. Style has much description and tone is often objective (without bias) and factual. Examples are The Lost Star, My Robot Buddy, Star Wars, and A Wrinkle in Time.

	Science Fiction	Modern Fantasy
Plot	The major events might really happen, based on scientific facts that we know to be true.	The major events could not happen, according to science as we know it today.
Setting	Time is usually in the near or distant future. Place can be Earth, or another location that real scientists theorize may exist.	Time is usually right now. Place is usually a realistic place on earth.
Problem	The characters solve a problem by using actual scientific data.	The characters solve a problem by using magic or impossible strategies.
Characters	Characters are fictional but they act in ways that make sense from a scientific point of view.	Characters are fictional but they act in ways that make sense in a fantasy situation.

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