eimarra | Entries tagged with urban fantasy

(If you’re here for the A to Z blog challenge, scroll down for today’s post. This post is one in an on-going series on genres.)

I touched on this when I discussed fantasy a few weeks back. I gave some of the elements that are prevalent in various types of fantasy. For urban fantasy, I mentioned modern world, a big city, often a hard-boiled detective, may be but is not necessarily dark. Oh, and magic or magical creatures, since that’s what makes this fantasy rather than mystery or mainstream. Also, urban fantasy doesn’t focus on a romantic plot; if that’s the focus of a book (rather than a sub-plot at most), it’s paranormal romance. ( Read the rest of this entry � )

Originally published at Erin M. Hartshorn. You can comment here or there.

. . . specifically, the knowledge of magic and magical creatures.

Three basic models exist that I can think of:

1) Only the select few know that they don't live in a mundane world. Examples include Buffy and Dresden Files (by Jim Butcher).

2) The truth is out, and everyone knows that there are non-humans out there. Examples include Laurell K. Hamilton's work, both her Anita Blake and Merry Gentry novels.

3) The truth is sort of out there, but not necessarily all of the truth. Mercy Thompson's world (by Patricia Briggs) is a good example of this.

I'm starting up my revision of Witchy Woman (aka Pepper, aka NaNo 2007), and it has occurred to me that I'm not sure which model holds true. Having done the read-through, it seems that the concept of magic is not foreign to everyone, but even those who've heard of its existence don't believe in it. Mostly. But there are bits where no ones heard of it. So I need to make it consistent, and to do that, I need to decide what the truth for Pepper's world is.

I'm hoping for feedback here: Are there models I've missed? Do you think some models intrinsically work better than others? Do you have a favorite type you like to read (or write)?

Thanks!

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Please note that examples are representative only. I could've included many others, such as T. A. Pratt's Marla Mason books,