UNREAL: Why Fantasy is More Important than You Think

Albert Einstein believed that, “When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than any talent for abstract, positive thinking.”

As we continue to launch our Excerpts from an Unknown Guidebook Series in books, films, and other new media platforms, we’re asked repeatedly, “Why create fantasy fiction?”

The answer is simply that we want people of all ages to hear this message -

Stories have power, and everyone’s story matters.

That message, told through fantasy, to someone at 8 or 80, will have a life-long impact on them. Kids are in a very formative, transitionary stage of development physically, mentally, and emotionally. The skin on the parental bubble that protected them for so many years is thinning and they are too quickly being exposed to all the things that make this world a very scary place.

That’s why fantasy is such a powerful genre for children and adults — it allows them to explore unknown dangers and the strange fears that are all part of growing up. It also allows them to experience the power of friendship, love, compassion, and empathy for others in an environment that is far different from the daily world in which they live.

The fantasy genre in the pre-teen market also provides a real opportunity to promote literacy, creative problem solving, and critical thinking among school-aged children. These are very important skills that become even more accessible and engaging when framed inside an exciting adventure series.

Fantasy provides an opportunity to escape, explore, and experience the unknown, while learning some great life lessons along the way.

In his WIRED article, “Why Fantasy Matters,” R.L. Lafevers points out:

“If we only expose kids to what actually exists, only the basic realities of the world, we have for all intents and purposes limited the world they live in. How will they know to look beyond the next horizon, to reach past the stars and planets we see today, to approach a problem in a completely new and unfamiliar way?

But it’s not just about their career choices and their ability to shape the world they live in. It is also critical in their personal lives. How can you dream big if you have no imagination? How can you strive beyond the everyday if you have no idea what the fantastical might look like? If you’ve never seen a hero embark on a quest for the impossible — and achieve it, where will you find the courage to try? If no one has ever told you stories of someone reaching for the unreachable, how will you ever know to reach for the stars?… Another oft ignored connection is that imagination is a key component of empathy. How can you empathize with someone, if you can’t imagine what they must be feeling?

By helping kids to exercise their imaginations, we help them expand their internal, external, and emotional worlds.”

J.R.R. Tolkien added, in the following in his essay, On Fairy Stories:

“Children are capable, of course, of literary belief, when the story-maker’s art is good enough to produce it. That state of mind has been called “willing suspension of disbelief.” But this does not seem to me a good description of what happens. What really happens is that the story-maker proves a successful “sub-creator.” He makes a Secondary World which your mind can enter. Inside it, what he relates is “true”: it accords with the laws of that world. You therefore believe it, while you are, as it were, inside. The moment disbelief arises, the spell is broken; the magic, or rather art, has failed. You are then out in the Primary World again, looking at the little abortive Secondary World from outside. If you are obliged, by kindliness or circumstance, to stay, then disbelief must be suspended (or stifled), otherwise listening and looking would become intolerable. But this suspension of disbelief is a substitute for the genuine thing, a subterfuge we use when condescending to games or make-believe, or when trying (more or less willingly) to find what virtue we can in the work of an art that has for us failed.”

In the adult world, fantasy provides the same opportunities. It allows us to escape to “somewhere other,” expanding our thoughts and ideas in the safety and comfort of our own minds. As creators, we have the power to envision things brighter and better than they currently are (or darker and more terrible), providing a renewed perspective on the world in which we live and what the future may bring.

W.R. Irwin reveals in his book, The Game of the Impossible: A Rhetoric of Fantasy:

“Fantasy literature offers the reader much of what general fiction offers — escape and adventure — but it goes far beyond the familiar realm of belief. It allows us to enter a world of “contrasts and opposites”, to break away from the entrapment of realism. While some may consider this genre to be of little importance or value to the psychological health of the reader, many may argue that it is integral to a healthy state of mind.”

It doesn’t matter where you are in life, fantasy provides a healthy platform for exploration of both your inner and outer worlds.

As Arwa Mahdawi of the Guardian concludes, “Most importantly, fantasy isn’t just for children. Becoming a teenager, rites of passage, facing failure and defeat, coming to terms with betrayal and disappointment … the most important tool we as humans have to tackle reality, is the creation of metaphor — the allegorical story.

And therein lies the power of fantastic storytelling. For as we like to say at Folktellers — Whoever holds the story, wields the power.