It is not easy to write a book or story. Urban fantasy is not a widely known genre of literature like crime or romance. It is not hard to comprehend what the urban fantasy genre is but there are certain aspects that one needs to keep in mind if one is willing to write a book or story based on urban fantasy. In this article, we will discuss – what is urban fantasy? How to write urban fantasy? What are the key factors? What are some examples of the urban fantasy genre?
Urban fantasy is a genre present in literature and it includes short stories, novellas, and novels in which characters are concepts are set in a real-life urban setting or the present day. Urban fantasy books are often overlapped with paranormal romance which consists of themes such as vampires, werewolves, faeries, zombies, and more. But urban fantasy is not essentially a paranormal romance. Some of the elements of this genre are an urban setting, a noir aesthetic, magic, a protagonist who is linked between reality and supernatural, magic, and fantasy tropes.
Some of the characteristics that establish the urban fantasy genre are – A. Urban fantasy tales are set in cities – typically cities present in the existing world, occasionally set in a small town, but is rare and it may also be present in the alternate universe. B. Often drawn from stories of other genres – the reason why urban fantasy seems similar to other genres is that this genre tends to imitate other genres and stories which are based on urban settings, such as thriller, urban hardships, intuitive atmosphere, and things like that. C. Presence of supernatural creatures – Urban fantasy tends to have creatures like demons, vampires, wizards, zombies, and more.
Some of the key factors that one has to keep in mind if they want to write urban fantasy: Set the Rules – before you commence writing your story, you need to comprehend which aspect is going to be supernatural and what are the basics will be drawn from reality. When you choose an urban place, think about how you are going to present their lifestyle and every day and how would you include supernatural in that; Create the Story Around a Core Clash – Since this genre blends well with factors like a thriller, suspense, and mysteries, you need to start your story with a conventional trope of the protagonist protecting the city from terrorist or solving an enigmatic crime.
The supernatural and the supporting characters will go into the void if there is not a strong start to the urban fantasy; Thematic Base – Dipping supernatural roles into picayune actuality can be amusing, but it won’t leave much of intuition if not you have a thematic point to construct. This genre naturally lends itself to statements on affection, technology, human connectedness, and basic morality.
Some of the basic things that one need to keep in mind are – choose an urban setting and research all about it, establish the central plot, know the characters of your story, give your city an essence of the urban fantasy, makeup rules for the supernatural roles, add crime and mystery to your story, and most importantly know the target audience.
Some of the iconic urban fantasy books are – American Gods by Neil Gaiman, The Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews, The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher, The Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch, The Jane Yellowrock series by Faith Hunter, The Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris, and more.
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