Document Type

Honors

Department

English

Abstract

For my honors project, I decided to develop my series of short stories to reflect the different types of worlds that are built within the fantasy genre. Modernly, the terms “low fantasy” and “high fantasy” have begun to be defined as the subgenres of fantasy. These two terms have been debated, some writers and/or readers having slightly different opinions on what each encompasses. In general, low fantasy is defined as a world in which there are fantastical elements, but the story takes place within the world we live. High fantasy, on the other hand, is a world imagined by the author, entirely separate from our world (though there are various things within these other worlds that may resemble ours).

The first short story in this series, “What a Life”, is a modern fairytale that represents the more tradition fantasy genre. This story is the most realistic, taking place in the real world with a single magical element. The second story in this series, “Chasing Approval”, is my interpretation of low fantasy, taking place within our world but including a secret, magical society hidden within the normal world. The third story, “Dagger of Deviation” is my interpretation of high fantasy, the tale taking place in a world completely separate from ours. Since modern fantasy is often long-length fiction, these low fantasy and high fantasy short stories, despite being able to stand alone, reflect more developed worlds that have been condensed to only include aspects of the world vital for the tale given. With these three stories in this particular order, I have created a series that represents the varying degrees of fantasy worlds.

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