The obvious beginning question I would pose, if you are interested in answering, is where do you choose to mark out "Fantasy" and "Horror" on the continuum of "weird stuff happens" fiction?
Well, on the one hand, I'm usually of the mind that all fiction is, on some level, fantasy, and that categories aren't very useful things in fiction. On the other, though, there's the question of the intent of any given piece of fiction. I tend to favour Doug Winter's proposition that "horror" isn't a genre, but an emotion. So, that fiction which seeks to evoke the horrific (and I think "horror" can be broken down into a number of sub-emotions: wonder, fear, awe, etc.) might be considered, from the POV of intent, to be "horror." Some of this fiction contains fantasy elements, but a lot of it clearly doesn't. Do The Silence of the Lambs and Pet Sematery belong in the same category? Generally, I'd say no, they don't, unless, perhaps, one considers them from the perspective of their intent.
My usual thought is "if the protagonist has powers, too," then you're moving toward fantasy,
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Date: 2006-01-24 07:21 pm (UTC)Well, on the one hand, I'm usually of the mind that all fiction is, on some level, fantasy, and that categories aren't very useful things in fiction. On the other, though, there's the question of the intent of any given piece of fiction. I tend to favour Doug Winter's proposition that "horror" isn't a genre, but an emotion. So, that fiction which seeks to evoke the horrific (and I think "horror" can be broken down into a number of sub-emotions: wonder, fear, awe, etc.) might be considered, from the POV of intent, to be "horror." Some of this fiction contains fantasy elements, but a lot of it clearly doesn't. Do The Silence of the Lambs and Pet Sematery belong in the same category? Generally, I'd say no, they don't, unless, perhaps, one considers them from the perspective of their intent.
My usual thought is "if the protagonist has powers, too," then you're moving toward fantasy,
That's an interesting thought...