Re: Fantasy vs fairy tale vs fancy (was Narrative Summary and Transitions

In article <11ncp0oiosvpb53@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Bill Swears
<wswears@xxxxxxx> writes
>>
>I think a fairy tale is a particular type of fantasy. A sub-genre, if
>you will.
>
Or the parent, where modern fantasy is the vigorous offspring?

>I get a feeling of fairy tale when a. the story is told, or at least
>introduced, by an omniscient narrator, b. set in a stylized milieu which
>evokes some earlier romanticised time and place, c. uses framing
>narrative cues to signal important events, even if those are just the
>beginning and end.
>
Omni is often used for fairy tales, but I'm not sure whether that's a
necessary thing or whether it's just that when the fairy tale type story
was popular, omni was the predominant POV choice. When Patricia does
her thing with Cinderella to explain the difference between the natural
novelist and the natural short story writer, I don't think the POV comes
into it. But a modern retelling of Cinderella is still a fairy tale,
even if done in a modern tightly filtered third with one or more POV
characters.

>So, for me, the sense of fairy tale vice fantasy is a result of
>narrative voice, and an explicit statement of the story conventions
>rather than the specific plot line.
>
>I don't have an example, but I think you could tell a fairy story of the
>"for want of a nail, the kingdom fell" ilk without concentrating the
>entire tale in one hero, and still leave the reader satisfied they have
>read a fairy tale.
>
Now to me that would be a fable. :-)

Fables always have morals and fairy tales definitely don't have a moral.
Unless it's "stay the hell away from faerie, but if you do have any
contact with fey folk, for heaven's sake, keep your wits about you and
stick to the rules."

Helen
--
Helen, Gwynedd, Wales *** http://www.baradel.demon.co.uk

.

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