“Also, worldbuilding touches all aspects of your story. It touches plot and character as well. If you don't know the culture your character comes from, how can you know what he's really like? You must know your characters on a much deeper level than you would if you just shrugged your way into a cookie cutter fantasy world.” IfsKnowsWorldWayWellsCharacterStoriesCultureLevelsFantasyLike YouAspectDeeperPlotCookiesFantasy WorldsCuttersReally Like YouCookie Cutters Author:Patrick Rothfuss
“Unfortunately, a lot of fantasy is chock full of sexism and racism. A lot of authors don't even realize they're doing it, and a lot of readers don't know they're reading it. That's what makes it so scary in some cases.” KnowsReadingRealizingCasesFantasyReaderRacismScarySexism Author:Patrick Rothfuss
“We have more brilliant fantasy novels than brilliant fantasy movies. Movies and TV are done by committee. But with a novel, it's really just one person running the show. That allows for a clarity and unity of vision that's pretty unique, artistically.” PersonsDoneShowsRunningVisionFantasyNovelTvsUniqueUnityBrilliantClarityJust OneCommitteesFantasy Novels Author:Patrick Rothfuss
“When you read a fantasy novel part of the fun is getting to explore a new world. Everyone knows that. But I believe the same is true about characters. You can explore interesting people in the same way that you explore a town or a culture.” PeopleKnowsWorldWayBelieveCharacterCultureFunI BelieveInterestingFantasyNovelTownsNew WorldFantasy Novels Author:Patrick Rothfuss
“I've read fantasy my whole life. Quite literally; my mom read me The Hobbit before I could read stuff to myself. So I love fantasy; that's what I read for fun, it's what I read professionally to keep abreast of what's in the genre - it's where my heart is.” HeartWholeFunStuffFantasyMomMy HeartMy MomWhole LifeGenre Author:Patrick Rothfuss
“Sex scenes in books are always like first person, from this male perspective and just about how awesome he is. It feels like such a fantasy.” FeelsFirstsPersonsBookSexFantasyPerspectiveSceneMalesFirst Person Author:Joe Meno
“There's something very intimate about taking someone's work, turning it over and unpicking it. In the same way people have unique handwriting people have a sewing style. You do start building a fantasy relationship with the person.” PeopleWayPersonsFantasyStyleBuildingUniqueIntimateSewingHandwriting Author:Matt Smith
“To be matter-of-fact about the world is to blunder into fantasy - and dull fantasy at that, as the real world is strange and wonderful.” WorldRealMatterFactsWonderHistoryFantasyWonderfulStrangeDullReal WorldMatter Of FactBlunders Book:Time Enough for Love Source: Time Enough for Love
“I don't want to see pictures of Hollywood stars in their dressing gowns taking out the rubbish. It ruins the fantasy.” WantArtStarsFantasyHollywoodRuinsDressingsRubbishGownsHollywood Stars Author:Sarah Brightman
“I would write light entertainment nonfiction pieces during the day, then come home and work on my fantasy fiction. It was very difficult to get out of the one mindset and into another one.” WritingHomeLightDifficultFictionFantasyPiecesEntertainmentMindsetComing HomeNonfiction Author:Cassandra Clare
“I love reading epic fantasies and big fat books and so I really wanted to write one. I think you always write what you want to read.” ThinkingWantWritingBookBigsWantedReadingFantasyWhat You WantFatsEpicLove Of Reading Author:Cassandra Clare
“A lot of people feel like urban fantasy is a shortcut that gets you around world-building, because it's set "in the real world." But it doesn't really work that way, as I found out. You have to come up with just as consistent an internal cosmology and magic system as you would if you were writing high fantasy.” PeopleIfsWorldWayFeelsWritingRealFoundFantasyMagicBuildingCome UpConsistentInternalsReal WorldUrbanCosmologyShortcuts Author:Cassandra Clare
“In a closed urban fantasy, the magical world is secret and no one knows about it. In an open urban fantasy, everyone knows about it. So with a closed fantasy, you have to figure out how the world keeps itself secret, and with an open one, you have to figure out how knowledge of magic has altered the world we know.” KnowsWorldSecretFantasyMagicFiguresUrbanAltered Author:Cassandra Clare
“I have all these weird fantasies. Going coast-to-coast on my motorcycle and having random barbecues all over America. No show, no nothing.” ShowsAmericaFantasyCoastMotorcycleBarbecue Author:Dave Chappelle
“I had a healthy curiosity and would try things on - play lots of practical jokes. But it was more in my head - fantasies of "What would happen if...? Like what would happen in class if you took all your clothes off and you ran around the room?” IfsTryingPlayHappensRoomsClassFantasyHealthyClothesJokesCuriosityPracticalsRanPractical Joke Author:Andy Griffiths
“I spent many years in grad school in English, so I've read a lot in a variety of genres. But adventure fantasy is my bread and butter as a reader, and probably always will be. So it's only natural that I came to that genre as a writer.” YearsSchoolNaturalFantasyAdventureReaderBreadVarietyGenreGradBread And ButterGrad School Author:Saladin Ahmed
“My writerly aspirations are pretty simple: to provide as many readers as possible with the same sort of wonderful immersion that I myself get from fantasy novels - and to make enough money to help feed my kids while doing so.” EnoughHelpingKidsSimpleFantasyNovelWonderfulReaderAspirationImmersionFantasy Novels Author:Saladin Ahmed
“You have this great big fantasy life, and it looks like a non-stop 24/7 party. But what do you do when you get to the end of the Internet and there's nothing left to buy? There's just a picture of Wayne Newton flipping you off.” LooksEndsBigsLeftPartyFantasyInternetNewtonWayneNon StopFantasy Life Author:Charlie Sheen
“I'm just writing what I know. I've never been much of a reader of fantasy, and I think you write what you, personally, enjoy reading.” ThinkingKnowsWritingReadingEnjoyFantasyReader Author:Sarah Dessen
“There is a current mythology in our culture that anytime we meet someone and have that "enchanted evening" experience, that experience of looking into the eyes of the other and falling hopelessly in love - that this is nothing more than a delusion; a mutual projection, a fantasy that will only last until reality sets in.” RealityEyeLastsFallCultureFantasyCurrentsMythologyEveningDelusionMutualProjectionEnchantedHopelessly In Love Author:Marianne Williamson
“I don't say things like "the grace of God." All that's white noise to me, not because I'm an intellectual. For many people, it's gibberish. Likewise, the idea that the Koran was dictated by an archaic illiterate is a fantasy.” PeopleIdeasWhiteFantasyGraceIntellectualNoiseGrace Of GodIlliterateWhite Noise Author:Christopher Hitchens
“I don't write science fiction. I've only done one science fiction book and that's Fahrenheit 451, based on reality. Science fiction is a depiction of the real. Fantasy is a depiction of the unreal.” WritingBookRealDoneRealityFictionFantasyScience FictionUnrealDepiction Author:Ray Bradbury
“Fantasy has a better chance of lasting than a lot of other things. The Hobbit and the Narnia books, they seem to get handed down father to son, mother to daughter. Because they're set in a fantasy world, they can remain relevant.” WorldBookSeemsMotherFatherChanceFantasySonDaughterLastingRelevantFather SonMother DaughterNarniaFantasy Worlds Author:Stephen King
“It was a charming fantasy of romantics that the spies would stop spying, that political conflict would end and politicians would tell the truth. Unfortunately that has not been the case.” EndsPoliticalCasesFantasyDemocracyPoliticianConflictTelling The TruthCharmingSpy Author:John le Carre
“The only way I can lose my mind in bed is to destroy myself in a fantasy.” WayMindI CanLosesFantasyBed Author:Patti Smith
“Every dude in here has had a fantasy about Jessica Simpson. Here's mine: Jessica, hold your sister Ashlee so I can kick her in the throat.” I CanHumorFunnyFantasyMinesKicksThroatJessica Author:Dave Attell
“One of the things that I love so much about fantasy and science fiction is that the weirdness that it creates is always at its best completely its own end and also metaphorically and symbolically laden.” EndsFictionFantasyScience FictionWeirdness Author:China Mieville
“I enjoy creating and developing characters, as well as situations. But I have always had more ideas than I can ever put down on paper and fantasy allows me to include a lot of what I feel.” FeelsWellsI CanIdeasCharacterEnjoySituationFantasyPaperCreatingDeveloping Author:Raymond Buckland
“I never have goals or dreams. My sister says it's pathetic and lazy, but I had a goal, to tell jokes to pay bills and not have to live in a trailer. So, I think I'm living my fantasy. I don't have another.” ThinkingDreamGoalPayFantasyJokesBillsLazyMy SisterPatheticTrailers Author:Kathleen Madigan
“When I was growing up and wanted to be a musician, the fantasy that I had of what the music industry was is so wrong.” WantedFantasyGrowing UpGrowingIndustryMusicianMusic Industry Author:Matty Mullins
“In magic I believe I can control certain elements of my environment, I believe I can control certain aspects of my endocrine system, through imagination, visualization, breathing techniques, which in a sense come into the scientific aspects. So magic is a combination, its a soup, a delightful combination of art, imagination, visualization, fantasy, with a healthy dose of solid basis, because it is a science. The thing is we've lost the keys.” BelieveArtI CanCertainLostI BelieveImaginationFantasyEnvironmentMagicKeysHealthyElementsAspectBasesTechniqueCombinationBreathingSoupDelightfulDoseVisualization Author:Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki
“Perhaps because technology so dominates our existence, more and more it seems that the young reader is captivated by fantasy.” SeemsYoungExistenceTechnologyFantasyReaderCaptivated Author:Anita Nair
“In India we have a readymade world of fantasy available in Indian mythology. And this is why we see such a surfeit of characters drawn from mythology. I don't think it's because the present day humanity is soulless.” ThinkingWorldCharacterHumanityFantasyIndiaAvailableMythologyIndianPresent DaySoulless Author:Anita Nair
“Philosophy can help laymen spot and reject the numerous pseudoscientific beliefs that survive in the media, such as the fantasies of psychoanalysts, evolutionary psychologists, and economic equilibrium theorists.” PhilosophyHelpingBeliefFantasyEconomicMediaSpotsRejectsPsychologistEquilibriumTheoristsLayman Author:Mario Bunge
“I've always found that when you're trying to create illusions with sound, especially in a science fiction or fantasy movie, that pulling sounds from the world around us is a great way to cement that illusion because you can go out and record an elevator in George Lucas's house or something, and it will have that motor sound.” WorldWayTryingFoundHouseSoundFictionFantasyRecordsCreatingIllusionScience FictionMovieFilmmakingPullingMotorElevatorsCement Author:Ben Burtt
“In a period piece, particularly a fantasy, the lighting is your own choice, the lenses are your own choice. It's really a great thing for a cinematographer to do. Everything is open for you. You can even be more creative and you can use more shadows than usual.” UseChoicesFantasyCreativePiecesPeriodsShadowGreat ThingsUsualLensesLightingCinematographers Author:Vilmos Zsigmond
“There's a difference between what I would like to have been and what I would have been. I always fantasized about being a reforming judge or prison governor (I think that the UK penal system is a disgrace) - but it's fantasy.” ThinkingHas BeensDifferencesFantasyJudgingPrisonGovernorsDisgrace Author:Mary Beard
“The fantasy of doing a task perfectly is common with procrastinators; they set the bar for success very high. Then they are afraid to approach it. As the deadline approaches, they must set the bar lower.” CommonFantasyApproachTasksBarsDeadlineProcrastinator Author:John Perry
“I don't want to get pigeonholed just doing just family films and fantasy films... I don't really want to get pigeonholed just doing anything in particular.” WantFilmFantasyParticularFantasy Films Author:Dave McKean
“I'm interested in the parallel narrative of our fantasy lives. How the moment of 'now' that is palpably real, is surrounded by our memories, our dreams and hopes, the stories and connections that our brains make as we navigate a universe of fantasy, or unreality, or surreality. I'm keen to explore this very human experience, how our minds create our own realities, a blend of fact and interpretation of fact.” MindHumansRealMomentsFactsStoriesDreamRealityUniverseMemoriesBrainFantasyConnectionsNarrativeInterpretationOur DreamsHuman ExperienceParallelsOur MemoriesNavigateUnrealityFantasy Life Author:Dave McKean
“All day my mind drifts off into fantasies and little stupid jokes.” MindLittlesFantasyStupidJokesStupid Jokes Author:Jean-Pierre Jeunet
“I read fiction all the time. It's true that I don't like fantasy or science fiction. I like "realistic" novels, particularly those in which nothing much ever happens.” HappensFictionFantasyNovelScience FictionRealistic Author:Gustavo Perez Firmat
“Most of the songs I write just very directly from my life. I don't have a big imagination. Whenever I tried to write from fantasy, it comes out sounding really fake.” WritingBigsSongImaginationFantasyFake Author:Rivers Cuomo
“When you just get fantasy stories that are about fairies or goblins, I just don't care. I'm never going to meet a goblin, it doesn't mean anything to me. So my definition of fantasy is very broad, it's anything to do with memory, or dreams, or ways of interpreting or making sense of the world.” WorldWayMeanStoriesDreamCareMemoriesFantasyDefinitionsDon't CareMake SenseFairyBroadsInterpretingGoblinFantasy Stories Author:Dave McKean
“If there's any kind of morality, for me, it's about reality; what is reality? I have a hard time distinguishing what is valuable when it comes to the real world and the fantasy world. Like, should I invest my time in the ordinary world or the imaginary world?” IfsWorldShouldKindRealHardRealityFantasyMoralityOrdinaryValuableMy TimeHard TimesReal WorldImaginaryShould IFantasy WorldsImaginary WorldOrdinary World Author:Sufjan Stevens
“The paradox is that, by children taking shortcuts through computer games, through fantasies, through movies that load on all the emotional stimulation of encountering life in a stylized way - all of this is the equivalent of mainlining of paleolithic emotions, emotions about combat, about personal success, about overcoming monsters, about making powerful friendships, about winning wars and entering new territory.” WayChildrenWarGamesWinningPowerfulEmotionFantasyEmotionalComputerOvercomingMonstersParadoxTerritoryCombatLoadEnteringShortcutsStimulationPersonal SuccessNew TerritoryComputer Games Author:E. O. Wilson
“I have this fantasy that the second movie would begin with a brief statement by all of the young actors who had played the children in the first movie, explaining how it had ruined their lives, so we would catch up with Emily Browning drinking heavily in the back of a burlesque bar, and maybe Liam Aiken would be living underneath a bridge, and then instead of the twins who played Sunny, we would just try to find the oldest woman in the world, and get an interview with her sitting in a trailer park.” WorldTryingFirstsChildrenWould BeYoungActorsFantasySittingDrinkingBarsStatementsBridgesInterviewsParksTwinsRuinedExplainingSunnyTrailersEmilyYoung ActorsLiamBurlesqueTrailer Park Author:Daniel Handler
“The catastrophe story, whoever may tell it, represents a constructive and positive act by the imagination rather than a negative one, an attempt to confront the terrifying void of a patently meaningless universe by challenging it at its own game. [. . .] Each one of these fantasies represents an arraignment of the finite, an attempt to dismantle the formal structure of time and space which the universe wraps around us at the moment we first achieve consciousness.” FirstsMayMomentsStoriesUniverseGamesImaginationChallengesSpaceConsciousnessFantasyAchieveNegativeStructureMeaninglessVoidFormalCatastropheApocalypseFiniteTime And SpaceWrapsConstructive Author:J. G. Ballard
“Life itself today has lost its plane reality: it is projected, not along the old fixed points, but along the dynamic coordinates of Einstein, of revolution. In this new projection, the best-known formulas and objects become displaced, fantastic, familiar-unfamiliar. This is why it is so logical for literature today to be drawn to the fantastic plot, or to an amalgam of reality and fantasy.” InspirationalArtRealityTodayLiteratureLostKnownFantasyObjectsRevolutionFamiliarFantasticPlanesFixedPlotLogicalFormulasProjectionUnfamiliarCoordinates Author:Yevgeny Zamyatin
“The idea of implanting memories where by the implantee couldn't tell the difference between a real experience and a fantasy experience was really cool. And his ideas of technology - do we control technology or does technology begin to control us? His work hasn't aged a day it seems.” DoeIdeasRealSeemsDifferencesMemoriesTechnologyFantasyReally Cool Author:Colin Farrell