Now that we have a good grasp on plot and hooking the reader, let's find out which fantasy subgenre you are attempting to write. 

The following subgenres are entirely speculative and you may invent or discover one even I was unfamiliar with.

HIGH/EPIC FANTASY:

- Perhaps the most traditional and lengthy fantasy to exist is the epic fantasy. JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings is a great example of an epic fantasy. It has lore that expands the pages of its stories and seems to grow and evolve every decade with new books appearing from the authors notes years after his death. The epic fantasy paves the way for vast worlds unknown and courageous adventures full of mystical creatures. These works tend to include dragons, mystics, magicians, medieval technologies mixed with magic, swords of grand power, heroes of humble beginnings, and may include richly decorated maps and images. Some more examples of epic fantasy is The Tales of Earthsea by Ursula K Le Guin and the pop culture icon of George RR Martin's Game of Thrones saga. 

LOW FANTASY:

- Low fantasy tends to exist in the real world with small elements of magic and wonder slipping through the norm and invading everyday life. The magic often works in tandem with the real world sometimes conforming to certain laws or pressures either it be nature or society. JK Rowling's Harry Potter is a good example of a low fantasy. Sometimes these stories involve a supernatural presence that the characters discover by accident or by fate. These low fantasies can also bleed into paranormal romances like Twilight or urban fantasies like City of Bones. 

CONTEMPORARY/URBAN FANTASY:

- Oftentimes this subgenre is difficult to define and may be based on a matter of perspective. Elements for this fantasy tend to exist within a developed society or city center and may reflect on real-world present day events or ideas. It is often combined with low fantasy. The key difference though is low fantasy can include rural areas of countryside life where urban fantasy most often refers to the city life, underground secret sects, pop culture references, and human institutions. Jim Butcher tends to be a good example especially with his popular Dresden Files.

PORTAL FANTASY:

- To put it bluntly, these fantasies will include a shift between two or more worlds using a portal, gateway, or mystical form of travel. Characters are swept up into an unfamiliar world where that world's politics and problems are theirs to fix. When the characters return to their world they are changed by their experience. An obvious example here is C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia. The portal may take the form of almost anything, even a dusty old wardrobe or a rabbit hole as in Alice in Wonderland.

FANTASY ROMANCE:

- Fantasy romance is another difficult to place subgenre. It must include the fantasy elements, but it will always have romance as its central focus. These romances tend to be between royal courts, family drama, star-crossed tragedies, epic love affairs, sex, and betrayal.

PARANORMAL ROMANCE:

- Typically more contemporary and low fantasy stories fall under the paranormal romance. These tales must have love as their central focus, but also a supernatural twist. This could include fables, werewolves, vampires, and faires. Also a hard subgenre to place, paranormal romance has little to do with world building and politics and much to do with love triangles, lust, betrayal, alpha and omega, etc.

CHILDREN'S FANTASY:

- You guessed it, a fantasy story for kids. Simple language, powerful morals, little to no fowl language, and relatable situations such as school and home tend to encompass the idea of a children's fantasy. Oftentimes told from the perspective of a child, the children's fantasy stretches the limits of imagination and pushes the boundaries of life lessons into more interesting topics. This subgenre is diverse including scifi, urban, paranormal, epic, or bizarre instances such as in Ronald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach. Some great examples of children's fantasy are Cornelia Funke's Inkheart and Madeleine L'Engle's Wrinkle In Time.

YA FANTASY:

- Possibly one of the most competitive markets out there is the YA Fantasy. These books must have a teenage protagonist within a fantasy world (regardless of what it is) to be considered a YA fantasy. Most protagonists fall between the ages of 14-17 as these are the most pivotal ages of social, emotional, and physical development. The protagonists don't typically leave the teen years by the end of the book or series, but it is possible for the MC to become an adult by the end. These books are heavy with harsh realities such as death, bullying, rape, sex, rebelliousness, and empathy. The protagonist in these books makes the biggest leaps as far as story arcs go sometimes becoming a totally different person by the end having learned a tough lesson. Like with children fantasy, the "chosen one" trope is prevalent and easy to become sucked into.

HISTORICAL FANTASY:

- This to me is one of the hardest fantasies to pull off and perhaps one of the most ambiguous. As fantasy involves many aspects that do not exist in nature and mostly exist within culture, pulling off a true historical fantasy is a challenge. This involves much research into the culture of the author's choosing, some form of manipulation of historical fact (unless it is a documentary/ scholarly work) such as the inclusion of supernatural beings, and a firm grasp on tradition often times using real historical figures and/or events. I do find this to be one of the more compelling fantasies when it is pulled off such as the Outlander series which can in some circles be called a fantasy as it has magical time traveling and druid aspects while keeping true to a lot of Scottish history. 

MEDIEVAL/ ARTHURIAN FANTASY

- This is a fantasy that pulls elements of medieval history but with a larger focus on kings, queens, sorcerers, magical swords, knights, or great quests. These stories must take place during the medieval period or an alternative version of it to be considered. For a story to be labeled Arthurian it must also include some form of Arthur and his knights of the round table, Avalon, Merlin, Holy Grail, etc (anything associated with the Arthur legend). One example of this genre includes The Once and Future King by T.H. White. 

FAIRYTALE RETELLINGS:

- This is one of those subgenre or a subgenre types. A requirement for this based on, inspired by, or include the classic fairytale tropes to be included in this subgenre. These stories may either be a modern retelling with the same or similar characters or a different version of the classic tales. These also do not need to be limited to the Grimm Fairytales and may include Aesop's fables or Hans Christian Andersen's stories. They usually include a moral that the main character must learn or fail to learn. Disney stories are often inspired by fairytales and a popular book series in YA includes the Cinder series of cyborg meet fairytale classics. 

HEROIC/ SWORD AND SORCERY FANTASY:

- This is a subgenre of high fantasy with a great focus on a great hero and epic battles involving swordplay and sword mastery. This subgenre can also be a bit ambiguous as it is hard to pin down. The best example of this type of fantasy is the Conan the Barbarian series by Robert E. Howard. 

SCIENCE FANTASY:

- Most simply put this is a story that blends science fiction with fantasy. Space travel, aliens, time travel (usually associated with victorian era themes), advanced technology, and dystopian/utopian ideologies tend to be common elements of a science fantasy story. A good example would be Red Rising by Pierce Brown which is about a dystopian society inhabiting a terraformed Mars. 

COMIC FANTASY:

- Humor meets fantasy. Often these stories are satirical representations of modern society or ideologies which can include religious, political, or personal philosophies. These stories always make the reader laugh and may be vast in their mix of other subgenres. Terry Pratchett is the best known comic fantasy writer of the modern age, but Jonathan Swift's book called Gulliver's Travels was one of the firsts to set the stage. These stories usually have pathetic or bizarre characters and subverted fantasy cliches. My personal favorite to come out in recent times is Kill the Farm Boy by Delilah Dawson and Kevin Hearne. 

GOTHIC FANTASY:

- Horror meets fantasy. These stories focus on monsters, ghosts, ghouls, zombies, and other spooky themes. The goal of these stories is to chill and frighten the reader with a good time. Ray Bradbury wrote a few good examples such as Something Wicked This Way Comes or The Halloween Tree. These stories may be set in any time or place and may even mix subgenres. 

GRIMDARK FANTASY:

- aka Dark Fantasy (subgenre of high/ low fantasy), these stories focus on grim settings with characters having bad morals or twisted ideals. Themes may include assassins, thieves, organized crime, anti-heros, or corrupt leaders all within a fantasy setting. The best example of this type of story is the Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence which is a story of revenge, treachery, dark magic, and murderous plots. 

RPG/MMORPG/LITRPG/SERIES FANTASY:

- These stories have a vast array of themes but usually involve either a popular game (video or board game) or some type of gaming element (dice, massive multiplayer online, dungeons and dragons, etc). Some stories have even inspired game developers like the popular Witcher series by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. Some examples of these include the Pathfinder series and D&D series. This is also a fairly new subgenre that is still evolving with new themes and ideas appearing every year. Oftentimes these stories involve elves, orcs, high magic, heros being sucked into video games, complicated worlds and magic systems. The list is vast. 

WUXIA/CULTIVATION:

- A fairly new genre to the Western world that originates and is popular in Chinese literature. Wuxia usually includes a stoic hero seeking to gain immortality through the cultivation of demons. These stories include themes of martial arts, Eastern religion (Buddhism, Taoism, etc), and Chinese mythology. A popular western adaptation of this idea is the Cradle series by Will Wight. Classic Wuxia stories date back as far as 300 BC making them some of the oldest fantasy tales to exist. 

FANTASY FANFICTION:

- Typically fantasy themed TV shows or other stories within pop culture find roots in fanfiction. The rules for fantasy fanfiction is endless and provides some of the widest range of tastes and acceptance within fantasy writing. This type of writing also comes with the biggest criticism as fans are often the biggest judges to anything that attempts to change or add to their favorite existing fantasies. While not popular in publication circles, fantasy fanfiction is incredibly popular online in forums, reading/writing websites, and blogs. With the introduction of self publishing many fantasy fanfictions are finding their way to the printed market.