High Fantasy

So, it's no secret that I write fantasy.  Usually it's high/traditional fantasy though I have tried my hand at the contemporary side of things.

Why do I love high/traditional fantasy so much?  I've been thinking about it because while I write it I can't help but wonder about the genre distinction between the two.

I loved Lord of the Rings when I finally read it as a junior in high school.  (Scandal, I know. I call myself a fantasy author but I didn't read the tomeliest tome of them all until so late?  Outrage!)

What did I love the most about it?  How immersed in the world I was when reading it.  I did find it kind of hard to follow after Fellowship ended and we had the split narratives.  But I dealt with it.  I loved what I was seeing/reading.

Tamora Pierce and David Eddings were the two who really turned me on to fantasy, though.  With the former, I got great and fun fantasy settings, she has two created worlds she writes in, with characters I could relate to.  (Let's be honest, character was not the focus of Tolkien's work.)  With the latter, we got epic, sweeping stories that spanned the entirety of the characters' known worlds.  And still characters to relate to and root for.

I read the Hobbit and fell in love with Middle-Earth again, though this time there seemed to be more balance between character and setting.

Mercedes Lackey's books came through my hands and I devoured her fantasy setting and the horse connection aspect of her world.

There have been other authors and books that have served to entrench my love of high/traditional fantasy but they are not coming to mind.

I think what I love most about fantasy is that anything is possible as long as the author and characters believe it and there is a reason for why it can happen.