Portal Fantasy GuideA portal fantasy is when your main character is transported to a new, magical world. The transport being magical is less important than the world they land in being magical. I would consider Outlander a historical romance, though the protagonist is transported to the past by magic. But there is nothing magic where she lands.
Intrusion/Urban Fantasy GuideIntrusion fantasy is where fantasy or magical elements intrude into the real world. The Fay fighting their wars in the streets of Minneapolis in Emma Bull's The War for the Oaks or a monster coming to help a bereaved child in Patrick Ness's A Monster Calls.
Epic/High Fantasy GuideEpic fantasy is what most people think of when they mention the fantasy genre. It is the big book, sweeping epic, secondary world fantasy that started (mostly) with Tolkien and his many imitators and continues on today with immensely successful writers like GRR Martin, Robin Hobb, and the independently published Brandon Sanderson.
Fantasy GuideFantasy is one of the “What if…?” genres that characterize speculative fiction. But in fantasy, the answer to that question is always going to be magic, eldritch, otherworldly—but to varying degrees, depending on the subgenre. The subgenres of fantasy are wildly divergent. Pay close attention to the differences, because some are so far from each other, it seems strange to put them in the same overarching genre. A modern urban fantasy book bears almost no resemblance to an epic fantasy. And this is in all particulars, not just the text of the book itself. Cover, blurb, tropes, tense, point of...
