A question I read on Scribatious, a blog by Faith Van Horne:
Is it fantasy if there is no magic?
I hadn’t thought of this before. But, is magic what makes one story fantasy and another story science fiction? If so, where does the whole paranormal genre fall?
Maybe the first thing to do is decide what magic is? Is magic a unicorn horn or is it tarot cards? Magic, to me, isn’t something you can easily pin down. I think of Pagan magic and Earth Witchery and then there is the fantastical magic which includes things I’ve never seen before and would be surprised to ever see. I think fantasy is the type of magic I don’t expect to find in the real world.
So, I think it isn’t fantasy if there isn’t magic. What do you think, and why?