Jared Oliver Adams Weighs In

…on the genre conversation regarding his story, Whiteface.

I asked Mr. Adams what genre he considered Whiteface to be.  His answer is below:

I'm intrigued by this question. I've actually spent some time thinking about it myself, because I submitted it to Writers of the Future and wondered if they perceived it as "not-fantasy-enough."

But, I'm a teacher, so I'll answer your question with another question. If you stripped George R R Martin's Westeros of its magic, would "Song of Ice and Fire" still be fantasy?

To me, the magic element in SoIaF is the least compelling part of his work (well, besides the explicit sex scenes), so I'm perhaps biased in this particular case. But, I think the fantasy element comes primarily in the world he built, the history and cultures. Because that's essentially a speculative, fantastical thing, building a world.

So, in that sense, I would call "Whiteface" fantasy, because the cultures never existed in reality. But then, maybe we need some more distinctive labels, because it's not fantasy in the same way "Way of Kings" is fantasy. I didn't recreate the physical laws that govern the world like Sanderson did. I aimed for a particular historical period, and set it in this world, then built my society.

I’ll just point out (to Mr. Eric Jerkface Stone) that the…authoritative answer is “fantasy.” 

--Scott M. Roberts

Asst. Editor, IGMS