People ask me why I write fantasy.
Non-fiction sells so much these days!
Why not a detective novel? Why not a feminist manifesto? Why not a literary something?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Here's my honest answer:
I was raised on a diet of Disney, Mattel, and Lucas, and as I grew older, Gremlins, The Omen and The Exorcist. To this day, it impacts all the work I do. I still watch 101 Dalmatians, still sing songs from The Little Mermaid, and am frothing at the mouth waiting for Raya to release on any platform. But really the studio to blame is Studio Ghibli and my father who got me a copy of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind when I was about 9/10/11, and then, Castle in the Sky. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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This photo is from Studio Ghibli's most well-known movie- Howl's Moving Castle. Miyazaki is perhaps among my biggest influences and proof to me that the imagination is boundless, and that fantasy will always be my first love. I am drawn to his work like Potter to Quidditch, instinctive and intuitive, it is now my most natural playing field. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Fantasy is not for everyone but it is the place that gives me the most comfort. It is where my mind works best and it is what makes me most happy. When I am lost I watch Princess Mononoke or read Potter/Wizard of Earthsea/Anything Stephen King.
It's not that I can't write a normal story, my first novel was normal but I had restrained myself in every scene, even once faltering; my mind works best when it is creating things that don't exist.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ When people ask me WHY FANTASY, I say WHY NOT?
Take every story you know, add a fantastical/horror/supernatural element to it, and it is bound to make it better.
For me anyway. So that's why I write fantasy. Because I really don't know how to do anything else.