Why does fantasy appeal to so many? Young and old? Male and female? Why is it that these stories live on in our consciousness? Why is it that these stories matter?
In the coming weeks I hope to explore these questions but in the meantime, do you have any answers for me?
InkAshlings 
I’ve just mentioned that you’re my guest writer on my blog, and I’ve just seen your “favourite quotes”. Fancy putting those up on my WordPress on Sunday? 🙂
Sure can do 🙂 If you have anything you would like me to review in particular in the future just let me know now and I will get started for you 🙂
I think Tolkien sums it up in his essay in ‘Tree and Leaf’. I would quote from it but my copy is in a box somewhere. He says, I think, that people have a deep need for story and for ‘magic’. Good fantasy mirrors reality and turns it into story plus magic. I know that I need fantasy to be internally consistent, detailed, and deeply magical although I don’t necessarily need spell-type magic. Good fantasy writers create worlds that we can visit mentally, expanding our horizons and reflecting our most pressing concerns. Some (‘fairy tales’ as told to children spring to mind) use stereotypical characters but the best ‘adult’ stories introduce us to real people who live in our minds.
That’s my instant response. You are asking a huge question. I hope more people join in and try to answer!!
It’s a question I’d love this blog as a whole to explore so I don’t expect a neat answer because I don’t think it is a clear cut question.
I love what you (or Tolkien) say about “good fantasy mirroring reality.” To me, great fantasy uses the fantastical, the magical, the unreal, to change our perceptions about the world around us (the real) and see it in new ways. Good fantasy tackles big issues common to humanity without the constraints of the real, to teach or to tell us or to challange us about the real itself.