Fairy Tale vs Fantasy

What is the difference between a fairy tale and a fantasy book? While we may often think of them together, they are defined differently.

To start with, a fairy tale is technically part of the fantasy genre. However, while fantasy can encompass all sorts of storylines and age ranges, fairy tales are typically meant for children and usually involve magic, mythical beings, and happy endings. One key point is that fairytale books always count as fantasy books but not all fantasy books count as fairy tales. It’s kind of like how a square is a rectangle but a rectangle is not usually a square (please forgive me for inserting geometry into this post!). 

The fairytale genre typically encompasses folklore, myths, and legends. While it is a broad genre, fantasy is even broader as it includes fairy tales and science fiction novels, along with many other types of fantasy. Just to name a few there is urban fantasy, contemporary fantasy, low fantasy, high fantasy, paranormal fantasy, etc…you get the picture.

One question that I used to find myself asking was whether fairytale retellings counted as fairy tales. Fairytale retellings are definitely included under the umbrella term of fantasy, but do they actually count as fairy tales? I’d say the answer would depend upon just how different the retelling was from the original. If the fairytale retelling is pretty much the same as the fairy tale with only a few minor adjustments, chances are that it can still be described as a fairytale. However, if an author were to take a fairytale and place it in a modern setting with no magic and only a few elements of the original, it probably wouldn’t be counted as a fairy tale anymore.

The differences between fairy tales and fantasy novels can be perplexing, and you might well have your own thoughts on the issue. Would anyone care to share them?

Fairy truly yours,

Grace W. Wong