What is Urban Fantasy? Writing the Urban Fantasy Genre

If you’re interested in writing urban fantasy, just know this: urban fantasy books ruined my trip to New York City. There weren’t any goblins under the Brooklyn Bridge, the lions outside of the 5th Ave library remained motionless, and none of Manhattan’s graves turned undead in the night. Worse, no matter how many subway rats I interviewed, none of them could point me toward the portal to Hell. It was a waste of my Spring Break.

In all seriousness, the urban fantasy genre makes real-life cities feel magical—both metaphorically and literally. By introducing fantasy elements in urban settings, the best urban fantasy books tell entirely new and wonderful stories.

By introducing fantasy elements in urban settings, urban fantasy books tell new stories.

What is urban fantasy, and how do you write it? Let’s take a train through this fun and contemporary genre.

What is Urban Fantasy?

Urban fantasy has an odd, not-well-understood history, in part because it’s always hard to define a genre. In short, urban fantasy is simply fantasy set in a contemporary metropolis. The fantasy genre is historically pastoral and mythical, so the monsters of these stories prefer rural landscapes to modern architecture. Placing fantastical creatures in an urban setting causes a lot of conflict for these monsters—and for the humans living above them.

Urban fantasy is simply fantasy set in a contemporary metropolis.

That conflict sucks for the city, but it’s great for us writers—conflict is a story’s lifeblood!

The urban fantasy genre could not exist without industrialization and modernity. Even in the 1800s, less than 10% of the world lived in urban settings, so there was no need to explore the goblins and demons of big cities when most people lived agrarian lives.

As a result, urban fantasy books are a phenomenon of the 20th and 21st centuries. Many authors of the genre consider Charles de Lint to be a pioneer of the genre, as much of his work since the 1980s has involved some form of urban fantasy.

Some books can be considered urban fantasy post hoc, like War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells, which pits genocidal Martians against the citizens of 1890’s London; even then, the novel isn’t trying to explore modern urban life, just the fallout of an alien invasion.

What are the rules of urban fantasy? Successful novels in the genre will use some or all of these urban fantasy tropes:

• Anything considered “mythical” is accepted as true in the story, whether the magical creatures are monsters, demons, gods, or something equally supernatural.
• Human society and magical society are equally developed.
• Magical creatures have coexisted, secretly, with humans throughout history.
• Humans cannot know about magic, period.
• Alongside humankind, magic has seen great technological advancements; sometimes, whole cities are filled with fantastical creatures.
• If the story isn’t set in a city, it may be set at a boarding school or high school—especially if the audience is young adults.
• Sometimes, the story’s protagonist falls in love with either a fellow monster hunter or with a monster itself. This is especially true for paranormal romance stories.
• Magical murders are special and hard to solve. This is especially relevant for noir-tinged novels.
• Hidden within the city, a portal.

The Urban Fantasy Genre in the 21st Century

If you take a look at the best urban fantasy books on Goodreads, you’ll notice that virtually all of the titles fall under Young Adult (YA) Fiction. Why is that?

Part of the genre’s teenage readership has to do with the nature of YA books. Young Adult literature has only been a book category since the 1970s, and it almost disappeared in the 1990s—until educators reignited the genre to boost teenage literacy.

That resurgence of YA Lit led to some of today’s best known urban fantasy titles, including The Immortals by Alyson Noël and Fallen by Laura Kate. Magic sells, and it often sells best to teenagers.

Urban fantasy books can certainly be written with an adult audience in mind, like American Gods by Neil Gaiman or the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch. However, the genre owes much of its rise to the YA Renaissance, as readership (and writership) of the genre skyrocketed after YA’s newfound success.

Now, this doesn’t mean you need to be a YA author. Adult urban fantasy novels continue to publish and find success in the market, such as these new releases by Penguin Random House. But, audience is an important consideration for your novel, especially as you edit it and move toward getting it published.

Regardless of your target audience, let’s dive into how to write an urban fantasy novel.

How to Write an Urban Fantasy Novel

Before diving into writing urban fantasy books, make sure you understand the basics of novel writing.

• How to Write a Novel
• The Six Core Elements of Fiction Writing
• Writing Dialogue

The best urban fantasy pairs the realities of modern metropolitan life with the terrors of fantasy and the supernatural. Remember when we said “conflict is a story’s lifeblood”? Defining the core conflict in your novel will provide a solid base for your story to flourish. Once a conflict is established, characters and settings and plotlines will quickly follow.

The best urban fantasy pairs the realities of modern metropolitan life with the terrors of fantasy and the supernatural.

An author of the genre will likely navigate one or more of these conflicting elements:

Now, urban fantasy stories don’t need to be political. However, the investigation of urban life often leads to social activism. Replace “monsters” with “minorities,” and these conflicts become metaphors for inequality, urbanization, wealth disparity, gentrification, de facto segregation, discrimination, etc. As the author, you have control over where you take your narrative, but don’t be afraid to use the urban fantasy genre as a metaphor for today’s social ills.

Replace “monsters” with “minorities,” and these conflicts become metaphors for inequality.

Characters and Point of View

One of the most inviting things about the urban fantasy genre is its lead protagonists. The most popular urban fantasy series have well-developed characters with unique-yet-accessible points of view.

In other words, teenaged Ciara Gardner makes the Unearthly series much more accessible to teenage girls, while Officer Peter Grant makes the Rivers of London series perfect for mystery-loving, pulp-hungry readers.

Your characters can also represent something important to the story. N. K. Jemisin’s novels The City We Became and The World We Make represent the 5 boroughs of New York City through 5 different human avatars, each of which showcase New York’s vibrant diversity—and the conflict that comes from packing that diversity so densely in one place.

As you craft your characters, consider the type of personality best-suited for your setting, conflict, and intended audience.

A Note on Urban Fantasy Tropes

The advice in this article relies pretty heavily on urban fantasy tropes. Are tropes cliché? And is it better to write these tropes, expand upon them, or avoid them altogether?

First, let’s draw a line between tropes and clichés. A cliché is a phrase, character, or idea that has lost its originality—either because too many people have used that idea or because the idea wasn’t complex to begin with.

A trope, by contrast, is complex enough for writers to use without plagiarizing each other in the process. Tropes are recurring themes or structures in a genre, and writers use them because there’s more to say on the matter.

For example, one of the most common urban fantasy tropes is the idea of a magical society secretly parallel to this one. These five examples all come from novels written within the past 15 years:

• The Leopard People in Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor.
• The Cavaliers in the eponymous novel by Georgiana Derwent.
• The Downworlders in The Shadowhunter Chronicles by Cassandra Clare.
• The Pax Arcana, a spell in the eponymous novel by Elliot James that redirects people from magic. (see also: masquerade)
• The Rivers of London series, which has fairy worlds, wizard societies, and countless masquerades.

Each of these magical societies have different laws, members, ideologies, and challenges. In other words, each society is complex enough that, despite sharing some similarities with other novels, no two societies look identical. Such is the beauty of tropes, that writers build off of each other while still telling their own stories.

Finally, urban fantasy tropes are optional. The only thing your story must accomplish is the convincing juxtaposition of fantasy elements in an industrialized setting. If you think you can write a story outside of tropes, go for it—but first, be familiar with the many tropes in the genre.

Are All Urban Fantasies Set in Big Cities?

Technically, no. The “urban” part of urban fantasy describes an out-of-place, technologically modern society that runs anathema to fantasy’s traditionally bucolic setting. So, while many novels in the genre are set in London or New York, urban fantasy novels can also traverse a national landscape—including the strange emptiness of small towns or the horror or a rural gas station.

Are All Urban Fantasies Dystopian?

Definitely not! Urban fantasy has a lot of crossover with other genres, including detective fiction, paranormal romance, and horror. It’s rare for any fantasy novel to be strictly one genre, as many works of contemporary fiction try to bend and blend different genres.

Do Adult Urban Fantasies Require Romance?

Romance is not a requirement of urban fantasies, but it is often a subplot. Since urban fantasy books tend to cross multiple genres, it makes sense for authors to insert a romance narrative, some detective pulp, or other genre fiction tropes into their novels.

Explore the Genre at Writers.com

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