> To write good Fantasy (of SciFi), you have to go through a process called “World Building” I think this is more implying that you don't have to work from the same framework for every fantasy world. Not everything has to be set in Medieval Times with Crusader-Era social sensibilities. The menagerie of mythical creatures isn't a prerequisite or delimiter (dragons / unicorns / etc are not a requirement nor are robots / cthulhoid horrors / woolly mammoths disallowed). You need internal consistency (to a degree) but you aren't forced to adhere / omit any genre trope. I would say, at an absolute bare minimum, you need some kind of fantastical or supernatural element to make it "Fantasy" as opposed to "Historical Fiction" or "Science Fiction" some other category of fictional prose. Although, the genre of "Magical Realism" does make even that distinction a bit fuzzy. > many literature teachers / professors don’t even know about the idea of World Building You don't necessary need to go through the whole work of World Building if you're just banging out a short story or novella. Even serial writers don't necessarily bother going deep on the background material until they feel the need to expand the scope of the setting. A story that takes place entirely in a single house over the course of a long weekend doesn't need the kind of scaffolding that a Long Walk to Mordor requires.

Why do you imagine that the,post is about *reading*?

> "There are no 'rules' for fantasy" Wrong. To write *good* Fantasy (of SciFi), you have to go through a process called "World Building" where you lay down the rules of your world. Properly done, the amount of World Building exceeds the actual works by far. It is absolutely necessary to create a core of inner logic to the story. You are not bound by the rules of our world, yes, but you are bound by the rule of consistency. If you violate those, you automatically write crap Fantasy (or SciFi). Funny, though, that e.g. many literature teachers / professors don't even *know* about the idea of World Building.

Crap fantasy is still fantasy. Had a great time coming up with bad fantasy stories in my childhood when I knew nothing about good writing. Art is what you make it.

George Lucas is the perfect example what happens when you don't do world building. The Star Wars universe is basically just retcons stacked onto other retcons. And I am a firm believer that even short stories in a fantasy or SciFi setting don't work without at least a certain amount of world building. The number of fantasy and SciFi stories where the author thought they could get away without thinking their world through and which ended up badly is amazingly high.