My daughter and I have been having a cozy day, which feels a little nonconformist for summer days with highs that flirt with triple digits. But pedicures, homemade fruit sorbet, books, watering the garden, herding the cat back inside, and reading do make for some coziness, even as we are sweating, fighting dehydration, and can barely move because it is so hot.
We both just finished reading Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson, which has lead to a discussion of what is Cozy Fantasy and what are the conventions/reader expectations of the genre. Cozy Fantasy has grown in reader and author awareness in the last few years. It’s been around for ages, but most of us didn’t have a term for this subgenre of fantasy that we enjoy. I am a prime example. I’ve been writing Cozy Fantasy for years, but didn’t realize that the light use of magic, exploration of everyday comforts, character driven stories that I write have such a cute moniker. But wow if Cozy Fantasy doesn’t epitomize my fairy tale retellings.
So let’s get into it. What is Cozy Fantasy? Well… It’s still a genre that is emerging. As such the conventions aren’t as solidified as they are for other genres that have been around for years and years. I’m still working on my definition of what makes a story “Cozy Fantasy”, but I’ve got a list of conventions below that I think define this speculative fiction subgenre. And to discuss those conventions, I’m going to reference three prime examples of the Cozy Fantasy: Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson, Howl’s Moving Castle (I like the Studio Ghibli movie better than the original novel by Dianna Wynne Jones. And yes, one of my unpopular opinions is “the movie was better than the book”. This and Sense and Sensibility are my go to examples.), and Clever, Cursed, & Storied by me.
- The protagonist’s “special powers” are ordinary. In Howl’s Moving Castle, Sophie is an exceptional housekeeper. Through scrubbing, washing, and cooking she transforms Howl’s messy, dirty castle into a home that is cozy, quaint, and comfortable. In Tress of the Emerald Sea, Tress is a skilled cook who is able to make delicious meals from extremely humble ingredients. In Clever, Cursed, & Storied, Kate tells endearing stories to entertain a sick, bedridden prince. These aren’t super powers. These are skills that most of us encounter in our everyday lives. We know of talented cooks. We know of people who tell a good story. We all have had that one roommate who could effortlessly get the apartment looking (and smelling) fresh in a single hour. This isn’t the same level as commanding the wind, wielding the power of fire, having a talking sword, or being unbeatable in a fight. These gifts are ordinary, mundane, but if you stop and consider them for what they are, the alchemy behind them is unmistakable.
- Happy Endings are a given. Not all fantasy ends happily. Not all fantasy even has an end. Epic in the fantasy world often means sagas that just keep going one 400,000 word novel after another. But in Cozy Fantasy we have stories that stick the landing. The tales are _usually_ standalone HEAs. The promise in the pages, even in the darker plot points, is one of comfort. Read on, it will all work out for our protagonist and her friends. All three of my examples are HEA, and while Clever, Cursed, & Storied and Howl’s Moving Castle (the book) are part of a series they are still standalone stories.
- Things you wouldn’t expect to talk do, and things you wouldn’t expect to be human are. Huck the rat speaks. The fire in the hearth share’s his sassy opinions with all who will listen. The pet lamb… well, in Clever, Cursed, & Storied Kate’s pet lamb doesn’t speak. But ***SPOILERS!!! LOOK AWAY IF YOU HAVEN’T READ YET!!! SPOILERS!!!*** she, like Huck the rat, is in fact a human that is cursed into animal form.
- The settings are often small and contained. Cozy Fantasy I think has borrowed this aspect most directly from the Cozy Mystery genre. In a Cozy Mystery we are not solving a crime that occurred in the big, gritty city. We are figuring out who-done-it in our own backyard, which happens to be quaint and bucolic. Every character feels like family, and there is room to study each of them. You might think that Tress of the Emerald Sea breaks this convention, since Tress is sailing across many spore seas with pirates, but most all of the story takes place on the pirate ship. The cast of characters is mostly contained to that of the crew of the ship. Similarly, Howl’s Moving Castle is a story that unfolds among the characters who call Howl’s castle home. Sure the castle can move from place to place, but because of the war that is brewing it’s convenient to stay cozied up at home. And in Clever, Cursed, & Storied we spend a whole lot of time in a sick prince’s bedroom, for the simple reason that he is bedridden and physically can’t go anywhere else.
- Content is not explicit. Violence, profanity, and sex are sparse to non existent, and if they occur usually happen off the page.
- The themes of Cozy Fantasy are comforting and hopeful. These aren’t the stories that explore the depravity of humanity. We’re not going to plunder the depths of fallen souls or the nature of evil. Our takeaways will not be cynical. Sadness, evil, and danger can be explored but only if they are bested. Hope will triumph. See convention number 2: Happy Endings are a given.
- Magic systems are often described as “soft” or “lite” in Cozy Fantasy. I feel in practice this often translates into an element of realism. Characters in Cozy Fantasy accept magic as a natural part of their existence. Then why not lump Cozy Fantasy into magical realism. That’s a thing, absolutely. But magical realism is its own genre of literary fiction that first started in South America. It is often poignant and at times cynical. It’s not cozy. I don’t read Garcia Marquez for feel-good comfort. Beauty? One-thousand percent. There is whimsy there too, but there is also pain, marginalization, and suffering. Reading magical realism a very bittersweet experience, and it is delicious, but again not cozy.
So there you have it, my list of genre conventions for Cozy Fantasy. What would you add, and do you have a favorite Cozy Fantasy title?
(Photo Credits: This is a picture I snapped of our cat, Aspen. In the summer she often sleeps stretched out, belly up. Aspen has been one of the most important things I’ve ever done for myself or my family. Kitties are queens of cozy and as my sister says, “Make a house a home.”)