ABSTRACT
The construction of fantasy is, W.R. Irwin pointed out, the art of persuasion. The immersive fantasy requires the author to convince the reader of the existence of a whole world. 1 In the immersive or immersed fantasy, the magic just is. It is all around us, the protagonists are competent in their own world, and we ride invisible, picking up hints and clues. In The Magicians of Caprona, Chrestomanci can casually refer to the Court of Europe, and in A Sudden Wild Magic, Tod can take for granted that everyone understands what a gualdian is, because those who live in a world cannot predict what observers might wish to know. In the immersive fantasy it is possible for a good writer to construct a novel in which the reader position demanded is essentially one of interrogator: the reader will constantly ask, “Why?” and “What is that?” and “What does that mean?” The result can be something much more open than the portal fantasy.
