Guest Post: The Art of Sub-Creation

I'm so excited to welcome Emma G. McKee to Be the Blaze! This is the third guest post I've done and the first of 2026! Emma is a young author who has had her piece, The White Stag, published in Illuminate the Dark, a collection of stories and poems. On her blog, she posts writing skills, writing fantasy, reading, author interviews, and more. Enjoy her post, The Art of Sub-Creation.

By Emma G. McKee

The creak of the freshly-bound spine, the smell of paper, and the stark black ink weaving worlds on the page bring me a sense of comfort every time I experience them. Memories of countless fantasy realms I explored as a child through the portal of a book still impact me today, along with more recent journeys into the covers of a good story, but there are a few that have remained in my mind like artfully-painted landscapes hanging in gilt frames on the wall, always there for me to experience. But what makes a world on paper, and how does one create a world that carries the same depth and beauty as ours?

I believe a certain well-known author by the name of J. R. R. Tolkien had the answer. In his essay titled “On Fairy Stories”, Tolkien explores the lasting impression within what most would consider a child’s fairy tale, stories meant to lull infants and small children to sleep with fantastical worlds that have no real impact on our own. He reveals to readers the reality that is present in these places despite their disconnection to our modern lives. Tolkien, being influenced by his Christian beliefs and studies of mythology, discovered the art of sub-creation.

Think of it in this way: when God created man, He made us in His image (Genesis 1: 26-27). God is inherently creative, for He created the entire world. If we are made in His image and likeness, then we possess some measure of creativity as well. And since God created the world, perhaps it is our task to create our own through story.

The art of sub-creation is more than simply fanciful imaginings; it is a task given to us by the Almighty Himself. As story-weavers, it is our calling to share the truth of Scripture with others through words, and by using the gift of sub-creation we can form our own stage for the grand Story that is God’s glory.

Mirroring the truths we find in the Bible in a world that takes readers into the unfamiliar is a powerful way to illustrate just how present God is. Through dragon-fights and frightful journeys, readers witness the reality underneath it all. But how are we to create these wonderful worlds so that our readers can experience this? When Tolkien shared his perspective on sub-creating, did he also share how it is done most effectively?

When learning for the first time how to do something (especially in the realm of writing) I find that examining the purpose of the skill can help considerably. In “On Fairy Stories”, Tolkien explains three purposes of fantasy and, in turn, sub-creation. But before that, Tolkien discusses with readers the origin of fantasy, and how it is actually an admirable profession rather than “breathing a lie through Silver” as one letter-sender said.

In the words of Tolkien, “Fantasy is a natural human activity. It certainly does not destroy or even insult Reason; and it does not either blunt the appetite for, nor obscure the perception of, scientific verity. On the contrary. The keener and the clearer is the reason, the better fantasy will it make.” In this excerpt, Tolkien is referring to those studious individuals who viewed fantasy as a child’s pursuit, and not something fit for adults or those who wished to gain anything from it. But in reality, fantasy is so much more.

Tolkien stated that, “Fantasy (in this sense) is, I think, not a lower but a higher form of Art, indeed the most nearly pure form, and so (when achieved) the most potent.” When we write fantasy, we are creating art that can do more than simply entertain children (although that is a noble pursuit in and of itself.) We are taking our world and viewing it through a different lens, one that can expose and inspire and motivate much more effectively than if we were to explain it plainly.

This is sub-creation. This is imagining an entirely new world in your mind, and through beliefs and implications forming something far more than a thought, something that will bridge the gap between yours and your reader’s minds to convey a meaning deeper than words can achieve.

“Fantasy may be, as I think, not less but more sub-creative…” as Tolkien says. It takes more effort to form a fantasy story, but through that effort we gain something that plain speech or nonfiction could hardly attain.

But the question still stands: how is it done?

We must begin where Tolkien begins on this matter. There are three purposes that our sub-created fantasy stories have, and that when done well can cause your stories to grow deeper and all the more beautiful. The first is Recovery, which Tolkien says is the return and renewal of health, and the re-gaining of a clear view. He says, “We need, in any case, to clean our windows; so that the things seen clearly may be freed from the drab blur of triteness or familiarity…” Through fantasy stories, we may see things as we were meant to see them.

We can have, through sub-creation, a greater appreciation for God’s already-created world. Things we have grown used to– like trees, or the stars, or even our fellow man– may become, after reading a story that sheds a new light on them, wonderful and awe-inspiring again. When being transported to a sub-created world so different from our own, and tarrying there for a while, and then returning, we may look on our own world with fresh eyes and fresh wonder. The “appropriation” we once had grows dim and we can be thankful– truly thankful– for God’s creation.

Tolkien says that, “...We need recovery. We should look at green again, and be startled anew (but not blinded) by blue and yellow and red. We should meet the centaur and the dragon, and then perhaps suddenly behold, like the ancient shepherds, sheep, and dogs, and horses— and wolves. This recovery fairy-stories help us to make.”

The second purpose that Tolkien gives is Escape. There is controversy around the supposed “escapism” of fantasy, with some saying that it only serves to distract from and breed resentment towards our own world, but I feel that Tolkien explains the concept of escape quite nicely. He says, “Why should a man be scorned if, finding himself in prison, he tries to get out and go home? Or if, when he cannot do so, he thinks and talks about other topics than jailers and prison-walls? The world outside has not become less real because the prisoner cannot see it.”

As Christians, we know we live in a fallen world, one that has defied the will of our Creator and forged its own grief-stricken path to destruction. When living in such a world, we often have the desire to go someplace where the pangs of sorrow can be lightened by the assurance of a happy ending. We long for the light that can pierce through the darkness, but when trapped in such darkness, it can be heartening to read a story where that light can indeed shine through for us to see.

As Tolkien says, “But there are also other and more profound “escapisms” that have always appeared in fairytale and legend. There are other things more grim and terrible to fly from… There are hunger, thirst, poverty, pain, sorrow, injustice, death. And even when men are not facing hard things such as these, there are ancient limitations from which fairy-stories offer a sort of escape, and old ambitions and desires (touching the very roots of fantasy) to which they offer a kind of satisfaction and consolation. Some are pardonable weaknesses or curiosities: such as the desire to visit, free as a fish, the deep sea; or the longing for the noiseless, gracious, economical flight of a bird… There are profounder wishes: such as the desire to converse with other living things. On this desire, as ancient as the Fall, is largely founded the talking of beasts and creatures in fairy-tales, and especially the magical understanding of their proper speech. This is the root, and not the “confusion” attributed to the minds of men of the unrecorded past…”

Tolkien says that his third purpose of sub-creation is closely tied with the second, and I am inclined to agree. Consolation, the aforementioned third purpose, is the epitome of our gift of sub-creation. Tolkien states, “But the “consolation” of fairy-tales has another aspect than the imaginative satisfaction of ancient desires. Far more important is the Consolation of the Happy Ending. Almost I would venture to assert that all complete fairy-stories must have it.” 

After recovering a joy for God’s creation, and escaping to a place where we can clearly see the light touch, we may be encouraged in our hearts that that light may shine on us as well through what Tolkien called the “Eucatastrophe”.

“The  eucatastrophic tale is the true form of fairy-tale, and its highest function. The consolation of fairy-stories, the joy of the happy ending: or more correctly of the good catastrophe, the sudden joyous “turn” (for there is no true end to any fairy-tale): this joy, which is one of the things which fairy-stories can produce supremely well, is not essentially “escapist,” nor “fugitive.” In its fairy-tale—or otherworld—setting, it is a sudden and miraculous grace: never to be counted on to recur. It does not deny the existence of dyscatastrophe, of sorrow and failure: the possibility of these is necessary to the joy of deliverance; it denies (in the face of much evidence, if you will) universal final defeat and in so far is evangelium, giving a fleeting glimpse of Joy, Joy beyond the walls of the world, poignant as grief. It is the mark of a good fairy-story, of the higher or more complete kind, that however wild its events, however fantastic or terrible the adventures, it can give to child or man that hears it, when the “turn” comes, a catch of the breath, a beat and lifting of the heart, near to (or indeed accompanied by) tears, as keen as that given by any form of literary art, and having a peculiar quality.”

Consolation, in my opinion, is the greatest of sub-creation’s three purposes. It’s where we as the author get to share the eternal hope that we have in the greatest eucatastrophe of all– Christ’s sacrifice and resurrection for us. By creating fantastical stories and worlds where happy endings exist and hope is always present, we are shining a light on the darkness of our present world, in order to restate again and again that death shall not have victory over the Lord and His chosen ones.

Tolkien continues. “I would venture to say that approaching the Christian Story from this direction, it has long been my feeling (a joyous feeling) that God redeemed the corrupt making-creatures, men, in a way fitting to this aspect, as to others, of their strange nature. The Gospels contain a fairy-story, or a story of a larger kind which embraces all the essence of fairy-stories… The Birth of Christ is the Eucatastrophe of Man's history. The Resurrection is the Eucatastrophe of the story of the Incarnation.” Because we are created in God’s likeness, we may sub-create our own eucatastrophes to mirror the greatest eucatastrophe in history. We can pursue the purpose of consolation through the only hope that gives true and everlasting joy, and greater serve our readers through the writing of it.

Sub-creation is a natural process of humans, and one that has been gifted to us by our Sovereign Creator. To use it for His glory is something I believe all authors (and certainly all those who use it in other areas besides storytelling) should strive for. Through sub-creation’s three purposes, as outlined by Tolkien, which are Recovery, Escape, and Consolation, we can better understand how to use the gift of sub-creation for our readers and for the Lord. We can write the kinds of stories that leave impacts too deep for words, the stories that reshape our understanding of ourselves and the world around us. The stories that proclaim light in the darkness and the victory it brings, no matter how tiring and wearying the trials may be to get there. 

This is the art of sub-creation, and reader, I pray you wield it well.

“Fantasy can, of course, be carried to excess. It can be ill done. It can be put to evil uses. It may even delude the minds out of which it came. But of what human thing in this fallen world is that not true? Men have conceived not only of elves, but they have imagined gods, and worshipped them, even worshipped those most deformed by their authors' own evil. But they have made false gods out of other materials: their notions, their banners, their monies; even their sciences and their social and economic theories have demanded human sacrifice. Abusus non tollit usum [abuse does not take away use]. Fantasy remains a human right: we make in our measure and in our derivative mode, because we are made: and not only made, but made in the image and likeness of a Maker.”

All quotes from “On Fairy Stories” by J.R.R. Tolkien, published 1947.

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Emma G. McKee is a fantasy-obsessed author who writes stories about anything from whimsical plant-themed adventures to allegorical Scottish legend retellings. She is a Tolkien nerd who won’t hesitate to explain why they could not, in fact, fly the eagles to Mordor, and loves to debate obscure Lord of the Rings facts. Her current work-in-progress is an epic animal fantasy trilogy about wolves, fallen stars, and the consequences of magic. You can find her many ramblings at www.emmagmckee.com, where she and her mail dragons would love to share her love of fantasy and Christ with you.

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Hope you enjoyed this amazing and very interesting post by Emma G. McKee. Make sure to check out her delightful blog at emmagmckee.com. If you enjoyed this post, subscribe below. Thanks for reading!