magical realism short essay

Kindlepreneur

Book Marketing for Self-Publishing Authors

Home / Book Writing / How to Write Magical Realism: Definition, Examples, and Instructions

How to Write Magical Realism: Definition, Examples, and Instructions

Recently, I've been getting into magical realism, and in this article, I’ll share what I've learned about how to write it, for those who are curious. 

We’ll delve into the history of the style, what constitutes it, developing interesting characters and settings, and how to go about layering magical elements onto a realistic story. 

By the end, you should have everything you need to create your own epic (or, I guess, not so epic) tale within the genre. 

• What magical realism is, and isn’t
• The history and evolution of the style
• How to write magical realism

Table of contents

• What is Magical Realism?
• The History of Magical Realism
• Is Magical Realism the Same as Fantasy?
• Realistic Setting
• Mythological/Folklore Influence
• Subtle Magic
• Societal Critique
• Focus on the Ordinary
• Imagery and Symbolism
• Open-ended Ending
• Understand the Genre
• Draw Inspiration From the Illogical
• Use Quirky News Items
• Craft Complex Characters
• Blend Genres
• Craft Your Prose
• Limit Explanation
• Use Symbolism
• Examples of Magical Realism Books
• Examples of Magical Realism in Film

Magical realism is a genre that incorporates fantastical or mythical elements into an otherwise realistic setting. The magical elements are treated as though they are perfectly normal by both the narrator and the characters. 

Everything in the world seems to be perfectly ordinary, but with magical undercurrent to it. The key difference is that this magic is not explained, and it is subtle. It is simply a part of the world that the narrator and characters are dealing with.

Some key characteristics of magical realism include:

• Realistic setting grounded in the real world
• Matter-of-fact inclusion of magical or impossible elements
• Magic is accepted as normal by characters
• Blending of different genres like fantasy, folklore, and mythology
• Focus on ordinary characters and everyday life
• Symbolism and imagery convey a sense of magic
• Understated and subtle approach to magic
• Often explores political or social issues

Magic is just a part of everyday life within a magical realist story. The magic flows from the source, not as something strange, much less dangerous. And that is one of the primary purposes of magical realism, to merge the magical with the realistic in a way that makes readers sit back and go, “I hadn’t thought of it like that before.”

The term “magical realism” was first used in 1925 by German art critic Franz Roh to describe a style of painting that depicted the magical within the ordinary. Writers in Latin America expanded on this idea in the 1940s and 50s to describe a type of fiction that incorporated mythical elements into realistic narratives.

Magical realism has its roots in Latin American literature, where key authors pioneered the style starting in the mid-20th century. Some forerunners who helped develop the genre include:

• Alejo Carpentier (Cuba): Coined the term “lo real maravilloso” (the marvelous real) to describe the uniqueness of Latin American culture and used magical elements to explore subjects like slavery and political repression.
• Jorge Luis Borges (Argentina): Blended fantasy, dreams, and philosophy in short stories like “The Aleph” and examined themes of time, labyrinths, and imagination.
• Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Colombia): His novel One Hundred Years of Solitude brought magical realism widespread acclaim. Marquez used magical elements to portray the paradoxes of Latin American history and life.
• Isabel Allende (Chile): Novels like The House of the Spirits incorporated historical events with magical elements and explored themes of feminism.

The early Latin American authors influenced later authors of all types across the world. Although the genre bloomed in Latin America, it quickly spread worldwide in the latter half of the 20th century and continues to develop today.

Magical realism is often confused with fantasy fiction, but they are distinct genres. 

In fantasy stories, magic is something extraordinary. It operates outside the bounds of normal physics, and the characters are amazed when they encounter it. 

In magical realism, magic is normal. Characters simply accept it as a part of reality.

Some other key differences between the genres include:

• Usually set in an entirely fictional world
• Magic is the norm and central to the story
• Magic has obvious effects on characters/world
• Characters are often archetypes like heroes, wizards, elves
• Plot driven by conflict between good vs evil

Magical Realism

• Set in the real, contemporary world
• Magic is subtle and downplayed
• Focus is on ordinary people and everyday life
• Characters are complex and realistic
• Explores social issues and human experiences

While both incorporate magic, fantasy creates an alternate world detached from reality. Magical realism weaves magic into the fabric of reality through a poetic, metaphorical lens. It gently asks the reader to open their minds to the extraordinary possibilities hidden within ordinary life.

Format Beautiful Professional Books

Easy to use, and and full of amazing features, you can quickly turn your book into a professional book.

What Makes a Good Magical Realism Story

Magical realism looks effortless, but crafting a seamless interweaving of realism and fantasy requires thoughtful attention and skill. I've identified several elements that make for compelling magical realist fiction:

The setting needs to feel like the real world, whether it's a specific time and place like Latin America in the 1960s or a more vague modern city. Rich sensory details are important to ground the story in reality. The setting should reflect cultural influences and real social conditions.

Myths, legends, and folklore specific to the setting's culture add an authentic magical touch, like Mexican folk healing rituals in a story set in Mexico. This gives the magic layers of symbolic meaning.

The magic needs to be downplayed so it blends seamlessly into the realism. Don't try to explain it or have characters react with shock. Understatement makes it more believable.

Magical realism often uses the subtle magic as a metaphor to criticize social conditions. The magic highlights injustice or provides hope.

The story revolves around realistic characters living everyday lives. The emphasis should be on their relationships and inner growth, with magic an atmospheric background.

Objects, dreams, colors, and sensory details take on symbolic meaning and create a sense of wonder in the ordinary.

Endings should maintain the blend of realism and magic, leaving some mystery about the role of the magical elements. Tie up personal plots but leave a touch of possibility.

With the right balance of magic and realism, your story can take readers into a world that feels comfortably familiar yet tantalizingly enchanted. The magic should enhance, not overwhelm, the gritty reality of your setting.

How to Write Magical Realism

The magical realism writers I most admire have distinctive voices while retaining the core spirit of the genre. Here are some techniques I would use if writing my own magical realism:

Read widely within magical realism to immerse yourself in the style. Note how authors incorporate subtle magic into realistic settings. Observe how they use magic as social commentary and symbolic imagery.

Reflect on strange coincidences, unpredictable events, and imaginative dreams in your own life. Everyday mysteries can spark ideas for subtle magical touches.

Bizarre stories from the news often read like magical realism. Adapt real unexplained happenings into events in your fictional world.

Well-developed characters with rich inner lives anchor the magic in reality. Focus on characterization and emotional arcs.

Mix in elements from mythology, folklore, fairy tales or other genres to add deeper meaning to your magical details.

Write with lush, descriptive language to add atmospheric depth. Use figurative language and sensory detail to convey magical moods.

Leave the magical events unexplained and have characters accept them as normal. Maintain mystery and possibility.

Infuse objects, dreams, colors, weather, animals, etc. with symbolic significance to create magical undertones.

Remember, the point of all this is not to force your magic on the reader, but to present it in such a way that they are filled with wonder and discovery.

Here are some quintessential magical realist works I find myself returning to again and again for inspiration in my own writing:

• One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez – This epic depicts seven generations of the Buendía family and the fictional town Macondo with hallucinatory events like a plague of insomnia, ghost sightings, and a woman ascending to heaven. Márquez's prose feels both fantastical yet real.
• Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel – A young woman expresses her emotions through magical food she cooks, leading to supernatural effects on those who eat it. The mystical cooking allegorically explores women's repression.
• Beloved by Toni Morrison – This haunting novel tackles trauma through a mother visited by the ghost of her young daughter she murdered to save her from slavery. The spectral haunting feels viscerally real.
• The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami – Surreal dream sequences, psychic projections, and talking cats appear matter-of-factly as a man searches Tokyo for his missing wife. The magical elements access a deeper reality.
• The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman – A middle-aged man revisits his childhood memories of befriending a girl named Lettie who promises to protect him from supernatural menaces. The fantastical childhood perspectives feel believably childlike.

The easiest way to understand how magic realism works and what I’m talking about is to read. Just like learning any form of writing, you get a feel for it by seeing excellent authors do it well.

Magical realist cinema also provides valuable lessons on integrating magical elements into familiar real-world settings and stories:

• Pan's Labyrinth (2006) – A young girl escapes into a dark fairy tale world paralleling her harsh reality living under fascist rule in 1944 Spain. The historical context gives the fantasy deeper meaning.
• Like Water for Chocolate (1992) – Based on the Esquivel novel, this film brings the magical realism vividly to life with the protagonist's emotions materializing through magical food she cooks.
• The Green Mile (1999) – A condemned prisoner possesses miraculous magical healing powers that affect everyone around him at a 1930s Louisiana prison. The supernatural gift contrasts with the brutal reality.

Increase Your Book Marketing

See the Publisher Rocket effect, when you use the right keywords and categories to help get your book seen more on Amazon.

Now that you know the basic goals behind magic and reality, we’ll look at your next steps to creating a magical realism book. Here are some pointers:

• Immerse yourself in examples from masters of the genre to internalize the style. Make a list of your favorite magical realism novels and stories and re-read them with a critical eye.
• Observe the world around you closely to find moments of underlying magic in everyday life. Keep a journal recording coincidences, dreams, curiosities and unexplained happenings that spark ideas.
• Outline some initial story ideas with magical realist potential and experiment writing a few short scenes. Get feedback from other magical realism fans on whether your magic blends well with the realism.
• Pick one idea that resonates and start developing the full story. Flesh out convincing characters and settings, keeping the magic subtle. Hone your descriptive prose to create a vivid mood.
• Join a writers group or online community focused on magical realism. Share excerpts and get feedback on maintaining the delicate balance of your story.

But, like anything artistic, it will take practice. That said, let the story grow on its own until it becomes something you can be proud of.

Jason Hamilton

When I’m not sipping tea with princesses or lightsaber dueling with little Jedi, I’m a book marketing nut. Having consulted multiple publishing companies and NYT best-selling authors, I created Kindlepreneur to help authors sell more books. I’ve even been called “The Kindlepreneur” by Amazon publicly, and I’m here to help you with your author journey.

Related Posts

Top 8 best scrivener alternatives for writers (+ the only one that matters), scrivener vs. ulysses: which writing tool should you buy, scrivener coupons and discount codes (updated for 2024), sell more books on amazon, amazon kindle rankings e-book.

Learn how to rank your Kindle book #1 on Amazon with our collection of time-tested tips and tricks.

Join the community

Join 111,585 other authors who receive weekly emails from us to help them make more money selling books.

Introduction to Magical Realism

Daily life turns magical in these books and stories

Sean Gallup/Staff/Getty Images

• Best Sellers
• Classic Literature
• Plays & Drama
• Shakespeare
• Short Stories
• Children's Books

• Doctor of Arts, University of Albany, SUNY
• M.S., Literacy Education, University of Albany, SUNY
• B.A., English, Virginia Commonwealth University

Magical realism, or magic realism, is an approach to literature that weaves fantasy and myth into everyday life. What’s real? What’s imaginary? In the world of magical realism, the ordinary becomes extraordinary and the magical becomes commonplace.

Also known as “marvelous realism,” or “fantastic realism,” magical realism is not a style or a genre so much as a way of questioning the nature of reality. In books, stories, poetry, plays, and film, factual narrative and far-flung fantasies combine to reveal insights about society and human nature. The term "magic realism" is also associated with realistic and figurative artworks—paintings, drawings, and sculpture—that suggest hidden meanings. Lifelike images, such as the Frida Kahlo portrait shown above, take on an air of mystery and enchantment.

Strangeness Infused Into Stories

There’s nothing new about infusing strangeness into stories about otherwise ordinary people. Scholars have identified elements of magical realism in Emily Brontë's passionate, haunted Heathcliff (" Wuthering Heights ") and Franz Kafka’s unfortunate Gregor, who turns into a giant insect (" The Metamorphosis "). However, the expression “magical realism” grew out of specific artistic and literary movements that emerged during the mid-20th century.

Art From a Variety of Traditions

In 1925, critic Franz Roh (1890–1965) coined the term Magischer Realismus (Magic Realism) to describe the work of German artists who depicted routine subjects with eerie detachment. By the 1940s and 1950s, critics and scholars were applying the label to art from a variety of traditions. The enormous floral paintings by Georgia O'Keeffe (1887–1986), the psychological self-portraits of Frida Kahlo (1907–1954), and the brooding urban scenes by Edward Hopper (1882–1967) all fall within the realm of magic realism.

A Separate Movement in Literature

In literature, magical realism evolved as a separate movement, apart from the quietly mysterious magic realism of visual artists. Cuban writer Alejo Carpentier (1904–1980) introduced the concept of “ lo real maravilloso " ("the marvelous real") when he published his 1949 essay “On the Marvelous Real in Spanish America.” Carpentier believed that Latin America, with its dramatic history and geography, took on an aura of the fantastic in the eyes of the world. In 1955, literary critic Angel Flores (1900–1992) adopted the term magical realism (as opposed to magic realism) to describe the writings of Latin American authors who transformed “the common and the every day into the awesome and the unreal." 

Latin American Magic Realism

According to Flores, magical realism began with a 1935 story by Argentine writer Jorge Luís Borges (1899–1986). Other critics have credited different writers for launching the movement. However, Borges certainly helped lay the groundwork for Latin American magical realism, which was seen as unique and distinct from the work of European writers like Kafka. Other Hispanic authors from this tradition include Isabel Allende, Miguel Ángel Asturias, Laura Esquivel, Elena Garro, Rómulo Gallegos, Gabriel García Márquez, and Juan Rulfo.

Extraordinary Circumstances Were Expected

"Surrealism runs through the streets," Gabriel García Márquez (1927–2014) said in an interview with "The Atlantic . " García Márquez shunned the term “magical realism” because he believed that extraordinary circumstances were an expected part of South American life in his native Columbia. To sample his magical-but-real writing, begin with “ A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings " and “ The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World .”

An International Trend

Today, magical realism is viewed as an international trend, finding expression in many countries and cultures. Book reviewers, booksellers, literary agents, publicists, and authors themselves have embraced the label as a way to describe works that infuse realistic scenes with fantasy and legend. Elements of magical realism can be found in writings by Kate Atkinson, Italo Calvino, Angela Carter, Neil Gaiman, Günter Grass, Mark Helprin, Alice Hoffman, Abe Kobo, Haruki Murakami, Toni Morrison, Salman Rushdie, Derek Walcott, and countless other authors around the world.

6 Key Characteristics of Magical Realism

It’s easy to confuse magical realism with similar forms of imaginative writing. However, fairy tales are not magical realism. Neither are horror stories, ghost stories, science fiction, dystopian fiction, paranormal fiction, absurdist literature, and sword and sorcery fantasy. To fall within the tradition of magical realism, the writing must have most, if not all, of these six characteristics:

1. Situations and Events That Defy Logic: In Laura Esquivel’s lighthearted novel "Like Water for Chocolate," a woman forbidden to marry pours magic into food. In "Beloved," American author Toni Morrison spins a darker tale: An escaped enslaved woman moves into a house haunted by the ghost of an infant who died long ago. These stories are very different, yet both are set in a world where truly anything can happen.

2. Myths and Legends: Much of the strangeness in magic realism derives from folklore, religious parables, allegories, and superstitions. An abiku—a West African spirit child—narrates "The Famished Road" by Ben Okri. Often, legends from divergent places and times are juxtaposed to create startling anachronisms and dense, complex stories. In "A Man Was Going Down The Road," Georgian author Otar Chiladze merges an ancient Greek myth with the devastating events and tumultuous history of his Eurasian homeland near the Black Sea.

3. Historic Context and Societal Concerns: Real-world political events and social movements entwine with fantasy to explore issues such as racism , sexism, intolerance, and other human failings. "Midnight’s Children" by Salman Rushdie is the saga of a man born at the moment of India’s independence. Rushdie’s character is telepathically linked with a thousand magical children born at the same hour and his life mirrors key events of his country.

4. Distorted Time and Sequence: In magical realism, characters may move backward, leap forward, or zigzag between the past and the future. Notice how Gabriel García Márquez treats time in his 1967 novel, "Cien Años de Soledad" ("One Hundred Years of Solitude"). Sudden shifts in narrative and the omnipresence of ghosts and premonitions leave the reader with the sense that events cycle through an endless loop.

5. Real-World Settings: Magic realism is not about space explorers or wizards; "Star Wars" and " Harry Potter " are not examples of the approach. Writing for "The Telegraph," Salman Rushdie noted that “the magic in magic realism has deep roots in the real.” Despite the extraordinary events in their lives, the characters are ordinary people who live in recognizable places.

6. Matter-of-Fact Tone: The most characteristic feature of magical realism is the dispassionate narrative voice. Bizarre events are described in an offhand manner. Characters do not question the surreal situations they find themselves in. For example, in the short book "Our Lives Became Unmanageable," a narrator plays down the drama of her husband's vanishing: “…the Gifford who stood before me, palms outstretched, was no more than a ripple in the atmosphere, a mirage in a gray suit and striped silk tie, and when I reached again, the suit evaporated, leaving only the purple sheen of his lungs and the pink, pulsing thing I'd mistaken for a rose. It was, of course, only his heart.”

Don't Put It in a Box

Literature , like visual art, doesn’t always fit into a tidy box. When Nobel Laureate Kazuo Ishiguro published "The Buried Giant ," book reviewers scrambled to identify the genre. The story appears to be a fantasy because it unfolds in a world of dragons and ogres. However, the narration is dispassionate and the fairy tale elements are understated: “But such monsters were not cause for astonishment…there was so much else to worry about.”

Is "The Buried Giant" pure fantasy, or has Ishiguro entered the realm of magical realism? Perhaps books like this belong in genres all their own.

• Arana, Marie. "Review: Kazuo Ishiguro's 'The Buried Giant' defies easy categorization." The Washington Post, February 24, 2015. 
• Craven, Jackie. "Our Lives Became Unmanageable." The Omnidawn Fabulist Fiction Prize, Paperback, Omnidawn, October 4, 2016.
• Fetters. Ashley. "The Origins of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Magic Realism." The Atlantic, April 17, 2014.
• Flores, Angel. "Magical Realism in Spanish American Fiction." Hispania, Vol. 38, No. 2, American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese, JSTOR, May 1955.
• Ishiguro, Kazuo. "The Buried Giant." Vintage International, Paperback, Reprint edition, Vintage, January 5, 2016.
• Leal, Luis. "Magical Realism in Spanish American Literature." Lois Parkinson Zamora (Editor), Wendy B. Faris, Duke University Press, January 1995.
• McKinlay, Amanda Ellen. "Block magic: categorization, creation, and influence of Francesca Lia Block’s Enchanted America." UBC Theses and Dissertations, The University of British Columbia, 2004.
• Morrison, Rusty. "Paraspheres: Extending Beyond the Spheres of Literary and Genre Fiction: Fabulist and New Wave Fabulist Stories." Paperback, Omnidawn Publishing, June 1, 1967.
• Ríos, Alberto. "Magical Realism: Definitions." Arizona State University, May 23, 2002, Tempe, AZ.
• Rushdie, Salman. "Salman Rushdie on Gabriel García Márquez: 'His world was mine.'" The Telegraph, April 25, 2014.
• Wechsler, Jeffrey. "Magic Realism: Defining the Indefinite." Art Journal. Vol. 45, No. 4, The Visionary Impulse: An American Tendency, CAA, JSTOR, 1985.
• A List of Every Nobel Prize Winner in Literature
• Escape Literature
• Most Popular Movies for Spanish-Language Students
• The Complete List of Books Chosen for Oprah's Book Club
• A Guide to All Types of Narration, With Examples
• Gabriel García Márquez: Writer of Magical Realism
• "A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings": Study Guide
• Top 10 Books for High School Seniors
• Biography of Isabel Allende, Writer of Modern Magical Realism
• "Pierre Menard, Author of the 'Quixote'" Study Guide
• Medieval Chivalric Romance
• Feminist Literary Criticism
• 42 Must-Read Feminist Female Authors
• Genres in Literature
• Characters' Thoughts and Motivations in Psychological Realism

Join Discovery, the new community for book lovers

Trust book recommendations from real people, not robots 🤓

Blog – Posted on Thursday, May 30

Magical realism 101: definition and 15 essential classics.

Magical realism is a literary style that weaves threads of fantasy into a depiction of everyday life. Its heroes aren’t fairies or sorcerers , they’re ordinary people — whose lives happen to butt up against the extraordinary.

It sounds simple enough: you take the mundane and make it just a little bit magical. It’s an enchanting formula first popularized by Latinx authors in the 20th century, and has since spread all over, from England to Japan. But despite magical realism’s reach, the term is surprisingly hard to nail down. You’ll hear scholars claim it’s not a genre but a sensibility , a way of looking at reality.

Confused? Don’t worry. This post will help you understand exactly what is magical realism — and introduce you to 15 of its most spellbinding reads.

3 essential elements of magical realism

Real-world setting.

First, let’s put the “real” in magical realism. Unlike fantasy, books written in this vein always take place in our world. You won’t find an alternate reality where schools for wizards are accessible by secret trains, and you can’t start out in the real world only to be whisked away to a land of enchantment. If it’s set in the past — not uncommon — you won’t encounter anything like a cabal of vampires pulling the strings behind the curtain of history.

This style has something in common with urban fantasy, which also tends to infuse familiar settings with a bit of strangeness . But there are two key differences. First, the cast: urban fantasy authors love their magical creatures, populating their cities with vampires, werewolves, and faeries . But magical realism is more likely to star run-of-the-mill students, mailmen, and secretaries.

Second, urban fantasy tends to systematically lay out how the magic works — letting you peek under the hood of, say, human-elf relations or the mechanics of spell-casting. But with magical realism, everything out of the ordinary just is .

In sum, authors working in this mode painstakingly draw up settings rich in the textures of ordinary life. Read one of their books, and you’ll find a mirror held up to the world you know — the workaday realm of butter knives and ticket stubs. This commitment to the real world makes magical realism a powerful tool for sociopolitical critique. Indeed, many of its most renowned works grapple with serious social ills, from colonialism to fascism to slavery. 

Supernatural happenings — left unexplained

Magical realists set their work in a world that’s recognizably ours, but there’s always something uncanny afoot. Maybe you’ll meet a telepath, or see something inexplicable happen — a baby born with feathered wings, an egg hatching a ruby, or rain falling in a star-shaped pattern on the ground. Time, in particular, tends to be fluid and nonlinear: the narration skips ahead, premonitions abound, and the dead have a tendency to stick around. 

The key thing is, this magic is never explained. The characters seem to take it for granted: they react to it emotionally instead of questioning how it works. And although it’s never subjected to the cold light of logic, it makes a kind of dream-like, internal sense. 

In the end, magical realists are awake to the strangeness of so-called “ordinary life.” It draws up a subjective picture of reality, and while its supernatural flourishes don’t match up with how the world looks, they capture how it can feel .

Literary tone (and literary prestige)

Magical realism makes heavy use of details to ground readers in its slightly off-kilter settings. The prose tends to be finely wrought and lyrical, carrying the flavor of poetry. With this highbrow style, it reads like the lovechild of fantasy and lit fic. But supernatural elements notwithstanding, it is — in movie terms — not genre but prestige: more Oscar-bait arthouse flick than fantasy blockbuster shimmering with SFX. 

Have you ever heard of the “sci-fi ghetto”? This tongue-in-cheek term refers to the dismissal of science fiction as something pulpy and unworthy of serious attention — not art , but a guilty pleasure. Fair or not, this reputation applies to fantasy novels as well. 

Unlike fantasy, magical realism gets to mingle with lit fic. It shares shelf space with highbrow books, the kind debated in grad school seminars, and it’s featured in its share of scholarship too. Because of this reputation for artistic seriousness, authors writing magical realism have no problem netting nominations for major literary honors, from the Man Booker to the Nobel.

15 spellbinding magical realism books

With authors scattered all over the globe, magical realism is one of literature’s most diverse styles — and it’s been going strong since the mid-20th century. Maybe you’re a longtime fan looking to expand beyond the classics, or maybe you’re totally new to its charms. Either way, our list will help you find a positively enchanting read.

If you're on the fence as to which amazing fantasy book to pick up next, you can also step into our 30-second quiz below to get a personalized fantasy book recommendation  😉

Which fantasy series should you read next?

Discover the perfect fantasy series for you. Takes 30 seconds!

1. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez (1967)

Considered a great writer’s greatest work, One Hundred Years of Solitude traces the fortune of the Buendía clan — the founding family of a fictional town in Márquez’s native Colombia — over, well, a hundred years. Hungry for adventure and attended by ghosts, the Buendías find themselves pulled along in the slipstream of Colombian history. As they contend with violence, political upheaval, and technological change, the family’s shifting fortunes mirror the country’s. Rich in characters and glittering with symbolism, this sprawling family drama has been hailed as the most influential Latin American novel of all time.

2. Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie (1981)

3. The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende (1982)

First started as a letter to her dying grandfather, The House of the Spirits catapulted Chilean writer Isabel Allende into the literary stratosphere. She weaves a spellbinding tapestry in which three generations of the Trueba family come alive. Despite the clairvoyant powers of its matriarch, Clara, the family can’t escape the tragedy that seems to be its fate: not the great pains of revolution and dictatorial repression, nor the intimate sorrows of jealousy and hatred. In this novel, the Trueba women take center stage. Different as they are, they’re linked by their names — which, like Clara, all carry the meaning of “white” in a family tradition. 

4. Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter (1984)

5. Red Sorghum by Mo Yan (1986)

An East Asian take on a Latin American tradition, Red Sorghum offers magical realism with Chinese characteristics. Another myth-infused, politically charged, multigenerational tale, it cemented Mo Yan’s stellar reputation and essentially won him his Nobel Prize in Literature — making him the first mainland Chinese author to snag one. The novel follows a farming family in Shandong as they grow their home province’s staple crop — the titular red sorghum — and distill it into potent wine. But history comes to interrupt the harvest, forcing them to contend with the horrors of foreign aggression, factional infighting, and, finally, the Cultural Revolution. 

6. Beloved by Toni Morrison (1987)

7. Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel (1989)

The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, right? In this book , the old adage proves true for 15-year-old Tita de la Garza, a dab hand in the kitchen. Her neighbor Pedro, whom she’s loved from the time they met, falls for her sumptuous cooking. But the two teens can never be together — as the youngest of three sisters, Tita’s bound by family tradition to stay unmarried and care for her mother in her old age. Desperate to stay close to her, Pedro agrees to wed one of her sisters instead. In the resultant atmosphere of anguish and longing, Tita’s emotions seem to magically flavor her cooking, affecting the family members who swallow her love and bitterness along with every bite of her food. In keeping with this delicious motif , each chapter opens with a Mexican recipe.

8. Life of Pi by Yann Martel (2001)

9. Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami (2002)

The king of Japanese magical realism takes on the Oedipus legend in Kafka on the Shore — approaching it with his typical blend of pop culture, dream-like happenstance, and fine-grained detail. The novel follows two characters whose fates seem mysteriously linked. Teenage runaway Kafka has absconded from home to escape an Oedipal curse. Aging Nakata, meanwhile, supports himself in his twilight years as a superpowered tracker of lost cats. Drawn together by seemingly random circumstances — including a shadowy murder — the two men explore a world peopled by librarians, talking felines, and seemingly immortal soldiers. 

10. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender (2010)

11. The Daughter of the Doctor and the Saint by Edward Swift (2011)

When 82-year-old Josefina Epheron invites the president over for lunch, she’s cashing in on her decades’ worth of wealth and influence. But her ideal role isn’t socialite — it’s avenger. After decades of plotting, she’s finally enacting her plan for revenge against the family that destroyed her own and dragged her country into chaos. The daughter of immigrants to Latin America, Josefina is a living union of logic and faith — her father a scientist who comes to the jungle chasing medical breakthroughs, her mother a beloved aspiring saint. But the Epherons’ pocket of paradise is destroyed by the ruthless Serranos, whose meteoric political rise brings about their downfall. A gorgeous tribute to the great Latin American magical realists, Edward Swift's novel wears its influences on its sleeve.

12. The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey (2013)

13. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman (2013)

Neil Gaiman has written everything from gritty, urban epics to wickedly funny takes on the apocalypse. With The Ocean at the End of the Lane , he dips into magical realism. The result reads like an elevated fairy tale , at once modern and timeless. The book follows a nameless narrator who returns, in middle age, to his childhood hometown for a funeral. The trip brings to mind his youthful friendship with his old neighbor, Lettie Hempstock, a strange girl who insisted that the little pond by her house was an ocean. Lettie’s since moved to Australia — or so our hero thinks. As he lingers around his childhood haunts, he comes to remember more and more about his past. It turns out that the idyllic veneer of his childhood hides secret both monstrous and magical.

14. The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton (2014)

15. The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin (2018)

Four ordinary siblings find their lives changed forever when they encounter a strange woman possessed of even stranger powers. But this isn’t The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe — it’s The Immortalists . Published in just 2018, this novel proves that magical realism is still going strong. Instead of World War II-era England, Chloe Benjamin transports readers to the New York City of the 1960s, where a psychic sets up shop offering to foretell the day of her clients’ deaths. The adolescent Golds — two brothers and two sisters — sneak out one day to see her. The morbid fortunes she lays out before them end up coloring their futures, making the Golds hypersensitive about every decision — and the passage of time. Is it prophecy, or the power of suggestion?

Want a little more magic in your life? Check out our list of the 100 best fantasy series !

Continue reading

More posts from across the blog.

21 Must-Read Books on Sustainability in 2024

If you’re looking to learn more about sustainability, this list of 20 must-read books will educate, concern, and inspire you to take action, as well as empower you to enact and demand change. Remember, knowledge is power!

The 40 Most Festive Christmas Books to Get You in the Holiday Spirit

Snow is falling, fires are crackling, the smell of gingerbread houses wafts through the air. “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” is being blared inside every merrily decorated department store. It can only mean one thing!

The 45 Best Fantasy Audiobooks

Reading a fantasy novel can transport you to a world of wonder and danger, as different from mundane reality as a dragon from a mouse. And

Heard about Reedsy Discovery?

Trust real people, not robots, to give you book recommendations.

Or sign up with an

Or sign up with your social account

• Submit your book
• Reviewer directory

Bring your fantasy novel to life

Use our three-act template to plan an unputdownable book.

What is magical realism? Imagine a woman discovers she can cry fabric (instead of water), so she starts a clothing business where she knots her tears into dresses.

This odd blending of the magical and the mundane constitutes the elements of magical realism, a wonderful genre for writers of all paths. Magical realism authors populate many of today’s fiction journals , and magical realism books have recently won Pulitzer, Nobel, and Booker Prizes.

Yet, because the genre is growing in popularity, many writers have a sense of what magical realism means but apply it incorrectly. (For example, the Harry Potter series would not be considered a set of magical realism books. I’ll explain why later!)

But if those books don’t count, then what is magical realism in literature? Let’s unpack this genre step-by-step, starting with the basic components of magical realism stories and ending with tips for writing the genre yourself.

What is Magical Realism in Literature?

In short, “magical realism” describes a work of fiction where fantasy slips into everyday life. However, the focus isn’t on the fantastical elements of the story, so much as on what those elements mean for the characters. Fantasy often acts as an extended metaphor , externalizing some sort of internal conflict or moral quandary in the protagonist’s life.

Magical realism definition: a genre in which fantasy slips into everyday life.

Some great magical realism examples show up in Carmen Maria Machados’ collection Her Body and Other Parties . Stories include: a detective connects a string of assaults in New York City to a wave of spiritual turbulence; two women have a baby without a father; and, a man wonders about the ribbon connecting his wife’s head to her body. In all of these examples, the plot starts with a dash of fantasy, but the story isn’t concerned with the logic of magic, just its aftermath.

Other magical realism authors include Isabel Allende, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Toni Morrison, and Aimee Bender. While their plots and writing styles differ, these pioneers of the genre included the following elements in their magical realism stories:

• Brief exposition based on the occurrence of something magical or supernatural.
• A focus on the real world implications of that brief magical phenomenon; in other words, a “literary fiction” style of writing, without any traditional plot structure.
• The use of fantasy as an extended metaphor, often representing something internal to the protagonist.

What is magical realism? It’s literary fiction with just a dash of fantasy.

Another way to put it: magical realism is literary fiction with just a dash of fantasy. This is why works of fiction like Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series, Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, or Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus wouldn’t be considered magical realism: though these novels often occupy real world settings , their plots require fantastical creatures and places to keep the story going. This is also why Harry Potter doesn’t count: though the castles and Department of Magic are both vaguely “muggle-esque,” the books require too much world building for the series to be anything other than fantasy.

A Brief History of Magical Realism

Charting the history of any genre is tricky. While historians can track when a term was first used, deciding when a genre began is a wholly different matter. For example, some writers argue that Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is the first science fiction novel. If that were the case, then Voltaire’s Micromegas would just be a fever dream, not an advanced work about interplanetary travel.

Magical realism shares much the same conundrum. The genre certainly began in Latin America: much of the folklore and storytelling in South and Central America relies on the elements that today’s magical realism stories use.

Much of the folklore and storytelling in South and Central America relies on elements that today’s magical realism stories use.

It makes sense, then, for the genre’s pioneers to hail from Latin America, and many historians credit Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Isabel Allende for popularizing magical realism. Allende’s stories blend elements of Chilean folklore with modern twists, while Marquez’s stories dwell on utopia and the freedom of love. Importantly, many magical realism authors used the genre with subtle political intent, criticizing or subverting the political unrest that many South American nations endured in the 20th century.

Although magical realism is a distinctly Latin American invention, works of fiction that far predate the genre still uphold its basic requirements. For instance, many Greek and Roman myths could be considered magical realism examples. The story of Icarus uses magical wings as a metaphor for hubris—the same metaphor which later inspired Micromegas. Likewise, the tragedy of Medusa also relies on just a sprinkle of fantasy: once Athena turns Medusa into a snake-haired monster, there is no further need for magical intervention, we must merely observe Medusa’s estrangement from society and eventual slaughter at the hands of Perseus.

All of this to say: modern writers can find inspiration throughout history. The use of fantasy to tell stories is as old as storytelling itself—perhaps fantasy is even innate to the human experience.

How to Write Magical Realism

Where does one begin writing magical realism stories? First, you want to be sure that your story adheres to the elements of magical realism. Those three elements, as we’ve discussed, are 1) Magical exposition, 2) Storytelling through the conventions of literary fiction, and 3) The use of fantasy as an extended metaphor.

Let’s use a short story for comparison. Carmen Maria Machado’s “ Especially Heinous ” is a longer read, but I’ll summarize how the story works as magical realism without any spoilers, as I highly encourage you to read it if you’re interested in how to write magical realism.

“Especially Heinous” does the following:

• Exposition: “Especially Heinous” pushes boundaries by having two fantasy plots interweave through the story. One element involves the dark drum of Manhattan’s spirits; the other involves unexplained doppelgangers whose job performance exceeds that of the protagonists.
• Storytelling: Despite these impossible plot lines, the story largely explores how Stabler and Benson investigate their surreal experiences, with many “episodes” devoted entirely to a character’s internal life. Contemporary fiction often seeks to expand the boundaries of form, and this story’s narrative construction certainly expands those boundaries, using episode summaries in lieu of paragraphs.
• Extended metaphor: In brief, the irate spirits of Manhattan’s voiceless women represent a kind of rejection of sexism and rape culture. Many of the girls with bells for eyes were underage victims of murder and male violence, and though the story was written before the #MeToo movement, it captures much of the western feminist zeitgeist. As for the doppelgangers, perhaps they represent an idealized version of the protagonists—versions of themselves without the weight of past trauma.

Take this reading like a writer approach yourself and try to map how the following stories adhere to these three qualities.

Magical Realism Examples

You might find inspiration for your own work in these magical realism examples, which all come from published works of literature. Pay attention to how magical elements are interwoven into everyday life, and how those elements act as metaphors or symbols .

• “ The Autumn of the Patriarch ” by Gabriel García Márquez
• “ Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey ” by Haruki Murakami
• “ The Daughters of the Moon ” by Italo Calvino
• “ The Library of Babel ” by Jorge Luis Borges
• “ The Rememberer ” by Aimee Bender
• “ The Faery Handbag ” by Kelly Link
• “ St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves ” by Karen Russell
• “ The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World ” by Gabriel García Márquez
• “ The Paper Menagerie ” by Ken Liu
• “ Headlights ” by Samanta Schweblin
• “ If A Book Is Locked There’s Probably A Good Reason For That Don’t You Think ” by Helen Oyeyemi
• “ The Journey of the Eyeball ” by Katherine Vaz

Finding Inspiration for Magical Realism Stories

Where can you turn to find inspiration for your next magical realism stories? Because this genre is both exciting and contemporary, the digital literary world has come to love it. For example, this magical realism bot on twitter posts the kind of zany, out-of-the-box plots that the genre is known for. Starting with the plots on this twitter account could jumpstart something new and magical in your own writing life.

Of course, the inspiration for a book can come from other novels, too. Any of the titles on this list of 100 magical realism books should satisfy your curiosity—while fueling the urge to write fiction.

However, the best stories are inspired by everyday life. Speaking on Especially Heinous , Carmen Maria Machado admits that the inspiration came from a days-long binge of Law & Order while suffering through a fever. If an author can find magic in NBC reruns, where else might there be magic?

Try combining two things: a facet of mundane life and a certain interest or hyperfixation.

Try it yourself. To start your next magical realism story, try combining two things: a facet of mundane life and a certain interest or hyperfixation. The two should meld together with ease, like how, in “ Samsa in Love ,” Haruki Murakami blends everyday romance with a keen fixation on Kafka’s The Metamorphosis .

Then, flesh out the idea by outlining the story’s exposition, storytelling , and extended metaphor. With any luck, this outlining will catapult you directly into the story’s first line.

Finally, as you write your story, you’ll encounter many opportunities to expand the meaning of your extended metaphor and push the limits of fantasy. Lean into these moments; allow your story its zaniness.

Write Dazzling Stories with Writers.com

When you need an extra set of eyes on your magical realism books and stories, you’ll find expert readership in writers.com . Join our Facebook group for prompts and community feedback, and take a look at our upcoming fiction courses , with instructors who have excelled in the genre and are ready to help you, too.

What will your next magical realism stories be about? Whether an American woman starts sweating Euros or a stockbroker embodies the concept of zero, take the plunge on your writing—we look forward to reading it!

Sean Glatch

Thank you for the article on magic realism. Something I’ve been working on and short stories and novels and a novella. But it’s good to have an expository piece on it.

this gives me a perspective i’ve never seen before, in-depth and really getting to it in a way i never even realized i’ve always been looking for. as a person trying to write this exact sort of thing, this is priceless. thank you.

this gives me a perspective i’ve never seen before, in-depth and really getting to it in a way i never even realized i’ve always been looking for. as a person trying to write this exact sort of thing, this is priceless. thank you.

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

This Is Where To Start With Magical Realism Short Stories

Mary Kay McBrayer

Mary Kay is a belly-dancer, horror enthusiast, sideshow lover, prose writer, Christian, and literature professor from south of Atlanta. Her true crime novel, America’s First Female Serial Killer: Jane Toppan and the Making of a Monster is available for pre-order, and you can hear her analysis (and jokes) about scary movies on the podcast she co-founded, Everything Trying to Kill You. She can be reached at [email protected] .

View All posts by Mary Kay McBrayer

As with any genre categorization, the edges of magical realism short stories are blurry. The term “ magical realism ” itself seems to be an oxymoron: if it’s magical, how can it be real? The definition, however nebulous, depends on whom you ask.

How do you define magical realism short stories?

I tried to reduce the definition to its most simplistic qualities: the world of the story is realistic, just like this one, or maybe a little worse. Magical elements are introduced to the world of the story, and the characters in the world treat them as though they are real, a part of their crappy world. The characters are not astounded by the presence of what seems (to the reader) magical.

Naturally there are some dissenting opinions, and because humans like to categorize things, there are some distinct sub-genres. Surrealism is “concerned with upending accepted realities,” and fabulism “is known for putting fables and myths into a contemporary setting.” (For more on these topics, click here .)

For our purposes, we have another chunk of that genre to define as well: what is a short story? What qualifies as “short,” and what makes a “story.” Again, I tried to reduce this definition to its most simplistic qualities: if I can read it in one sitting, then it’s “short.” If I have to get up for snack breaks, to check my email, et cetera, it doesn’t qualify. As far as defining “story”: there needs to be a narrative. That means, to me, SOMETHING HAPPENS. Something happens after which nothing is the same, a new status quo is reached. Much of the time, the magical entering the realistic world works as the “something,” but not always.

With those VERY loose terms defined, here are some of the most impactful magical realism short stories, including magical realism short story collections and magical realism short story authors.

The Best Magical Realism Short Stories Authors

Gabriel garcía márquez.

Gabo is the author who usually comes to mind when someone mentions magical realism authors, but his more famous works are novels. Did you know, though, that he also has written magical realism short stories and novellas? Among his most popular, shorter works are the often-anthologized “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” and the novella “Chronicle of a Death Foretold.” Both are excellent examples of his writing style in that they evoke the setting and issues of early 20th century Latin America, and each has its particular element of magic that disrupts that realist setting.

Aimee Bender

This fantastic queen is also a staple among magical realism authors. Some of her most notable collections of magical realism short stories are The Girl in the Flammable Skirt ,  Willful Creatures ,  and The Color Master ,  though she also has written several book-length works. Her stories generally take place in America, but not always, and they bend reality in a way that is not quite surreal, but will leave the reader wondering…”Wait, what happened? No, I mean, WHY did that happen?” My favorite of her works is “The Rememberer,” in which the protagonist’s lover begins to experience reverse-evolution.

Karen Russell

Karen Russell is another powerhouse among magical realism authors. You probably recognize the titles St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves and Vampires in the Lemon Grove .  I love these collections because several of these magical realism short stories take characters that we know from popular culture or mythology and place them in settings where they don’t belong. For example, what is a 200-year-old vampire doing in southern Italy? Or, what happens when a family of minotaurs takes the Oregon Trail? Or, what if all of the American presidents were reincarnated as horses in the same stable?

Ludmilla Petrushevskaya

Ludmilla Petrushevskaya is one of Russia’s leading contemporary fiction writers. Her collections of magical realism short stories aim to explain human connection in macabre and burlesque ways. Some titles of her collections include the following:  There Once Lived a Girl Who Seduced Her Sister’s Husband, and He Hanged Himself: Love Stories   and  There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbor’s Baby: Scary Fairy Tales . Petrushevskaya has also written several novella and novels. 

Etgar Keret

The Girl on the Fridge   by Etgar Keret, the most famous of Israel’s magical realism authors, contains his most successful short stories, and they all deal with the idea of life in Israel, but in metaphorical, magical ways that although not factual, are somehow truer. Some of the collections from which this selection came are  The Bus Driver Who Wanted to Be God ;  Suddenly, A Knock on the Door ;  and  The Nimrod Flipout .  He also writes graphic novels, and his writing has inspired the movies  Wristcutters: A Love Story  and  Jellyfish. 

Magical Realism Short Story Collections and anthologies

Her body and other parties   by carmen maria machado.

This collection of magical realism short stories involve macabre scenarios. One of my favorites retells the urban legend of the “Girl with the Velvet Ribbon.” Another of my favorites, “Inventory,” is chronicle of lists which the protagonist writes after the apocalypse. This collection is truly amazing—they’re stories for the adults that the children who loved spooky stories grew into.

Unclean Jobs for Women & Girls   by Alissa Nutting

“In this darkly comic and surreal collection from celebrated author Alissa Nutting, misfit women scramble for agency in a series of uncanny circumstances. Throughout these breathtakingly creative seventeen stories spread across time, space, and differing planes of reality, we encounter a host of women and girls in a wide range of unusual jobs. Though the settings these women find themselves in are as shocking and unique as they come, the emotional battles they face are searing and real.”

The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts   by Maxine Hong Kingston

This book veers toward the fabulist sub-genre of magical realism short stories, but more importantly, it’s Maxine Hong Kingston’s memoir! She uses tales of Fa Mu Lan, drowned ghosts, and other Chinese myths and histories to tell her own coming-of-age experience in California as a Chinese American in the 1960s–’70s.

My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me   by Kate Bernheimer (editor)

This anthology of retold fairy tales includes heavy-hitters like Aimee Bender and more, and they have a RANGE. From esoteric fairytales to retellings of Rumpelstiltskin, Kate Bernheimer’s anthology has it all. (If you like this collection, you might also consider The Fairy Tale Review   for some online reading, or her collection of re-told myths,  xo Orpheus. )

A Guide to Being Born   by Ramona Ausubel

“ A Guide to Being Born  is organized around the stages of life—love, conception, gestation, birth—and the transformations that happen as people experience deeply altering life events, falling in love, becoming parents, looking toward the end of life. In each of these eleven stories Ausubel’s stunning imagination and humor are moving, entertaining, and provocative, leading readers to see the familiar world in a new way.”

The Best Magical Realism short stories

“the metamorphosis” by franz kafka.

This is a novella, so while it might take a LONG sitting to read it, I’m counting it as a short story. The magical thing that happens is that Gregor Samsa wakes up as a bug. Kafka’s is one of the classics, so if you love magical realism short stories but you haven’t read this one, you should definitely look into it. You can read it for free, along with many others, on Project Gutenberg.

“Beautiful Monsters” by Eric Puchner

This piece from  Last Day on Earth   by Eric Puchner is a great example of magical realism short stories: humans have become immortal Perennials, but in order to do so, they have to remain children forever. What happens when a grown man shows up throws everything out of perspective. This story is also available through  Tin House . 

“The Idea of Marcel” by Marie-Helene Bertino

What happens when you go on a date with the idea of your ex? What happens when you meet his ideal of you? This strange story explores the idea of idealizing a significant other and what happens when everyone meets. This piece—along with several other magical realism short stories—is available online at  The Common: A Modern Sense of Place . You can also find it in her collection  Safe as Houses .

“Stone Animals” by Kelly Link

Depending on whom you ask, “Stone Animals” might be more horror than magical realism, but many things can be true. This story starts off with a young couple buying a house, and the discomfort of living there spirals quickly out of their control. Her magical realism short stories are also found in many of her collections, as well, such as  Get in Trouble   and  Magic for Beginners . 

“My Pet Heart” by Emily Hipchen

This magical realism short story begins with a girl fantasizing about the model heart in her doctor’s office, and then owning it as a pet. Of course, though, the heart can’t be owned. What’s even more interesting about this piece is that it is also nonfiction. You can read this essay for free online at Madcap Review .

For more examples of the magical realism genre, click here !

You Might Also Like