Define: High Fantasy

This will be one in a series of shorts about the various sub-genres of Speculative Fiction. "Why," you ask, "do I need another definition?" My simple answer: perhaps it will help you better prepare a story for submission to Sheer Speculation Press. Also, I think everyone has their vision of what such sub-genres are, and I think it helps to have various definitions to both refute and support.

A Google search turns up one entry for both High Fantasy and Epic Fantasy, and it's the introduction to the Wikipedia entry on the topic.

High fantasy or epic fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy that is set in invented or parallel worlds. High fantasy came to fruition through the work of authors such as J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis whose major fantasy works were published in the 1950s. High fantasy, along with sword and sorcery, has become one of the two genres most commonly associated with the general term fantasy.

For the full article...

I agree with the very loose definition in the first sentence, but I believe that it's a little too vague. And the last bit does nothing to further define it. There's little clarity to it. So here's my addition to it:

"High fantasy or epic fantasy is a subgenre of [speculative fiction] and fantasy, in particular, that is set in invented or parallel worlds." Traditionally it is inspired by myth, legend, and folklore from various cultures around the world. It's also highly quest-driven, with characters seeking to accomplish a greater goal that follows in the footsteps of many traditional mythological and legendary tales.

I think one of the most standard tropes of epic and high fantasy is the use of a group of characters. I think that this use has been steadily reduced over the course of the past decade, but I still believe that it is not only common but slightly overused. Especially in short fiction, this trope is too stifling. It's difficult to create a fully-realized story with a cast of characters in a short amount of time, and yet too many authors still seek to throw in more than one character in their short pieces. If you keep the story focused on the more traditional themes and non-cliched tropes of the genre, then you're story will be solid, and you'll have created something unique.