In serious fantasy, the overhead world usually exists or is established in the following ways: the real world does not exist (such as The Lord of the Rings, the disc world, the wheel of time, fire and ice); The overhead world can enter from the real world in some way (such as the legend of Narnia and the dark matter trilogy); The overhead world exists in the real world and is a part of the real world (such as Harry Potter and Percy Jackson); In the absence of the real world, the author usually provides some information about the overhead world, such as maps and historical documents. The overhead world is usually based on the real world, or symbolizes some possibility of the real world (for example, Tolkien's Middle-earth is based on the "forgotten history" of Britain and continental Europe). When there is an overhead world in the real world, the overhead world is usually isolated from the real world by some means, such as the ninth in Harry Potter. Train platform ". This kind of novel is serious in style, usually similar to epic in subject matter, with the theme of large-scale confrontation with evil forces of gods and demons. Other typical features of serious fantasy include fictional races (such as elves and dwarves), magic or witchcraft, wizards or wizards, self-created languages and the arrival of a new era. Serious fantasy usually consists of multiple volumes, such as trilogy.

In some serious fantasies, a character in the modern "real world" will be thrown into the overhead world, such as through some device, and sometimes even travel subconsciously. Purists don't think it belongs to "real" serious fantasy, but because this genre has no fixed genre name, it is often classified as serious fantasy because it is the closest to serious fantasy.

Serious fantasies are usually more or less set in the real world, or based on real legends, such as the legend of King Arthur. When this similarity is high, or when the novel is set in real history, serious fantasy becomes an overhead historical novel.

Serious fantasy is the most common, popular and successful genre in fantasy novels. Since Tolkien's time, this genre has been supported by many people, especially in recent years, because quite a few serious fantasy works have been adapted into film and television works, such as The Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit, The Legend of Narnia, Harry Potter film series and Game of Thrones TV series, which makes this genre enduring. Most serious fantasies tell stories from the perspective of a main character (hero), and the main plot revolves around this hero. Usually the hero is an orphan or an unusual sibling with some amazing abilities (such as magic or martial arts). Stories usually begin when the protagonist is young, such as Frodo Baggins in Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. Rand Arthur in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time; Leila Bellak in philip pullman's Dark Matter Trilogy. There are also works in which the protagonist is an adult with a molded personality. Serious and fantastic heroes are not always decent male characters.

At the beginning of the story, the hero is threatened by some unknown force. One of the reasons for setting this threat is that, unlike heroes in the sword and magic school who always take risks eagerly and actively, serious fantasy heroes need a reason to give up their current life. Even when a hero takes risks spontaneously, he or she enjoys daily life (for example, bilbo baggins in The Lord of the Rings). Therefore, after the adventure, the protagonist usually returns to a quiet daily life.

A typical situation in serious fantasy is that the protagonist gradually understands his past through legends, predictions, restored family members, and the role of "mentor". And gain confidence and ability. , constantly gain all kinds of experience and grow. At this point, it is somewhat similar to educational novels. However, this pattern is not fixed.

In many serious fantasy novels, there is a "mentor" role, usually a powerful mage or warrior, who provides advice and help to the protagonist along the way, such as Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings, albus dumbledore in Harry Potter and Brom in Dragon Knight.

In serious fantasy, there are usually mysterious dark elf characters who are determined to rule the world or kill heroes. Typical such characters are powerful and evil wizards or magicians, who often torture and kill civilians and command huge armies or terrible servants, such as Soren in the movie, Voldemort in Harry Potter, Baatar Brothers in Dragon Knight, and Jade Emperor in Wheel of Time.

As the story goes on, the protagonist gradually understands the nature of the unknown forces against him. Facing this evil force is the fate of the hero and the climax of the story, which can make the hero finally return to a normal life. The world setting in serious fantasy is often used as the background of games, such as The Lord of the Rings: Northern War and a series of board games and card games with the theme of fire and ice, and many writers are constantly creating new stories based on this setting.

In addition to the game-based model mentioned above, many writers have followed Tolkien's model until now, that is, creating stories of different times with the same world as the background. This genre is called "epic". There are many other writers, such as Robert Jordan, Raymond E feaster, R·A· Salvador and George Raymond Richard Martin, who have created different stories with the same group of characters in the same world. This type is called series.