How little "fantasy" can be in a story and it still be recognizably fantasy, and not mainstream fiction?
The "recognizable fantasy" question is one I struggle with all the time. Fantasy exists on a continuum of clearly fantastic material (supernatural beings, magic spells, etc.), to stuff that might not be fantasy at all, like Henry James' "The Turn of the Screw" or the more gentle sorts of magical realism. I've occasionally failed to interest editors in stories because they didn't feel the fantasy element was strong enough.
Do you remember a Karen Joy Fowler story from a few years back, "What I Didn't See"? There was a pretty big dust up because it was published in a science fiction venue, but many people didn't think it had any kind of science fictional element. Sometimes I think I'm pulling a Karen Joy Fowler with some of my fantasy, like this latest piece.
Note: This question was contributed by James Van Pelt.
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