Alex Hirsch Quotes

I do a lot of urban fantasy, which is modern-day cities, but you've got magic, you've got fairies running around, or cryptozoological creatures running around, and I'm pulling very heavily on my background as a folklore major and having done some animation work and all of that, and I'm pulling from the modern fairy tale narrative.

When I put magic into a book - whether it's a wizard or a crusty old werewolf - I'm asking a reader to swallow a huge leap that is counter to everything he or she knows. An extra big helping of reality makes that leap go down a lot easier.

Basically, Urban Fantasy means D&D in New York. Ordinary people have no idea that they share the world with fantastic, supernatural creatures. It can't just be vampires or werewolves; it has to be a whole continuum of fantastic beings, with their own society within society.

There's no subtext in 'Harry Potter,' really; it's all magic - anything can happen. Why do I say this? Because it's a magic spell. It's quite nice in a way. There is a real freedom to it. Doesn't say much for acting, does it?

One of my favorite things about supernatural fiction is its vast array of creatures.

I am a fan of magic and fantasy, particularly when it's grounded in reality.

I'm very into science-fantasy, that kind of swordfights and magic and technology thing.

I'm a fantasy writer, called a fantasy writer. But there's very little, apart from one or two basic concepts in 'I Shall Wear Midnight,' which are in fact fantasy. You have sticks that fly, but they're practical broomsticks, with a bloody great strap that you can hold on to so you don't fall off. And you try not to use them too often.

I love the idea that magic and witchcraft and battles between supernatural creatures could be raging all around us but just out of our sight.

I think if you look back at some of the stuff that we broadly label as the crime 'ouvre,' there are certainly elements of the supernatural at work.

With shows like 'The X-Files' or 'Eerie, Indiana' - even though they would have comedic moments, even though they would have character moments - there was a sincerity about magic.

'Children of Blood and Bone' is basically 'Black Panther' with magic.

Mr. Miyazaki's specialty is taking a primal wish of kids, transporting them to a fantasyland, and then marooning them there. No one else conjures the phantasmagoric and shifting morality of dreams - that fascinating and frightening aspect of having something that seems to represent good become evil - in the way this master Japanese animator does.

'Legacies' is its own show, and it takes on a younger twist to the supernatural world.

When writing fantastical literature, your biggest problem is getting your audience to believe the fantastical elements of your story.

I always try to have my supernatural or fantasy elements feel grounded in reality so they're easier for the reader to accept and digest.

My idea of a good fantasy is something that's absolutely grounded in reality. And there's a little element that doesn't belong there - and that's the fantasy element - that you have to react to and deal with in a completely real way.

I believe that one of the reasons Gravity Falls is such an unusual place, maybe part of the reason that the stoplights switch on and off at random times and cell phones don't get proper reception and compasses spin wildly - is because of the strange kinetic influence of the UFO buried just underneath everyone's feet.

The Wizard War

When I read 'Fantastic Beasts,' the world that J. K. Rowling has created is so wonderful.

What drew me to 'Beautiful Creatures' was the character that I get to play, Ethan. Within three pages, I knew he is so specific and interesting.

There is something cheap about magic that works just because it is magic.

So many of my characters have really crazy physicalities, so it's really fun to be able to say, like, 'I'm an elf who's the size of a dollar bill!'

You immediately hear the word 'Merlin,' you think magic, you think adventure, excitement - you also think 'an old man.'

The thing about 'Game of Thrones' is it doesn't pin too much of a focus on magic. It kind of paints it in the same way that mystical things are portrayed in our world, because you don't walk about Westeros and see wizards with staffs or magical wands. All the characters don't really believe in it. It's this mysterious hidden vein to Westeros.