What is the fantasy setting for a novel?

Answer 1

The setting is the actual locale where the story takes place, regardless of the genre. A fantasy setting tends to differ per subgenre. For high fantasy, for instance, the story is set in an alternate or secondary world/dimension/universe that can either be much like Earth or nothing like our planet. Since Tolkien, the medieval era tends to profligate the high fantasy genre but more authors are breaking away from this trope and beginning to develop their own worlds that aren't rudimentary regurgitations of Medieval Europe.

Ursula Le Guin's EarthSea series, for instance, is set in a vast water world made up of oceans and hundreds of grouped islands. J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series is set both in the real world and in a secondary dimension or hidden world where wizard communities exist in secret, like Hogsmeade and Hogwarts.

Low fantasy tends to have more real-world settings if they aren't set on Earth itself. This subgenre also doesn't use as much fantastical elements, such as magic, in its attempt to remain realistic to the real-world setting.

But in short, a fantasy setting for a novel is the location at which the story takes place. Earth, Starship Enterprise, Middle Earth, Hogwarts, or Neverland.