SF of F: Not sure which it is

[rebelshade]

Okay, so for the longest time I just classified my wip as sf/f and just kind of left it at that, figuring I'd officially name it one way or the other when it came closer to publishing time. (Which is a ways away.)

Well, now (though it's not publishing time) I'm wanting to put the official label on it. But, I'm not 100% sure what it would be. And I know without reading a good part of it, it can be hard to tell, but something I read a while back led me to calling it sci-fi.

In Orson Scott Card's book "How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy" it says this:

"But there is a time when the division between sci-fi and fantasy really matters....Here is a good, simple, semi-accurate rule of thumb: If the story is set in a universe that follows the same rules as ours, it's sci-fi. If it's set in a universe that doesn't follow our rules, it's fantasy. Or in other words, sci-fi is about what could be but isn't, fantasy is about what couldn't be."

That being said, in my wip there is no magic, but there are also no space ships and typical futuristic type things. There is, or was (in the history of the world) DNA splicing between humans and animals. Now in the first story the main characters don't have any clue about this. They will find out later on in the third. Now it is set more in a fantasy type feeling world. There's no power, barely any running water (you have to be rich to have that!), swords and bows are the main weapons, there are no guns or explosives. Stuff like that.

So, would you consider it science fiction? or Fantasy? Or something else- if so, what?

It would be nice to know before I post the first chapter somewhere.

[waldenwriter]

My wip is sort of on the borderline of sci-fi and fantasy as well, so I feel for you.

I'm personally not a huge fan of Card's book; I didn't understand it very well. Yet it is supposed to be the go-to book for fantasy & sci-fi writers according to most people. (I personally like the Writer's Digest Complete Fantasy Reference a lot myself).

I'd say your world does have a very fantasy feel - swords and bows are typical fantasy weapons. The DNA splicing is a sci-fi element though. Though I suppose you could handle this in a fantasy way (the Kannarah in my Walden stories are essentially humans combined with animals, but it's dealt with in a pure fantasy fashion).

I'd say, just based on the little I know about genre categories, that yours is probably a science fantasy (the genre term for either fantasy stories with sci-fi elements or sci-fi stories with fantasy elements), like mine is. This list of genres might help: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_literary_genres

[metalikhan]

I tend to agree with Card's guidelines; but through the years, I've heard more people label fictional worlds with little or no technology "fantasy" rather than "SciFi" regardless of whether or not magic is present in the story.

Nowadays, there are so many identifiable sub-genres that the lines between them seem impossibly blurred at times. In the Space Bar forum (page 6) is an older thread called Speculative Fiction's Sub-Sub-Genres that has a listing of all those sub-genres (or at least as many as the folks posting could think of at the time); and there are other threads discussing what defines some of them. It might be worth checking out — you may see the perfect identification for the kind of story you're working on.

I like the umbrella term "speculative fiction" that covers it all. I've developed the preference to just go ahead on the story and figure out the label later. Some of my writing is experimental anyway, so labeling is the last thing I think of. If there isn't a label — well, we're a creative bunch, we can make one up.

A tuppence thought.

[rebelshade]

I'm really starting to like the term "speculative fiction". It works well. But I'm really liking "Science Fantasy". Can we make that an official sub-sub genre?

I think I'll just go back to working on it and worry about titles and labels later. I was just wondering which area I should post it under.

Oh, well, I have to get to work now.

[Grace Bridges]

Sounds to me lilke one of those cool stories where you start out convinced it's fantasy and then when the DNA thing comes in you realise it's got SF in it and "could" have maybe happened. That can have an awesome impact on readers - this one anyway! The technique's not used often but I wish it were.

[rebelshade]

Nov 12, 2009 23:16:59 GMT -5 Grace Bridges said:

Sounds to me lilke one of those cool stories where you start out convinced it's fantasy and then when the DNA thing comes in you realise it's got SF in it and "could" have maybe happened. That can have an awesome impact on readers - this one anyway! The technique's not used often but I wish it were.

Yeah, I think that's what it's going to end up being. It has more of a fantasy feel, but it's not really fantasy.

[Kristen]

I think it was Stanley Schmidt who defined science fiction as a story in which the science is so integral that if you took it out, there wouldn't be a story. The example he gave was Frankenstein. By that rule, yours would be SF, but with the setting... yeah, better go with Science Fantasy.

[von]

I would call it Science fiction.

I am writing a series with a similar theme. You have dwarves, elves, etc... and only later find out it is actually science fiction.