SF and Fantasy
Dec. 2nd, 2005 11:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ksmithMany other authorfolk have weighed in with their discussions of what they perceive to be the differences and similarities between the two genres. Thought I'd add my 0.02, a day late and a dollar short as usual.
Some folks jumble both genres under the master header "speculative fiction." I fall in that camp. I've seen the definition floating around that SF involves worlds/situations/technologies that can ultimately be explained, while Fantasy involves worlds/situations/technologies about which some uncertainty will always exist. Given what I've read about theoretical physics (very little, but some), discussions of multiple dimensions, the study of consciousness, and ultimate nature of reality, I found that boundary about as solid and insurmountable as a smoke fence.
I also tend to think that some SF folk kid themselves about how much they currently understand and are ultimately capable of understanding. I think techie ego plays a large part in this. Some people have a problem admitting that some things are beyond their understanding and most likely will remain so. OTOH, others like to inject Mystery where there isn't any. Both extremes can prove aggravating.
Looking at it from a story builder's POV, I think spec fic is a mechanism to examine the impact of a construct, be it technological, sociological, or magical, on character. This character can be portrayed in an individual, a group, and/ or a society. Spec Fic also examines the revelation and growth (or lack of same) of character as shown by how they use the construct. How the society uses biotech. How the Good and Bad Guys employ magic, and are affected by its use.
I view a construct as something detached from the here and now. Any extrapolation of any type, be it backed up with data (make that "research") up the wazoo or pulled out of your left ear with pliers. If you don't possess an actual damage report describing what happened after you released that nanobot into the world, you don't know what happened, you're guessing, and I don't want to hear how nanos are going to revolutionize mass production and make the world safe for whatever political construct you happen to believe in. Which I don't believe you've even considered or you would have given more thought to how that political construct might react to having those uncontrolled nanos building unregulated things all over the place.
Sorry--that was a response to a ConJose 2002 panel that just sort of dropped on me now. Techie ego--yeah.
Anyway, from my POV, I don't believe there is an overlarge difference between SF and Fantasy. What variability there is strikes me as more the difference between cherry vanilla ice cream and fudge ripple gelato than apples and oranges. IMHO, and all that.
Some folks jumble both genres under the master header "speculative fiction." I fall in that camp. I've seen the definition floating around that SF involves worlds/situations/technologies that can ultimately be explained, while Fantasy involves worlds/situations/technologies about which some uncertainty will always exist. Given what I've read about theoretical physics (very little, but some), discussions of multiple dimensions, the study of consciousness, and ultimate nature of reality, I found that boundary about as solid and insurmountable as a smoke fence.
I also tend to think that some SF folk kid themselves about how much they currently understand and are ultimately capable of understanding. I think techie ego plays a large part in this. Some people have a problem admitting that some things are beyond their understanding and most likely will remain so. OTOH, others like to inject Mystery where there isn't any. Both extremes can prove aggravating.
Looking at it from a story builder's POV, I think spec fic is a mechanism to examine the impact of a construct, be it technological, sociological, or magical, on character. This character can be portrayed in an individual, a group, and/ or a society. Spec Fic also examines the revelation and growth (or lack of same) of character as shown by how they use the construct. How the society uses biotech. How the Good and Bad Guys employ magic, and are affected by its use.
I view a construct as something detached from the here and now. Any extrapolation of any type, be it backed up with data (make that "research") up the wazoo or pulled out of your left ear with pliers. If you don't possess an actual damage report describing what happened after you released that nanobot into the world, you don't know what happened, you're guessing, and I don't want to hear how nanos are going to revolutionize mass production and make the world safe for whatever political construct you happen to believe in. Which I don't believe you've even considered or you would have given more thought to how that political construct might react to having those uncontrolled nanos building unregulated things all over the place.
Sorry--that was a response to a ConJose 2002 panel that just sort of dropped on me now. Techie ego--yeah.
Anyway, from my POV, I don't believe there is an overlarge difference between SF and Fantasy. What variability there is strikes me as more the difference between cherry vanilla ice cream and fudge ripple gelato than apples and oranges. IMHO, and all that.
