I’m a SciFi author so I’m a little partial to the genre, but I’m a little curious why Science Fiction and Fantasy are grouped together so often. Within Amazon, they’re bundled together until you get to the lowest level of the selection tree. Within most other sites, they are placed together more often than not.
I guess I’m a purist. To me, there is a distinct difference between the two and to be honest I’m a little offended by the grouping. Don’t get me wrong I’m not putting Fantasy down, I like my share of it, but to me it is totally different. In my humble opinion, again that of a SciFi author, I think Science Fiction has more meat to it; it has more substance and concrete relevance. Yes, fantasy can explore many areas of the human condition and it perhaps can cause the reader to see some insight; but, it’s fantasy.
In my SciFi stories, I stay within some bounds of a practical nature. If I have a problem, I can’t just invent a potion. If I need evil, I’ve got to create something a little different beyond some wispy evil entity. I feel that writing fantasy gives the author too many convenient paths to put the story together.
Yes, many Scifi authors create super bombs like an atomic wristwatch to wipe out the antagonist and to be honest I think of them have crossed over to the other side and are writing more fantasy than Scifi. To me, good Scifi is about being human and seeing what it looks like in an alien form. We see something that helps define who we are just as much as the alien.
Of course well written fantasy is excellent. The fantasy author has to create a world where the parts fit together and they can still navigate through the imaginary world to connect the story elements. That is a skill all good authors need to write well.
Perhaps I’ll have to concede a point and put both genres on the same spectrum and call them on opposite ends sharing a large shadowy area in the middle. I’ll have to give in to my own argument and accept that they belong together in some way, but they are different.
What do you think? Any they the same, are they different? What is the difference, or what are the similarities?
I agree that Hard Sci-Fi attracts a different type of reader than Paranormal Romance. And Technothrillers may attract a different type of reader than Epic Fantasy. But Soft Science Fiction and Fantasy probably do share a lot of the same readership. I suspect that people who loved “Mistborn” might also love “Dune” and “Star Wars.”
I think the line could be redrawn around the different types of fans. Instead of Sci-Fi vs. Fantasy, which is loosely defined and overlaps in a lot of places, maybe it could be Fast-Paced SFF vs. Character-based SFF, or Our Universe SFF vs. Secondary World SFF.
Abby
Sorry that it took so long for me to respond, but this got buried in my email. Separating the two is difficult. I agree there is a ton of overlap. But I am one that prefers Sci-Fi and only on rare occasions do I enjoy fantasy.
I do agree there two ends to the Sci-Fi spectrum. On one end is action packed Sci-Fi and on the other end is worldbuilding like Dune. Somewhere on that line there is also the genre of speculative (future Earth) Sci-Fi.
In my books, I’m writing in all three of those genres. I have a pure Alien series called Gemini that has alien worlds, agriculture, religion, traditions etc. I have a second series that is more of a future Earth apocolypic story called SIMPOC/Virus where a good computer and bad computer confront each other. The back ground story being the end of humanity due to a very suspicious virus. The follow on to Virus/SIMPOC will be more alien technology.
Regardless, I love Sci-Fi and it’s great to read and write.
Ray Jay Perreault