What is "speculative fiction" ...?: ysabetwordsmith

What is "speculative fiction" ...?

glitteringlynx asked this fascinating question:

What is an example of a fictional story which would NOT qualify as speculative fiction? To rephrase the question, is there a discernable difference between fiction (a type of writing) and speculative fiction (a genre)?

I know that originally spec-fic was synonymous with sci-fi, but in my case I'm asking in reference to the more broad interpretation
which thus engulfs so many other genres.

Fiction in general is an accounting of imaginary events in our ordinary, everyday world. Known features of this world may be exaggerated, minimized, or tweaked via artistic license but may not be violated outright. Fiction is often divided into genres and subgenres to help readers find new books they will enjoy that are similar to books they have read and loved.

Speculative fiction is an accounting of events which take place in another version of reality, such as our world's future, a version of our world that has some weird twists in it, or another world altogether. Known features of this world may be present, absent, or changed radically.

Genres of fiction which are not speculative include mystery (in which a crime is described and pursued by conventional justice), romance (in which an intimate relationship bumps over obstacles on the way to union), ethnic (featuring a specific culture, its challenges and values), and historical (set in a past time and place, displaying distinctive characters and concerns of that locale).

Speculative fiction is an "umbrella" term spanning many genres or subgenres. Science fiction, at its core, describes things we know and imagines where they might go; more imaginary variations allow some very far-out additions such as humanoid aliens or time travel. Fantasy describes things which are magical and contrary to some (or all) of what we know, often stepping outside our world altogether. Horror describes abominable things, often adding macabre features to our known world and/or distorting things we customarily rely upon so that they become repellant.

Furthermore, genres can mix. I once interviewed Dennis L. McKiernan, who gave a marvelous metaphor of speculative fiction as a mountain range. Imagine one mountain with a spaceship at the top, one with unicorns and castles, and one with a haunted house and monsters. At the peak of each mountain are the most iconic stories of that genre, pure in flavor; as you move down from a peak, you begin to see things native to some other mountain(s). When you get down into the valleys, you are in the realm of "slipstream" or "interstitial" fiction that blends two or more genres. There you find such things as the science fiction romance or the alternate-history Western in which the cowboys are fighting Indians who ride dinosaurs.</font>

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janetmiles

December 13 2009, 17:56:28 UTC 11 years ago

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I have my own simplified definition, which nobody seems to like. Science fiction has electric light. Fantasy has candles. If one time-travels back to a time with candles, or both types of lighting are used, that's science-fantasy. If there's no light at all, it may be a mystery, but you can't really be certain. If it all takes place in the daytime and there's no night, well, it definitely isn't romance, but if there's horses it's probably a western.

Hee! I like this. It makes me grin, especially the last sentence, although I just read an SF mystery with horses in it. (SF because it's set in the future with tech we don't have yet, mystery because it's a police procedural, and horses because one of the witnesses has a farm outside Dallas, Texas.)

laugh

ysabetwordsmith

December 13 2009, 18:33:11 UTC 11 years ago

I love this! Thank you so much for sharing.

I find genre descriptions useful and interesting, but they are not absolutes and should not be used to limit stories or writers. I just like being able to wander into a bookstore and find big sections of books that are sort of similar, so I can browse things that are likely to appeal to me.

Re: laugh

December 13 2009, 20:48:33 UTC 11 years ago

And the cooking section is crammed with books on how to make nonfood masquerade as food, but it's still easier for me to find things I like when the cookbooks are all in one part of the store than if they were scattered randomly throughout.

I'm wondering how weblit will affect genres. I have already noticed that, while some weblit has a definite genre, some of it is stuff just aimed at telling a great story in a venue where publishers, editors, and agents can't mess with it.

dsgood

December 13 2009, 19:53:19 UTC 11 years ago

Where do you fit in utopian fiction, dystopian fiction, and technothrillers?

Also: Fiction with magic in it, written for people who believe in that particular kind of magic.

Fiction set in worlds which resemble ours, except that they don't have magic.

Well...

December 13 2009, 20:14:38 UTC 11 years ago

All of these really depend on the details.

>>Where do you fit in utopian fiction, dystopian fiction, and technothrillers?<<

Much 'topic fiction (including dystopias, pseudotopias, utopias, and eutopias) is science fiction. Some, however, is historic fiction or fantasy; some may belong to other genres.

I don't read technothrillers. I would guess they might be science fiction, perhaps the recently described subgenre of "mundane science fiction."

>>Also: Fiction with magic in it, written for people who believe in that particular kind of magic.<<

A sizable portion of this is Pagan fiction, or Pagan fantasy, depending on the amount and style of magic. Another known chunk is Christian mystic fiction. There are probably other examples.

>>Fiction set in worlds which resemble ours, except that they don't have magic.<<

Without magic, those are usually alternate history or science fiction.

morningdove3202

December 13 2009, 20:28:41 UTC 11 years ago

Speculative Fiction, to me, makes a prediction about a possible human future. I think of "Nausica Valley of the Wind", the TV show "Jericho", or even "The Perfect Storm" when I think of Speculative Fiction. The focus is not on aliens, space travel, or advanced technology. In all of these cases there is a threat to the status quo of human existence.

Yes...

December 13 2009, 20:46:06 UTC 11 years ago

Existential threats to the human species are a common trope in science fiction. (I love Nausicaa. I am a fan of Hayao Miyazaki in general.) Sadly that existential threat is no longer as fictional as it used to be. Environmental SF includes some pretty hair-raising stories, such as Overshoot and The Earth Strikes Back.

glitteringlynx

December 13 2009, 22:07:31 UTC 11 years ago

The source of my confusion was when I was looking at the website for Room magazine, because they said that they public speculative fiction, but for 2010 they want submissions for stories/poems/etc with a historical theme. They wanted ideas like if time is a circle, if our predecessors doom us, or if there's a time when historical amnesia is a good thing. They also classify Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" as the first women's spec-fic.

But you seem to think of historical and thriller as not counting.

Also, when I looked up definitions online, genres included in speculative fiction included sci-fi, fantasy, horror, dystopian (often seen as a sub-genre of sci-fi), alternative history (also often seen as a sub-genre of sci-fi), and others. Except that even stories written by authors like Catherine Cookson take place in our world in romanticised times and places, much like a lot of fantasy or sci fi.

I mean, isn't all fiction speculative in nature?

December 13 2009, 22:09:13 UTC 11 years ago

BTW, I should point out that I don't really know what genre, if any, Catherine Cookson fits. I just know her novels are the sort my mother loves to read. She likes it because it's more realisitc. She can't stand sci-fi or fantasy because she can't get her mind around it. It's too surreal for her.

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