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How does science fiction as a literary 'genre' distinguish itself from fantasy? Posted by parkerlee on Nov 19, 2008. |
Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature Group
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Science Fiction is usually about the future. The stories and novels usually involve space ships, future technology and futuristic concepts. I have found that "fantasy" is more about faeries, witches, wizards, Fae, and goblins. In the Fantasy genre the stories usually are epic, often covering several volumes and a great deal of time. This of course is not always true, but generally speaking fantasy is about the past cultures. Many of my students love fantasy, and stories about dragons, wizards etc., but will not even pick up a Sci-fi book. I think Orson Scott Card said that SciFi is based on real world laws (i.e. physics), where Fantasy the writer can create their own law in their own universe. It doesn't preclude mixing, but one will have to be the dominate rule. A lot of fantasy does seem to also focus on magic or powers, where SciFi has a lot of technology, especially space travel. Posted by ladyvols1 on Nov 19, 2008. |
