One quick and easy way to differentiate between SF and Fantasy.

[Scifi fan]

Science fiction has electronic gadgets, but fantasy does not. Or, to put it another way, science fiction takes place after the industrial revolution, but not fantasy.

What's your quick and easy way to differentiate between the two?

 

[Culhwch]

Ah, but what about urban fantasy? Post-Industrial Revolution and electronics a-plenty...

 

[Scifi fan]

I was thinking about that, but I don't really know much about it. I was thinking more of epic fantasy or the likes of Thieves World, as opposed to Star Trek and Star Wars.

I suppose another dividing line is magic - SF doesn't seem to have magic, but fantasy does. Then, if so, how do you explain the Force in SW?

 

[The Procrastinator]

Hmm, I don't know, I've read a few books that have an overall fantasy feel but also include a touch of SF, including gadgets. Being a shades of grey person myself I'd say why bother differentiating anyway?

 

[Scifi fan]

Being a shades of grey person myself I'd say why bother differentiating anyway?

No reason - just a trying to start a thought-provoking discussion, that's all. I am enjoying my time here, because I'm learning about literature and other things.

 

[j d worthington]

A lot of attempts have been made to draw a hard-and-fast line between the two, but the history of the genre(s) doesn't really allow of that. There's also the hybrid genre science fantasy, exemplified by the likes (at least at times) of A. Merritt, H. P. Lovecraft, C. L. Moore, Andre Norton, Rod Serling, Michael Moorcock, etc....

 

[Scifi fan]

I used to read a lot of Andre Norton, and I think he does blend the two genres nicely. I agree there's no hard and fast definition, and there shouldn't be, because literature should be flexible, to allow writers to play with concepts.

But, if there was to be a division, I'd say that SF uses electronics and Fantasy doesn't.

 

[gully_foyle]

I'd say SF uses electronics, whereas fantasy uses dwarves.

 

[Omphalos]

A lot of attempts have been made to draw a hard-and-fast line between the two, but the history of the genre(s) doesn't really allow of that. There's also the hybrid genre science fantasy, exemplified by the likes (at least at times) of A. Merritt, H. P. Lovecraft, C. L. Moore, Andre Norton, Rod Serling, Michael Moorcock, etc....

Oh, sure it does. Everyone under the sun has their own little ways of categorizing books and movies. One method wont work for everything, so all we have to do is invent new terms, like "steampunk" and things like that. But the fact is that most of everything in either genre can be easily categorized, so I'd say on the whole that the genres do allow for that. Its just a relative minority of odd balls we have to work with to nail down, and even when we can't easily do so, trying is fun.

 

[J-Sun]

I used to read a lot of Andre Norton, and I think he does blend the two genres nicely.

She.

567

 

[Saeltari]

I find it fairly easy; if it stinks it's Sci Fi, if it's good it's fantasy...

(yes, I am a fantasy fan, why do you ask?)

For those of you who have read this far and didn't just go off at the first sentence, I think fantasy tends to have 'magic' where sci-fi tends to have 'psychic' or scientifically based magic... although that doesn't always work as a point of difference either.

 

[katiafish]

Why differentiate? If you wanna be a planet-hopping-rocket-booster-magic-fairy, why not? I like them both just as much as each other, its like choosing which child is a favorite.

 

[Connavar]

Oh, sure it does. Everyone under the sun has their own little ways of categorizing books and movies. One method wont work for everything, so all we have to do is invent new terms, like "steampunk" and things like that. But the fact is that most of everything in either genre can be easily categorized, so I'd say on the whole that the genres do allow for that. Its just a relative minority of odd balls we have to work with to nail down, and even when we can't easily do so, trying is fun.

Yeah you are right but im really sick of people in SFF having the need to give new name to everything. New Wierd ? Come on why not still just be Wierd. Its not really new blending old stuff with few different things.

To me there is SF and Fantasy and some that blend both like Science Fantasy. The rest of the so called names can go to ****.

 

[Culhwch]

How about we just re-name the whole shebang 'Sciantasy'?

 

[Who's Wee Dug]

Well if you look at it this way,SF is probable if not now some time in the future(look what has been achieved so far) Fantasy is inprobable ie a dream or a what if once upon a time. I read both but more Fantasy always have done, the first stories were tales told around the camp fire that can never be changed.

 

[Saeltari]

I wouldn't rule out 'fantasy', it's never been 'scientifically' disproven...

 

[j d worthington]

Oh, sure it does. Everyone under the sun has their own little ways of categorizing books and movies. One method wont work for everything, so all we have to do is invent new terms, like "steampunk" and things like that. But the fact is that most of everything in either genre can be easily categorized, so I'd say on the whole that the genres do allow for that. Its just a relative minority of odd balls we have to work with to nail down, and even when we can't easily do so, trying is fun.

While there are individual pieces which can be so categorized, the genres themselves are not so easy to pin down. They bleed into each other, and almost always have (at least since the days of Poe, Mary Shelley, and Bulwer-Lytton). This is a healthy thing, by the way, as any branch of literature which becomes too rigid quickly becomes inspissated and cliché-ridden to the point of losing any value whatsoever except as fodder for parody (if one can keep a straight face in maintaining that it doesn't already parody itself....). A good case in point is Dune, which blurs the boundaries quite successfully; as does Heinlein's "Waldo" (not to mention "--All Your Zombies--" or Pratt and de Camp's Carnelian Cube or the Harold Shea stories).

However, this isn't to say that such categorization doesn't have its uses; but they are quite limited and almost always open to debate. As I've said before, when it comes to literature, a too-rigid taxonomy quickly mutates into taxidermy, and should be avoided like the plague. As long as fantastic fiction remains so, it remains a healthy kid booting over the traces and being quite properly obstreperous....

 

[Omphalos]

I agree that its healthy, and that it certianly has its uses. Marketing reasons alone make these distinctions valueable. I like to see what I am buying before I plunk down for a new book. But I think that the more sub-genres that we have, the more inventive authors will become within them. And if you have only one or two (for example, SF and fantasy) things will become too boring. People naturally want to branch out and try new things. Experimentation leads to new masterpieces. But still, most books, IMHO, that come out can be easily categorized into some established subgenre.

As for the genres themselves? I think they can be defined, and I dont really worry too much if there are some fuzzy edges to them. A genre is what you make it. If a book that comes along does not fit into it, then its easy enough to say that it either straddles genres, or sits in a new one. I get what you are saying: SF, for example, is hard to define on paper. But for me, SF is like pornography: I know it when I see it. Dune for example, is not in my opinion SF. Its Science Fantasy (another kind of "SF" I guess ).

 

[ratsy]

I'd say SF uses electronics, whereas fantasy uses dwarves.

I am going to write a book about Dwarves using Electronics and then where will we be in this conversation?

 

[Scifi fan]

I am going to write a book about Dwarves using Electronics and then where will we be in this conversation?

We all agree that it's a fuzzy definition, and many stories do cross the boundaries, and for good reason. I would welcome your story on Dwarves using electronics - explain, for example, how magic and science interact with each other during the medieval ages.