posted
I have a question for everybody about a novel (well, it's not a novel per se, but that's another subject completely) I'm just about to wrap up. My question is about where to submit it.
You see, as near as I can tell, I don't think it actually falls under any specific genre. It's set in the future (maybe SF?) but doesn't deal with any SF stuff. No advanced technology, no aliens, mutations, nothing. Pretty much just like our time today (maybe not SF), except the world poltical state is different, which is the only reason it's set in the future. Thematically, it feels like a "literary fiction" story (I hate the term as much as you, but I don't have a better one--I'l just assume you know what I mean), but it is set in the future with a political system that has never existed in our History.
There's also some fantasy-type stuff. One very major sequence involves a mystical healer of sorts (no explanation of whether it's god's power or magic or natural laws or what that let him heal). Another pretty major sequence features a blind artist who can see into people's souls. Does that make it fantasy?
Any ideas where it might fall? Is that not enough info to figure it out?
I think it really depends on your story. Your setting is general fiction, except it is in the future. I would look at your protagonist - if he has just a slight interaction with the mystical healer, well, we have tarot today and palm readers - it doesn't make it fantasy. You might have someone trying to build a wormhole, but it doesn't make it sf if it is just his wacky neighbor who works at Berkley.
Now, if your protagonist goes on some quest based on the healer's instruction, it might fit somewhere in sf/f, perhaps of the urban variety, especially if more mystical stuff happens. If your protagonist changes based on the what the artist says about his soul, perhaps it is a type of fantasy.
I'm just throwing out thoughts - I recommend reading the definitions on the site to help you think about it!
posted
It sound's like general fiction to me. Think of the movie 'Big Fish' there was some fantastic moments but I'd call it general.
Posts: 1895 | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
On that same Idea, I've got a fantasy that needs to have space travel. it's all sword and socercy, I don't even use guns. I dearly don't want it to be brushed off by Fantasy hardliners for being sci-fi just because the 'wizards' fly between the stars. And I don't want the Sci-fi's to hate it because it has different goals.
Posts: 1895 | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
Make your travel magical then. Summon a portal that can transport you from place to place. OK, so its just a fantasy take on 'stargate', but it works!
One of my backburner ideas involves an early interstellar travel survey expedition landing on a planet and finding that there are intelligent & magical beings there. They get back to Earth after their ship is destroyed by way of a similar device.
posted
wetwilly, you set it in the future in order to speculate on a futuristic political situation? This is a scifi theme.
Posts: 3567 | Registered: May 2003
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posted
Why not just call it speculative fiction and send it to those markets. So long as where you're sending it publishes both SF and fantasy, let the editors decide what it is.
Posts: 130 | Registered: Apr 2007
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posted
On further consideration, a lot depends on how the characters feel about the setting. For example, in Brave New World the chemical makeup of soma was never explained, but all the characters took it for granted that soma was an technological product. It was not supernatural.
You said you don't explain how the mystical healer works. This means that the attitude of the characters must be your guide. If the other characters beleive the healer uses some technology, even if they don't understand the technology, I'd call it literary science fiction. But if the other characters believe the healer has supernatural powers then your story has definitely become fantasy (unless you reveal at the end that the characters were wrong, and the healer was actually using secret technology the whole time).
This is, of course, just my opinion. But opinions are all you asked for or could hope to get from this discussion. Most people will say that literary science fiction requires a certain level of stylistic flair, but anyone who claims to be qualified to judge your stylistic flair is kidding themselves.
posted
A lot of "soft" science fiction has things that are never explained, and which are basically paranormal. Philip K. Dick did this a lot (although that can probably be attributed to so many drugs he couldn't tell what was normal and what wasn't); he has a lot of characters that are psychic, for example, or prescient (e.g. The Minority Report).
Oh, and of course, there is this (it took me a while to track down this quote!)
quote:So far as genuine scientific plausibility goes, a ship's FTL Drive might just as well be a pretty woman in a white dress who lights some candles and flips tarot cards while chanting in Welsh.
quote:But if we EARTH HUMANS, and similar species, really want to demonstrate individual intelligence, we might actually try figuring the Hive Entities out, and see if we and they might have something to contribute to each other, instead of fighting pretty mindless wars with them. Don't hold your breath, though. It hasn't happened in fifty years, so far as I know.
posted
Pyre Dynasty... that sf/fantasy mix sounds like it fits into whatever genre Star Wars calls home. Laser swords and spaceships, fantastic creatures and magic. And well done (discounting the two most recent movies).
Posts: 292 | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
I find it best not to compare the two recent movies to the old ones. The old ones were classics without trying to be and the new ones are trying to be. but as themselves theyre pretty good. but that's not the issue. I suppose my Sci-Fan is sorta like star-wars. In fact the first time I wrote it it was star wars.....maybe I need to drift a little more.
Posts: 1895 | Registered: Mar 2004
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