Speculative Fiction
Speculative fiction encompasses many genres of fiction that include science fiction, fantasy, horror, supernatural fiction, apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, pandemic fiction, and more. For the summer, spring, and fall Salt Lake Teens Write groups, we'll explore and try out at least three different genres of speculative fiction.
The summer group will try out Fantasy! The fall group will explore and try out Horror! It's always Sci Fi in the spring!
The summer group will try out Fantasy! The fall group will explore and try out Horror! It's always Sci Fi in the spring!
Suspension of Disbelief
“...that willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith.” --Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Suspension of disbelief is a key experience for speculative fiction. It's when the writer describes a story in such a way that the reader accepts the "reality" of the world that the writer has created. This makes the reader feel like they can be fully inside of that world. That phrase, “poetic faith,” in the Coleridge quote gets at what our brain does when we both accept the world inside of a story and recognize we're in a fictional world.
What's a science fiction and/or fantasy story that made you really suspend your disbelief? How did the writer achieve this effect?
What's a science fiction and/or fantasy story that made you really suspend your disbelief? How did the writer achieve this effect?
What is Science Fiction?
Science Fiction (SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that concerns itself with "what if?" questions about humanity's relationship with technology, space exploration, possible futures based on the present, inventions, and more. Writers who work with and in science fiction use the genre to explore these questions:
- What will the future of humanity look like?
- How will people survive and live in the future? In the outer reaches of space?
- What is humanity's relationship to technology? What are our fears, desire, and anxieties surrounding emerging and possible future technologies?
- What kinds of adventures are possible?
- What are the ethics and morals surrounding the development of old and new technologies?
- What might an alien invasion look like?
- What might space exploration entail, especially in first contact experiences with alien cultures and worlds?
Sub-genres of Science Fiction
HARD SCIENCE FICTION
Stories in which explorations of humanity's relationship with technology is at the heart of the plot and meaning. The technology is often explained in explicit detail. This sub-genre of SF is usually heavy on concept through use of scientific realism. Character and plot development can offer suffer because of this.
SOFT SCIENCE FICTION Stories in character and plot are more important than the explorations of and details about technology. In this sub-genre of SF, the "how" regarding a technology doesn't matter as much as the "why" it was created and the ethics of its use.
SOCIAL SCIENCE FICTION Stories in which future societies are often metaphors or even allegories for current societies as a way to provide cultural and political commentary about the present. Satire is often heavily used in this sub-genre of SF. Scientific inquiry and technology are usually central themes and/or even characters.
LOST WORLDS The "father" of this kind of SF storytelling was Jules Verne. His "voyage extrordinares" stories are more of a kind of plot structure than a sub-genre on its own. Lost worlds focuses on journeys of re-exploration to forgotten lands. These journeys lead to scientific discovery and invention.
BIOPUNK Focusing on biotechnology, this SF sub-genre comes from cyberpunk and examines the implications and impacts of biotechnology. It's main focus tends to be synthetic biology (bio-enhancements, etc.).
STEAMPUNK This retro-futuristic sub-genre of sci fi or science fantasy is inspired by and utilizes the technology and aesthetic designs from the industrial steam-powered machinery of the 19th century. Steampunk also attempts to recapture the spirit of the work of H.G. Wells and Jules Verne while also celebrating their work.
ROBOT FICTION The creation and use of robotics are central themes in these SF tales. See Isaac Asmov's Robot series.
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AFROFUTURISM
Coined by Mark Dery in 1994, this robust version of SF has long been a part of Black and African popular culture. Afrofuturism has been and is used as a way for Black and African people to unerase their stories and re-envision possibilities for the present and future by blending together science, technology, philosophy, and the lived the experiences of the African Diaspora.
AFRICANFUTURISM Rooted in Africa and usually written by people from Africa and of African descent, this genre of Science Fiction centers on visions of and possibilities for the future with explorations on technology, leaving the earth, and usually takes an hopeful view of the future as well as of humanity's relationships with science and technology. As Nnedi Okorafor powerfully describes, Africanfuturism is "...less concerned with 'what could have been' and more concerned with 'what is and can/will be. It acknowledges, grapples with and carries 'what has been.'"
Aliens loom large and threatening in these SF stories. Invasion stories entail an alien species' attempt to invade the Earth through political subversion, military conquest, or mass extermination.
The existence of alien life or humanity's (often governmental or military) interaction with alien intelligences is kept secret from the public are the plot of these SF stories.
PARALLEL UNIVERSES These stories involve at least one other world or universe that is much like our own but also different in sometimes slight or markedly different ways. Theory time: this theory argues that parallel universes contain an infinite number of alternate worlds.
TIME TRAVEL SF stories in which the character(s) travel into the past or future. Can include elements of "alternate history" and "parallel worlds" SF sub-genres.
ALTERNATE HISTORY There's some debate in the Sci Fi, Fantasy, and Historical fiction communities about this is a branch of the speculative fiction. However, we're including it in Sci Fi because alternate history stories are set in a world in which history has taken a different course. Can include a mixture of elements from "parallel universes" and "lost worlds."
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DYSTOPIAN FICTION
Opposite of utopian fiction, dystopian fiction centers oppressive political, economic, and cultural systems, as well as life in a police state. Dystopian societies are ones in which freedoms are limited for the vast majority of the population. Morality and ethics have been corrupted, often by those at the top of the political and economic ladders.
MILITARY SCIENCE FICTION These SF stories contain military themes. At least a few central characters are usually members of a military for ce. The plot and settings often involve war, the experiences of war. These stories also tend to explore heroism, betrayal by one's country or community, duty, honor, disillusionment, etc. as themes.
CYBERPUNK SF that features advanced technology and science in urban settings and dystopian futures. There's often a lot of social commentary on the unethical behavior of giant corporations and private security or military forces while the rest of the world lives in a dangerous underworld.
SPACE WESTERN SF where there is a future society born in space and/or during interplanetary/inter-galaxy travel that is represented as very much like that of the American West. Lawlessness and a culture of trading and exploration are often parts of the plots and themes.
RETRO FUTURISM Retro futurism seeks to recapture the spirit of what has been called ‘the golden age of science fiction’ as developed by writers from the 1950s.
SLIPSTREAM This is a postmodern sub-genre of SF that blurs and blends the boundaries between fantasy, sci fi, and more mainstream literature. There's a lot of heated debate about whether or not this is even a sub-genre of sci fi Slipstream’s tendency toward the absurd is sometimes seen to be at odds with mainstream science fiction.
DIESEL PUNK Similar to steampunk, this sub-genre combines postmodern sensibilities about progress, industrial technology of Tier 2 capitalism, the diesel-based technology of the interwar period of the 1930s and 1940s, and retro-futuristic settings and themes.
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