While working on a science fiction novel, I knew that there would be different approaches to the worldbuilding than fantasy but the approach feels a lot more arduous in a sense. Where fantasy worlds often revolve around a sense of logic to how people approach things, science fiction universes feel like they require more worldbuilding that’s ground in what sounds scientifically correct. It’s still the concept of speculative fiction so it doesn’t have to be perfectly scientifically accurate, but enough so that someone reading it wouldn’t stop to say that something is flat out wrong. Fantasy is a bit more forgiving as the concept of magic is rather nebulous and allows for a lot of suspension of disbelief, but science fiction often doesn’t get that luxury.
I’ve been thinking about this for a while, remembering the examples of science fiction stories I’ve read that weren’t just fantasy in space, and trying to think about what makes it truly different. One thing that comes to mind is that there is often no magic system or, if there is, it’s a very seldom used form of magic that has a detailed explanation to it. Often I’ve seen magic used in the form of psychic powers instead and even these powers are often limited to very tame uses of that power. A lot of the time, the characters have to rely on being clever or discovering some kind of technological breakthrough that gives them an edge. I’m not saying one is better than the other, but more that the way the stories are told are often very different because of that.
The environment of these stories is also incredibly varied in a very different way than fantasy is. Fantasy is often diverse in it’s magic system and cultural influences. Most of the time, it’s quite clear where inspirations are drawn from as they reference real life cultures to a certain extent even if things are changed to be their own unique thing. Science fiction does sometimes draw cultural references from real life places, but often it’s more nebulous and undefined in that context. The one thing that is usually the most common aspect is that it is farther in the future where I’ve noticed it’s assumed to be so different from current reality. There is usually a main focus on the scientific advancement of humanity but not necessarily the cultural advancement. I think this is often to avoid the notion that certain cultures survived into the future while others didn’t. The implication of such a thing would be, in the most charitable sense, unintentionally offensive. Though this is also incredibly different when Earth isn’t the basis of the story, though most of the science fiction stories I’ve seen usually has Earth as the base planet.
There is a sense of “this feels plausible” that I think science fiction often tries to make sure it has. Because science fiction often focuses on technological advancements and a forward push of society to the future that feels tangible. It’s something that I think science fiction often strives for, that it creates the feeling that this could possibly happen in the far future. How we get there might not be immediately clear, creating this ambiguous time gap where anything can happen to get us there. It’s often interesting that there are so many ways to approach this. In some stories, humanity has travelled through space and expanded human civilizations across the stars while in other stories some kind of apocalypse has occurred and humanity is rebuilding though with their already accumulated knowledge but lack of resources. I find the latter stories more interesting as it showcases humanity’s resourcefulness and resilience which is inspiring and easy to find yourself rooting for.
I think there’s a lot of potential to explore so many different types of stories in science fiction, but there’s things to consider that make science fiction it’s own unique genre. Science fiction and fantasy fall under the umbrella of speculative fiction but both are quite different and require a different approach to really make the most of them. Science fiction fantasy is something I haven’t seen too common, but it might be something I explore a bit more to see if it fits the kind of stories I want to tell. But I think for the current story I’m working on, I’m very excited to explore science fiction as a genre as best I can.
Raph's Cozy Musings 