My theme this year is blogging about my author brand. Tuesdays are posts on Speculative Fiction.
Finding Out About Speculative Fiction
What is Speculative Fiction? My local Barnes & Noble doesn't have a section with that name. It doesn't have a genre category on Amazon. Does it even exist?
"Speculative fiction is a broad category of fiction encompassing genres with certain elements that do not exist in the real world, often in the context of supernatural, futuristic or other imaginative themes. These include, but are not limited to, science fiction, fantasy, horror, superhero fiction, alternate history, utopian and dystopian fiction, and supernatural fiction, as well as combinations thereof." - Wikipedia -Speculative Fiction
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| There's a new, more colorful version at annieneugebauer.com |
There are images showing what it is. Diagrams that list a few examples. An excellent blog article about it states:
"Speculative fiction is any fiction in which the “laws” of that world (explicit or implied) are different than ours."
https://annieneugebauer.com/2014/03/24/what-is-speculative-fiction/
One runs into some debates where a reader suggests the "speculative" part could be true. The ancient gods might walk among us, a zombie breakout could happen tomorrow, 👽 and there's no concrete evidence that alien life doesn't exist somewhere. Ah, but 🤔, to qualify for the Speculative Fiction umbrella, the story only needs to be different from the current laws or rules that the majority of people accept at the time of publication.
In other words, you just need enough people to believe it the story world has a fictional element.
Want to try turning your speculative fiction setting into a character?
I remember when I first ran into the term and had no idea what is meant at all (I think it may have been on an agent's website) - thank heavens for Google, although I do find that even after only 10 years, there is much more information about genres and definitions out there now.
ReplyDeleteTasha 💖
Virginia's Parlour - The Manor (Adult concepts - nothing explicit in posts)
Tasha's Thinkings - Vampire Drabbles
Yeah, I had stumbled upon it one day and was like, "Oh, this is how I've spent my life. Didn't know there was a word..."
DeleteMy daughter in law’s writing sounds like it could be in this category- very informative post!
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed it!
DeleteI like the diagrams explaining the genre :-)
ReplyDeleteAn A-Z of Faerie: Furies
Yeah. That's a great site with those.
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