4 ms·
More to the point, a speculative fiction (i.e. sf/fantasy/horror) should not needlessly multiply entities. If your story is about geology, or needs a particular
by dsr_ 9y ago
More to the point, a speculative fiction (i.e. sf/fantasy/horror) should not needlessly multiply entities. If your story is about geology, or needs a particular geological arrangement to explain things, then by all means mention it. But if your story can use known plate tectonics, or takes place in an Earth-analog environment where the geography you want already exists, you don't need to explain it and you shouldn't bother doing so.
(There are probably exceptions. Douglas Adams could make a lengthy digression on geology interesting, amusing, and then call back to it half a book later in order to be side-splittingly funny.)
- wolfgang42 9y agoAdams' books (and, as far as I can tell, his life) tended to be almost entirely lengthy digressions--they're practically his raison d'être. There's an anecdote in The Salmon of Doubt from his publishing editor: > There was a scene early in one book where he talked about some plates with, very definitely, one banana on each. This was obviously significant, so I asked him to explain. But he liked to tease his audience and said he'd tell me later. We eventually got to the end of the book and I asked him again, 'Okay, Douglas, what's with the bananas?' He looked at me completely blankly. He had forgotten all about the bananas. I still ask occasionally ask him if he has remembered yet, but apparently he hasn't.
- barrkel 9y agoI don't think sf / fantasy / horror genres are strongly related to "speculative fiction". Speculative means "based on conjecture", and conjecture means "formed on the basis of incomplete information". Incomplete information isn't what I think is at the heart of fantasy, and usually isn't what I think is at the heart of SF either. SF is usually a story about an idea rather than a character; it's not speculation. Fantasy is usually a heightened, exaggerated world - a world with the saturation and contrast turned right up; again, not speculation. Speculative fiction I'd place in a niche area of hard SF that is more concerned with futurism than ideas per se. That is, it's interested in predicting how today turns out with some reasonable technological advance and specifically how the world deals with that advance, whether on a global level or via a character study. As to needlessly multiplying entities, I agree, with caveats. It's related to Chekhov's gun: don't introduce elements that don't matter (and similarly, if you rely on something later on, ensure it's foreshadowed rather than parachuted in as a deus ex machina). OTOH, a close adherence to Chekhov's gun can make stories very predictable, for people who pay lots of attention to plots. And other people come for prose style, and still others for world-building; neither of which are overly concerned with omitting details.
- dsr_ 9y agoSorry, as a term of art, "speculative fiction" is pretty well established as the conglomeration of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and related fiction like fairy tales and superheroes.
- barrkel 9y agoNo more than Indians would be a term of art for native Americans.
- dsr_ 9y agoI'm sorry, but on this matter you are making a completely inapt comparison. The usage by modern fans and critics: http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/speculative_fiction http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/speculative_fiction I also refer you to all of the review series done by James Nicoll using the term as I described - http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/ http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/ There are also 34 references for you to follow in this Wikipedia article. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speculative_fiction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speculative_fiction
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]