Sci-fi compared to Fantasy?

[naosu]

So... I was wondering how do you transition to writing sci-fi from fantasy?

I wasn't giving up on fantasy. I'm still not also.

But I tried to do some sci-fi writing recently. And WOW> Its way different than writing for fantasy. I had a mental block first just trying to even figure out how to go forward. I don't get the mental block with fantasy, but I'm used to writing fantasy. But for sci-fi its like... how do you start?

Any suggestions on this?

...

And I thought watching... certain sci-fi series recently might help with this. Ironically they don't help that much in part because certain starship shows do too many episodes of stuff that is just weird. Its not even a good plot. I'm not saying every episode is bad. But sometimes they'll do episodes on stuff that doesn't make sense. Like... OK on that 1 new show they decided some kind of time space bug had everyone in the episode singing and like it was a musical. That shows how badly there's a niche for new sources of Sci-fi stuff. The singing episode breaks the plot and doesn't feel logical. So after you get a few laughs you are thinking... that doesn't make sense.

The singing musical episode reference; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subspace_Rhapsody

 

[AYM]

1. Quantum → Magical
2. Energy → Mana, Qi
3. Superalloy, Unobtainium → Adamantium, Mithril, Hihi'irokane
4. Add dragons
5. Add elves and make them a tribe of insufferable bow-humping vegetarians

 

[expentio]

I think just as in fantasy, an underlying understanding of your universe's foundation is required. Far more than a magical system in fantasy, you need to be able to explain what your scientific concepts base on. Be it teleporters, engines, weapons, all of this will be far more u to scrutiny than magic because you basically claim that it's science and not magic. You can't just say "Laser go boom", because for once, lasers don't have an explosive quality, and for the other, you need to state how it's able to fire. What's its energy source? How is energy transmitted? What makes it strong enough to do more damage over far greater distances than the usual laser?
The more important an element, the more you'll need to deliver.

Another point would be society.
How are your characters changed by this scientific world? How would they have developed based on their daily life in this world? How would history have been up to the point your character comes into play (if you're showing the future, profound understanding of the relative past that led to it is key)? Context is important.

Last but not least, don't forget everyday elements. What would everyday items be made of? Would they still be plastic or a carbon polymer? Did food change? What about clothes? Depending on how advanced your world is, you need to narrate the things that makes it sciency, so to say. If your world is just like ours, just with another time stamp it's hardly science fiction.

Those are at least my views on it. But I write fantasy, so what do I know?

 

[naosu]

Thank you both. You had good points. The pic of the pink shirt guy is funny too.

And...all that time watching Star Trek... I didn't know quantum was translation to techmagic?

 

[RepresentingWrath]

If you are an autist, all you have to do is to substitute magic with science, mana with some kind of energy, for example, electircity, and you are ready to go. If you aren't autistic, lots of research.

 

[sam9501]

Im not really a writer, but personally I believe there there are a lot of different types of sci-fi, and these groups are a lot farther apart from each other then fantasy-esk groups. I grew up watching Star Wars and didn’t really enjoy Star Trek. Im a big fan of Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Crest if the Stars, some Gundam. All of these are sci-fi related but I wouldn’t say they are all the same.

I think focusing on a specific type of sci-fi might help you keep track of the story in your mind, but it might limit the readership to those of only a specific group. IDK, maybe its something to think about.

 

[CarburetorThompson]

Sci-fi fantasy is also a genre

 

[Cipiteca396]

Like... OK on that 1 new show they decided some kind of time space bug had everyone in the episode singing and like it was a musical. That shows how badly there's a niche for new sources of Sci-fi stuff. The singing episode breaks the plot and doesn't feel logical. So after you get a few laughs you are thinking... that doesn't make sense.

How DARE you. Musical episodes are a tradition beyond traditions. You literally can't have a good episodic series without at least one musical episode.
jk

how do you transition to writing sci-fi from fantasy?

To be honest, there's a lot of overlap in sci-fi and fantasy. They're usually both what's called Speculative Fiction.
A classic sci-fi story takes a concept like [Faster Than Light] travel and asks, "How would society change if this concept was introduced?"

What are the logistics of using this concept? Where does it come from? Is it easy to obtain? Do they need to do something unethical for it?
How willing are people to make use of the concept? Are there religious/cultural issues? Do corpos want to monetize it so almost nobody can use it?
Does using the concept have benefits or demerits to society as a whole or as pieces?

The important part is asking questions. For Science fiction, the answers should be reasonably logical. Handwaving is frowned upon, but not entirely forbidden.

I had a mental block first just trying to even figure out how to go forward

Which makes the next bit of advice counterintuitive. Don't overthink it too much. Personally, I think the large scale is the fun part, but if you're having a block, focus on the plot, the main character, and the concept. Make the scale as small as you can. If you're only using the bare minimum, then there's no point writing out all the other stuff. (Until you want to!)

 

[Rezcore]

Technology of sufficient advancement is indistinguishable from magic

 

[BigBadBoi]

Add psychic users. Also mechs. If you're not adding emchd in scifi then there's no point.

 

[AYM]

SHIT. THE TOPIC WAS THE OTHER WAY AROUND.

1. Magic → Quantum, Exotic
2. Mana, Qi → Energy
3. Adamantium, Mithril, Hihi'irokane → Superalloy, Unobtainium, Nanocarbon
4. Psychic, Spirit → Psionic
5. Heal Magic, Health Potions, Recovery Pills → Injectable Healing Nanobots, Medical Pod
6. Forbidden Pill Doping → Experimental Super-Soldier Serum Doping
7. Body Tempering Arts → Bionic Enhancements, Super-Solder Program, Genetic Editing
8. Teleportation → Space Gateways, Wormholes, FTL Technology
9. Golems, Puppets → Androids, Artificial Superintelligence, Powered Exoskeletons, Powered Armor, Mech
10. Succubi → E-Girls
11. Bows → Guns, Energy Guns
12. Guns → Larger Guns, Faster Guns, Energy Guns, Larger Faster Energy Guns
13. Swords → Laser Swords
14. Defense Magic, Barrier, Formations → Point Defense System, Energy Field
15. Dragons → Space Dragons
16. A tribe of insufferable bow-humping vegetarian elves worshipping a world tree → An unlifted Stone Age tribe of naturally psionically-gifted insufferable bow-humping vegetarian natives worshipping a large psionically-gifted arboreal lifeform

 

[Cipiteca396]

SHIT. THE TOPIC WAS THE OTHER WAY AROUND.

1. Magic → Quantum, Exotic
2. Mana, Qi → Energy
3. Adamantium, Mithril, Hihi'irokane → Superalloy, Unobtainium, Nanocarbon
4. Psychic, Spirit → Psionic
5. Heal Magic, Health Potions, Recovery Pills → Injectable Healing Nanobots, Medical Pod
6. Forbidden Pill Doping → Experimental Super-Soldier Serum Doping
7. Body Tempering Arts → Bionic Enhancements, Super-Solder Program, Genetic Editing
8. Teleportation → Space Gateways, Wormholes, FTL Technology
9. Golems, Puppets → Androids, Artificial Superintelligence, Powered Exoskeletons, Powered Armor, Mech
10. Succubi → E-Girls
11. Bows → Guns, Energy Guns
12. Guns → Larger Guns, Faster Guns, Energy Guns, Larger Faster Energy Guns
13. Swords → Laser Swords
14. Defense Magic, Barrier, Formations → Point Defense System, Energy Field
15. Dragons → Space Dragons
16. A tribe of insufferable bow-humping vegetarian elves worshipping a world tree → An unlifted Stone Age tribe of naturally psionically-gifted insufferable bow-humping vegetarian natives worshipping a large psionically-gifted arboreal lifeform

View attachment 37756

The reversed gif really sells it.

 

[Deleted member 84247]

AYM cooked everything I'd say, but I'm also autistic.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

You don't. Sci Fi and Fantasy are closely related, at least in terms of themes and "tactics"; just different skins is all.

 

[beast_regards]

It depends how you define "sci-fi" or rather, how much anal you are what "science fiction" is supposed to be.

The purist (and smarta**es) often say that science-fiction is about the impact of technology on society / people, while fantasy is often about the adventure in the fantastic (duh) environments.

...which, ironically, makes not only Star Wars, but also Star Trek a fantasy. A science fantasy, but fantasy nevertheless.

And that's before the categories like "hard sci-fi" and "soft sci-fi" come to mind.

Alternatively, you could argue (like others do) that sci-fi is merely the fiction where the fantastical is explained by the technology as opposed to metaphysical / mystical forces in fantasy, and the difference between the two is either through (story's) context or through label given by the marketing.

 

[Bartun]

 

[Anonjohn20]

So... I was wondering how do you transition to writing sci-fi from fantasy?

I wasn't giving up on fantasy. I'm still not also.

But I tried to do some sci-fi writing recently. And WOW> Its way different than writing for fantasy. I had a mental block first just trying to even figure out how to go forward. I don't get the mental block with fantasy, but I'm used to writing fantasy. But for sci-fi its like... how do you start?

Any suggestions on this?

...

And I thought watching... certain sci-fi series recently might help with this. Ironically they don't help that much in part because certain starship shows do too many episodes of stuff that is just weird. Its not even a good plot. I'm not saying every episode is bad. But sometimes they'll do episodes on stuff that doesn't make sense. Like... OK on that 1 new show they decided some kind of time space bug had everyone in the episode singing and like it was a musical. That shows how badly there's a niche for new sources of Sci-fi stuff. The singing episode breaks the plot and doesn't feel logical. So after you get a few laughs you are thinking... that doesn't make sense.

The singing musical episode reference; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subspace_Rhapsody

Sci-fi likes to get very technical about the technologies in the universe, explaining how their made-up devices have made-up parts and function with made-up science to have a made-up effect. In fantasy, as long as it makes sense within the universe, there is no need to sweat the small details; just move on. It's why Star Wars is space fantasy rather than sci-fi.

"How does the Force work?"

"Midichlorians."

"What are midichlorians, and how do they work?"

"It just does, okay! Don't worry about it."

The only time it starts to resemble sci-fi is when talking about fixing a ship.

 

[Nahrenne]

So... I was wondering how do you transition to writing sci-fi from fantasy?

I wasn't giving up on fantasy. I'm still not also.

But I tried to do some sci-fi writing recently. And WOW> Its way different than writing for fantasy. I had a mental block first just trying to even figure out how to go forward. I don't get the mental block with fantasy, but I'm used to writing fantasy. But for sci-fi its like... how do you start?

Any suggestions on this?

...

And I thought watching... certain sci-fi series recently might help with this. Ironically they don't help that much in part because certain starship shows do too many episodes of stuff that is just weird. Its not even a good plot. I'm not saying every episode is bad. But sometimes they'll do episodes on stuff that doesn't make sense. Like... OK on that 1 new show they decided some kind of time space bug had everyone in the episode singing and like it was a musical. That shows how badly there's a niche for new sources of Sci-fi stuff. The singing episode breaks the plot and doesn't feel logical. So after you get a few laughs you are thinking... that doesn't make sense.

The singing musical episode reference; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subspace_Rhapsody

Why not mix the two genres together and write an Interstellar Guideverse?
Have mecha, space monsters, alien civilisations, fast-healing serums, nano-bot techonology, holo-tech, etc...

It could let you dip your toes into the sci-fi genre while still have some of the comfort of the fantasy.
Or, instead of it being a Guideverse, it could be that the MC's civilisation has developed a serum that enhances people's genes and bodies. Or injected with nano-bots that give them superhuman strength, the ability to hack technology mentally, etc...

Maybe try watching some sci-fi/interstellar anime series for a different kind of inspiration. Though, most tend to have a lot of tragedy incorporated.
There's also the [Mass Effect] game series you could use as inspiration. As well as several other games of that genre.

X

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Sci-Fi is built on believed scientific principles at the time of its writing. Fantasy rarely worries about that.
For example, stuff like E. E. "Doc" Smith's Skylark series looks more like Fantasy (or "Science Fantasy" given the presence of galaxy-hopping starships) today, but were based on what was believed scientifically possible at the time he wrote it - that humans would develop psionic abilities that could reorder space itself, due partly to the belief that only ten percent of the human brain is used by most people (which is not true - only 8-15% is involved in ACTIVE thought, but the rest of the brain regulates all sorts of bodily functions, processes stuff in the background, and is essentially a little, slimy gray busybody), so "logically" we would "evolve" to do more with it (this theory, though debunked in the 70s, was the basis for the movie Lucy a few years ago).

 

[Deleted member 192215]

Magic = Alternative Science, and Math?
Sci-fi = Adding a true fictional technology to change Society? (A what if)