It's a head-to-head face off! It's a writing-genre smackdown, with no holds barred.
In one corner we have Mighty SciFi, Predictor of the Future, full of aliens and robots.
In the other corner we have Ephemeral Fantasy, Creator of Worlds, replete with fairies and demons.
Science Fiction, or Scifi as we'll call him, comes out swinging, beaming lasers and brain waves at Fantasy. But Fantasy won't go down that easy. She picks up a magic wand and turns the aliens into garden weasels! She surrounds Scifi with a magic light of joy.
But Scifi is having none of that. He teleports behind Fantasy and creates a micro black hole which no magic can escape from. Fantasy struggles, weakening against the inexorable pull of the hole. But what Scifi doesn't know is that Fantasy holds a magic ring which reverses time. After singing the incantation for the ring, all the magic erupts from the hole two-fold, as well as Scifi's lost turtle, and she turns Scifi into a basket of fish and chips which the fairies happily eat.
So what's the difference between Fantasy and Science Fiction? People seem to lump them together in some kind of "F/SF" wording. It's true they are both imaginary (so is all fiction) but that's about where it stops. Fantasy needs to be put in it's one little world and leave SciFi alone. Fantasy has no rules or limits. You can write whatever you want without and limits. If you get stuck...just invent some other magic thingy and you're saved! Science Fiction needs to follow the laws of physics...whether it's the current ones or ones that are speculative. There are rules, people!
Maybe someday I'll create a completely fantastical world. But I'm going to create a set of magic rules no one has ever heard of before. How about charmed iPhones and an all-powerful DVD that can raise the dead? Cursed mouse pads and trolls that feed off CPU cycles (at night of course). Giant walking GPS receivers that can track you anywhere. Fiber optic hexes. Websites that do your laundry. Magical Love Beer. I'd better stop before I actually create something...
In one corner we have Mighty SciFi, Predictor of the Future, full of aliens and robots.
In the other corner we have Ephemeral Fantasy, Creator of Worlds, replete with fairies and demons.
Science Fiction, or Scifi as we'll call him, comes out swinging, beaming lasers and brain waves at Fantasy. But Fantasy won't go down that easy. She picks up a magic wand and turns the aliens into garden weasels! She surrounds Scifi with a magic light of joy.
But Scifi is having none of that. He teleports behind Fantasy and creates a micro black hole which no magic can escape from. Fantasy struggles, weakening against the inexorable pull of the hole. But what Scifi doesn't know is that Fantasy holds a magic ring which reverses time. After singing the incantation for the ring, all the magic erupts from the hole two-fold, as well as Scifi's lost turtle, and she turns Scifi into a basket of fish and chips which the fairies happily eat.
So what's the difference between Fantasy and Science Fiction? People seem to lump them together in some kind of "F/SF" wording. It's true they are both imaginary (so is all fiction) but that's about where it stops. Fantasy needs to be put in it's one little world and leave SciFi alone. Fantasy has no rules or limits. You can write whatever you want without and limits. If you get stuck...just invent some other magic thingy and you're saved! Science Fiction needs to follow the laws of physics...whether it's the current ones or ones that are speculative. There are rules, people!
Maybe someday I'll create a completely fantastical world. But I'm going to create a set of magic rules no one has ever heard of before. How about charmed iPhones and an all-powerful DVD that can raise the dead? Cursed mouse pads and trolls that feed off CPU cycles (at night of course). Giant walking GPS receivers that can track you anywhere. Fiber optic hexes. Websites that do your laundry. Magical Love Beer. I'd better stop before I actually create something...
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