/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.3991912]

Ok, I got several questions that will likely kick up a hornet's nest in here but they have been bugging me, so here I go.

1. How do you define the boundaries between things like : Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Science Fiction, Science Fantasy, Fantasy, (and any other big ones I may have missed along those lines) ?

2. I have seen many conflicting versions of The Mohs Scale Of Science Fiction Hardness. What key elements do you use when making distinctions?
(Is consistency an element here or does it apply to all stories?)

3. Where do you put Psionics in these things?
Does it break down differently by sub powers like Telepathy, Empathy, Telekinesis(Psychokinesis), Teleportation, Pyrokinesis, if so how?
Do you see Psionics = Magic?

Lastly I do not want to turn into a ya or nay poll, I want this to be a discussion to better understand WHY we categorizes these the way we do. As it seems to have a significant impact of how the reader expectations are formed and that can make or break some books. (Also I see this more about story elements. So other medians can be covered from this angle, but be sure to label it and consider what median is used as it does further effect the public expectations.) Thanks and let the civil discussion begin!

[Anonymous No.3991915]

1. You don't.

2. None, because you can't box imagination.

3. Idunno, read a book that has that shit in it.

Only boring losers with nothing more interesting to worry about bother with categorizations.

[Anonymous No.3991923]

>>3991912
My impulse is to go with >>3991915. But you do have a good point with
>it seems to have a significant impact of how the reader expectations are formed and that can make or break some books
...it seems pretty much an inevitable product of the publishing industry. But ideally we should be able to ignore the boundaries.

[Anonymous No.3991925]

>>3991917
Oops, 4chanx didn't update the thread thing.

1. I'd say it's arbitrary but there are certain conventions. Scifi is speculative, so is a lot of fantasy. But most of fantasy and a LOT of scifi is just genre schlock, which can be fine but it isn't speculative lit.

The only problems really arise when stuffy cunts say that scifi isn't "proper speculative lit" or something, usually because they've never read Stapledon or gotten off their high horse to appreciate the legitimate philosophical content of an Aasimov story.

3. Depends on the setting, but usually as "the other magic" when I've seen it depicted. It's not magic, but it mechanically works like it for sake of ease and rules-devising.

[Anonymous No.3991943]

1.You don't.

Genre is only used to describe a general response that is common to many people at a given time. What was cutting edge knowledge 600 years ago is laughable and used only for context of understanding and history now.

The same is true for any work, really. What might have been a scary movie for many people 50 years ago might be laughable to us today. In that sense genre can only be used to describe the opinions of a majority set of people

[Anonymous No.3993631]

>>3991923
Ditto