Other than just fiction, what would this be?

[DarknessofHeavenandDreams]

What if you have a story about a completely different world, but there's no magic (or force, or bending, or technobabble, or whatever pilgrims have in the Wing Commander movie). What do you call it (in terms of genre)?

[Alberic of Krufton]

Depends. Is it a world related to our own, (alternate history, or sci-fi if it's a future human colony) or does it have its own continuity? As in, it just Is?

No real way to classify it, other than what genre fits the storyline itself. (For example, bildungsroman, mystery, adventure, political, et cetera.)

Genre doesn't matter much unless you're a publisher.

[DarknessofHeavenandDreams]

Alberic of Krufton

Depends. Is it a world related to our own, (alternate history, or sci-fi if it's a future human colony) or does it have its own continuity? As in, it just Is?

The last one.

Alberic of Krufton

No real way to classify it, other than what genre fits the storyline itself. (For example, bildungsroman, mystery, adventure, political, et cetera.)

Explain, please

[Alberic of Krufton]

DarknessofHeavenandDreams

Explain, please

Fancy name for a kind of coming of age story.

Been trying to think of examples of stories that take place in an "elsewhere" and what they're classified as... Have a handful of Gaia writers in mind who just write "this or that" genre that happens to use a 100% completely fictional setting.

In published lit, I think a lot of it falls under, say, Fantasy, even if it doesn't feature much (or any) magic. Augh, this requires some research, I'm having a time coming up with examples...

Why are you concerned with genre, just out of curiosity?

[DarknessofHeavenandDreams]

Alberic of Krufton

Why are you concerned with genre, just out of curiosity?

Mostly because when I ask for help I start with genre ('I am writing a fantasy novel and [insert problem here]) to give possible helpers a vague idea of what kind of world they are helping me with.

[Alberic of Krufton]

From a glance through some relevant pages, my impression is that most of the time, genre has more to do with the content of the story than merely its setting. Genre can be based on your audience, or who the main character is, the tone of the story, what happens over the course of the novel, the reason behind writing the novel in the first place...

Haven't found anything that separates stories by whether they occur on Earth or a place other than Earth, which is probably just a well because there are so many other options that give a less general view of the plot.

You may as well say, "I'm writing an adventure/satire/Western/et cetera set on another world," if you want a way to describe it to people who want to help.

I dunno, hybrid genres can be a pain. I'm working on just one setting that can be classified as low sci-fi / social fiction / tragedy / bildungsroman / adventure / political / quasi-paranormal / travel fic...

[DarknessofHeavenandDreams]

Alberic of Krufton

I dunno, hybrid genres can be a pain. I'm working on just one setting that can be classified as low sci-fi / social fiction / tragedy / bildungsroman / adventure / political / quasi-paranormal / travel fic...

All my stuff tends to be hybrids... neutral

[Alberic of Krufton]

DarknessofHeavenandDreams

All my stuff tends to be hybrids... neutral

For some reason, Science Fiction and Existentialism tend to go hand-in-hand for me, especially in short stories...

But, I figure mixing and matching makes things interesting. 3nodding A Space Opera Action Comedy Mockumentary? Yes please.

[Sir Icehawk]

Speculative Fiction.

That's about all I can come up with. It's general enough that it should work fine for now.

[Miz Lina]

Sir Icehawk

Speculative Fiction.

That's about all I can come up with. It's general enough that it should work fine for now.

But doesn't spec fiction also have to do with how it's written? For example, setting, say, Catcher in the Rye in another world would not have been enough to classify it as speculative fiction. Or at least, that's how I saw it.

Or am I thinking experimental...?

[Nikomikiri]

DarknessofHeavenandDreams

Alberic of Krufton

I dunno, hybrid genres can be a pain. I'm working on just one setting that can be classified as low sci-fi / social fiction / tragedy / bildungsroman / adventure / political / quasi-paranormal / travel fic...

All my stuff tends to be hybrids... neutral

Nothing wrong with that, it just means it would probably appeal to a wider audience.

[Sir Icehawk]

Miz Lina

Sir Icehawk

Speculative Fiction.

That's about all I can come up with. It's general enough that it should work fine for now.

But doesn't spec fiction also have to do with how it's written? For example, setting, say, Catcher in the Rye in another world would not have been enough to classify it as speculative fiction. Or at least, that's how I saw it.

Or am I thinking experimental...?

It all has to do with how it's written, what is written, and all. We're just going off one sentence, so it's not a lot to work with.

Not that the label matters at all for no. The people who would help answer questions, develop an idea, and all I really doubt care what label is used nor would they allow it to stop them from helping. They'd read what's provided and see what they can do.

[DarknessofHeavenandDreams]

I thought speculative fiction had to speculate on something.

[Miz Lina]

Are there any other elements in the story or setting that would help to classify it as sci-fi? For example, is there any technology unlike what we have, an altered timeline, even the possibility of time or space travel to have gotten the story to where it is from where we are now? Sci-fi as a genre has expanded considerably, people are arguing that even TV shows like Being Human and the X-Men franchise can be considered sci-fi.

[DarknessofHeavenandDreams]

Miz Lina

Are there any other elements in the story or setting that would help to classify it as sci-fi? For example, is there any technology unlike what we have, an altered timeline, even the possibility of time or space travel to have gotten the story to where it is from where we are now? Sci-fi as a genre has expanded considerably, people are arguing that even TV shows like Being Human and the X-Men franchise can be considered sci-fi.

The tech cap is 1450, so there's nothing we haven't seen (in history; I doubt people here have even threatened by a catapult). It's not earth and isn't affiliated with Earth, so it's not another timeline.

I don't think Being human is Sci-fi (though I only know of it peripherally form my boyfriend), but X-men has tons of sci-fi.