Other than just fiction, what would this be?

[Miz Lina]

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.

And it's definitely not a variation of steampunk/clockpunk, as I'm sure you'd have picked up on that yourself.
Aside from magic, what about fantastical elements? Non-human characters, fairytale elements, hell even a "royal bloodline" style rulership?

Also, I'm pretty skeptical as to the sci-fi-ness of Being Human myself, but my fiance, who's a self-professed sci-fi geek, has claimed it as sci-fi territory, so I'm not going to argue. The one time I did try to point out that the inclusion of vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, and Fae did not make it sci-fi, he pulled out this whole "science fiction is not just about space and technology scream " lecture, so I've just been letting him have it as sci-fi since.

[DarknessofHeavenandDreams]

Miz Lina

Aside from magic, what about fantastical elements? Non-human characters, fairytale elements, hell even a "royal bloodline" style rulership?

Only humans (and animals, but they don't talk, they're just livestock or whatever).

You'll have to expand on the fairytale elements. Do you mean like killing children or losing body parts or talking animals and everyone's a princess?

I have a bit of bloodline rulership involved, but I can't say that's fantasy as there have been huge wars over whose cousin is whose.

Miz Lina

Also, I'm pretty skeptical as to the sci-fi-ness of Being Human myself, but my fiance, who's a self-professed sci-fi geek, has claimed it as sci-fi territory, so I'm not going to argue. The one time I did try to point out that the inclusion of vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, and Fae did not make it sci-fi, he pulled out this whole "science fiction is not just about space and technology scream " lecture, so I've just been letting him have it as sci-fi since.

I'm ignoring or I'll have to make a whole thread asking what sci-fi is.

[Miz Lina]

DarknessofHeavenandDreams

Miz Lina

Aside from magic, what about fantastical elements? Non-human characters, fairytale elements, hell even a "royal bloodline" style rulership?

Only humans (and animals, but they don't talk, they're just livestock or whatever).

You'll have to expand on the fairytale elements. Do you mean like killing children or losing body parts or talking animals and everyone's a princess?

I have a bit of bloodline rulership involved, but I can't say that's fantasy as there have been huge wars over whose cousin is whose.

When I say fairytale elements, I'm thinking the princess with 20ft hair or the whole damsel-in-distress, knight in shining armor. Oddly friendly woodland creatures, prophecies foretelling of the bad guy's demise at the hands of a boy from X village/newborn princess on her 16th birthday/Harry Potter, that sort of thing. Local farmer's son leaves to go out into the world and grows to fill the role of the long-needed hero.

As far as the royal bloodline bit goes, I guess I'm just asking about epic fantasy elements without the magical side of that. Big swords, drama between kings and queens of yore, the sort of setting you'd find in an epic or high fantasy.

Quote:

Miz Lina

Also, I'm pretty skeptical as to the sci-fi-ness of Being Human myself, but my fiance, who's a self-professed sci-fi geek, has claimed it as sci-fi territory, so I'm not going to argue. The one time I did try to point out that the inclusion of vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, and Fae did not make it sci-fi, he pulled out this whole "science fiction is not just about space and technology scream " lecture, so I've just been letting him have it as sci-fi since.

I'm ignoring or I'll have to make a whole thread asking what sci-fi is.

That was sort of my take, I guess. I don't care enough about sci-fi to get into it with him, so I'm just leaving it alone.

[DarknessofHeavenandDreams]

Miz Lina

When I say fairytale elements, I'm thinking the princess with 20ft hair or the whole damsel-in-distress, knight in shining armor. Oddly friendly woodland creatures, prophecies foretelling of the bad guy's demise at the hands of a boy from X village/newborn princess on her 16th birthday/Harry Potter, that sort of thing. Local farmer's son leaves to go out into the world and grows to fill the role of the long-needed hero.

Only the last one. Some whiny brat leaves to save the day. She probably drowns after causing problems; I haven'd decided yet. She doesn't save anyone.

Miz Lina

As far as the royal bloodline bit goes, I guess I'm just asking about epic fantasy elements without the magical side of that. Big swords, drama between kings and queens of yore, the sort of setting you'd find in an epic or high fantasy.

Well, there's drama between people who are in charge of small villages. Lots of wandering around, too. No special swords or rings (maybe to identify someone if I need to use that).

[Miz Lina]

DarknessofHeavenandDreams

Miz Lina

When I say fairytale elements, I'm thinking the princess with 20ft hair or the whole damsel-in-distress, knight in shining armor. Oddly friendly woodland creatures, prophecies foretelling of the bad guy's demise at the hands of a boy from X village/newborn princess on her 16th birthday/Harry Potter, that sort of thing. Local farmer's son leaves to go out into the world and grows to fill the role of the long-needed hero.

Only the last one. Some whiny brat leaves to save the day. She probably drowns after causing problems; I haven'd decided yet. She doesn't save anyone.

Miz Lina

As far as the royal bloodline bit goes, I guess I'm just asking about epic fantasy elements without the magical side of that. Big swords, drama between kings and queens of yore, the sort of setting you'd find in an epic or high fantasy.

Well, there's drama between people who are in charge of small villages. Lots of wandering around, too. No special swords or rings (maybe to identify someone if I need to use that).

So it doesn't really sound like fantasy, then, either. Is it a humor piece?

[DarknessofHeavenandDreams]

Miz Lina

DarknessofHeavenandDreams

Miz Lina

When I say fairytale elements, I'm thinking the princess with 20ft hair or the whole damsel-in-distress, knight in shining armor. Oddly friendly woodland creatures, prophecies foretelling of the bad guy's demise at the hands of a boy from X village/newborn princess on her 16th birthday/Harry Potter, that sort of thing. Local farmer's son leaves to go out into the world and grows to fill the role of the long-needed hero.

Only the last one. Some whiny brat leaves to save the day. She probably drowns after causing problems; I haven'd decided yet. She doesn't save anyone.

Miz Lina

As far as the royal bloodline bit goes, I guess I'm just asking about epic fantasy elements without the magical side of that. Big swords, drama between kings and queens of yore, the sort of setting you'd find in an epic or high fantasy.

Well, there's drama between people who are in charge of small villages. Lots of wandering around, too. No special swords or rings (maybe to identify someone if I need to use that).

So it doesn't really sound like fantasy, then, either. Is it a humor piece?

It's about how shitty war is, so probably not.

[Sir Icehawk]

DarknessofHeavenandDreams

I thought speculative fiction had to speculate on something.

Your world isn't real. It's not something we can look at and examine, thus you are speculating about what it's like and telling a story within it. ninja *shrug*

I'd call it Spec Fic or SF. Either should work fine. Especially the latter if you approach it form say a more general SF definition like Rod Serling's "science fiction the improbable made possible; fantasy, the impossible made probable."

Not horror. Not comedy. Not literary. Not Alt. History. Not fantasy. SF will probably serve you best, but you really don't to worry too much. If you need help, you're going to have to supply enough context anyway that the genre will be a mute point in my opinion.

[Niamh the Fae]

If there is significantly less technology than in the current time, I'd immagine that readers would tend to think of it as fantasy in spite of the lack of actual magic. I'm not sure if that would be the technically correct classification, but that's what I'd think if I saw something like that. (Provided the culture was different enough from the real world that it didn't seem like it was just a badly written historical story.)

[DarknessofHeavenandDreams]

Niamh the Fae

(Provided the culture was different enough from the real world that it didn't seem like it was just a badly written historical story.)

Not sure about that, but I hope no one takes it as historical.

[Niamh the Fae]

DarknessofHeavenandDreams

Niamh the Fae

(Provided the culture was different enough from the real world that it didn't seem like it was just a badly written historical story.)

Not sure about that, but I hope no one takes it as historical.

I wouldn't think they would unless it's extremely similar to a real world time period. I guess the issue would be if you do generic medieval and they think you couldn't decide on a country. (Though there can also be reasons to have a sorta-old-timey, non-specific setting, like if you're doing something in a fairy tale style...)

[DarknessofHeavenandDreams]

Niamh the Fae

I wouldn't think they would unless it's extremely similar to a real world time period. I guess the issue would be if you do generic medieval and they think you couldn't decide on a country. (Though there can also be reasons to have a sorta-old-timey, non-specific setting, like if you're doing something in a fairy tale style...)

I'm going for generic save for the religion. That's the main drive in a lot of what's going on and being generic would keep the story from seeming bogged down. ((This is very different from my usual stuff))

[Niamh the Fae]

DarknessofHeavenandDreams

Niamh the Fae

I wouldn't think they would unless it's extremely similar to a real world time period. I guess the issue would be if you do generic medieval and they think you couldn't decide on a country. (Though there can also be reasons to have a sorta-old-timey, non-specific setting, like if you're doing something in a fairy tale style...)

I'm going for generic save for the religion. That's the main drive in a lot of what's going on and being generic would keep the story from seeming bogged down. ((This is very different from my usual stuff))

I'm not too fond of going generic just to avoid limitations, since limitations are great for getting plot bunnies. (Plot bunnies = slang for story ideas.) I'm not sure if that's good advice or just how it goes for me, though.

[DarknessofHeavenandDreams]

Niamh the Fae

I'm not too fond of going generic just to avoid limitations, since limitations are great for getting plot bunnies. (Plot bunnies = slang for story ideas.) I'm not sure if that's good advice or just how it goes for me, though.

I'm not trying to avoid limitations. I usually have strong aspects of culture clash in my stories. This time, though, I want the differences between the peoples to philosophical only.

[Niamh the Fae]

DarknessofHeavenandDreams

Niamh the Fae

I'm not too fond of going generic just to avoid limitations, since limitations are great for getting plot bunnies. (Plot bunnies = slang for story ideas.) I'm not sure if that's good advice or just how it goes for me, though.

I'm not trying to avoid limitations. I usually have strong aspects of culture clash in my stories. This time, though, I want the differences between the peoples to philosophical only.

Aah, ok =)