Science-fiction and fantasy. Two genres often presented together. Although they couldn’t be more different from each other. And I’m the one to know that. I love one and dislike the other. I never hide it from anyone. And whenever there’s an opportunity, I like to point out that I enjoy keeping a harsh distinction between sci-fi and fantasy. But why do I find them so different?

After all, what defines science fiction?

Sci-fi, for short, is a wide genre of speculative fiction based on scientific or technological principles. The story can be set in our world or in a galaxy far far away. What makes it sci-fi is the existence of elements explained through laws of physics, even if they don’t exist today.

For example, Interstellar. The movie is based around the idea of wormholes and travels between the space and time continuum. So far, that’s only a theory. There are no proves that wormholes exist, and we can use them to travel around the universe. And science fiction picks up these theories and ideas and plays with them.

Some sci-fi stories just pick up a “what if” and explores it in many different ways. It can focus on a sociological impact, scientific, technological, personal, environmental, astronomical, biological… the list can go on and on. The fact is sci-fi isn’t exclusively a story set in space or about space. And as long as the story has a rational line of thought that falls on top of something scientific or technological, it’s science fiction.

Because of all these different focuses of sci-fi, just like any other genre, it includes a lot of subgenres that specify that type of approach. Dystopian, apocalyptic, robots, virtual reality, space opera, and time travel are some examples.

If you think about Divergent or The Hunger Games, both are kings in the dystopian subgenre. Neither one of them has any relation to space or “sciency stuff”. It’s just a bunch of teens trying to survive in a broken post-apocalyptic society. And this is when the term soft sci-fi comes into play.

Any sci-fi story focused on the characters or the society instead of heavily exploring the technological or scientific aspect is considered soft sci-fi. While hard sci-fi spends more time explaining those aspects and tries to be more accurate or building a narrative that makes it believable. Examples of hard sci-fi are Interstellar and The Martian.

Meanwhile, what is fantasy?

I can go on and on talking about sci-fi, although I don’t know all that much about fantasy. For me, fantasy is any story set outside of reality and without any scientific or technological explanation. Usually, it uses magic and/or supernatural elements in the plot or as the main theme.

Fantasy includes subgenres like paranormal, dragons, fairy tales, magic, mythology, and urban fiction. The story doesn’t have to be set in a different world. In fact, it can be set in our world, in our time, and the addition of magic, mythical creature or paranormal beings turns the story into fantasy.

And when they both meet?

Some subgenres of sci-fi and fantasy can be interchangeable, and that’s why they are often put together. Both genres can live under the term speculative fiction. That’s where they usually meet. It’s not fully sci-fi or fantasy. It’s an in-between, a grey area, or a common ground.

When Veronica Roth released her second series, the duology of Carve The Mark, it was marketed as another sci-fi story. I loved Divergent, so I wanted to keep reading anything that she would write. I quite enjoyed Carve The Mark, and I can see why it’s marketed as sci-fi because it is sci-fi. Although it also has fantastical elements, making it fantasy. Carve The Mark is both sci-fi and fantasy.

Another example is Outlander. Claire (the protagonist) time travels to the past, which is part of the sci-fi genre, but she travels in some magical way, which pulls the story to the fantasy genre. So, the story is also both sci-fi and fantasy.

Why do I feel the need to keep them separated?

It all comes down to preference. I prefer reading sci-fi, and fantasy doesn’t excite me. Whenever I’m reading a book or watching a movie, and something fantastical takes a big part of the plot, I start to lose interest. I just don’t see the appeal of fantasy. And since the genre the story falls into can determine my enjoyment, I want to make sure I’m actually reading/watching the genre that I like.

When I read the final book in the Carve The Mark duology, The Fates Divide, I realized a story can have both genres, but it will have a tendency towards one more than the other. In Carve the Mark, the sci-fi aspect is more prominent and gets a big focal point. While in The Fates Divide, the fantasy takes over and gets a front-row seat. Meaning that I ended up not enjoying it as much as the first one.

Am I just a fantasy hater in disguise?

I don’t know. Maybe… Now seriously, I am not. I actually would like to enjoy fantasy as much as everyone else seems to enjoy. Image all the hyped books I could read. I could be one of those people that loves Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings. Although I’m not. I’m more of a Martian kind of gal.

Even though fantasy isn’t my cup of tea, I’ve actually enjoyed a few stories over the years. For example, A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. As it says in the title, the story has a monster, but that doesn’t bother me at all. The story is still set in our world, and the fantasy element is just a plot device, not the whole book.

Another example is Frozen Charlotte and Charlotte Says by Alex Bell. I had a great time with both of them for the same reason as A Monster Calls. What both stories have in common is the sporadic use of fantasy. In this case, little evil porcelain demon dolls that enjoy creating chaos. Meanwhile, the focus of the story lays on the characters relationships.

In conclusion, I don’t hate fantasy. In fact, I can even enjoy it in small doses. Although with sci-fi, I can inject it into my bloodstream and be completely fine. And since I have different levels of “tolerance” for both genres, I like to keep them apart and glorify them individually, instead of the popular SFF (Science Fiction & Fantasy) lists – which are always more F than SF.