What is and what isn't considered science fiction?

Question

Note: This site is now Science Fiction & Fantasy. All speculative fiction, including alternate history, are considered on-topic.

Following up on:

1. Should questions about "Is X science fiction" be off-topic?

2. What is science fiction? How are we to discriminate between sci-fi and fantasy?

We should really come up with some criteria on what is and what isn't considered science fiction.

This would instantly answer all the question mentioned by [1] including one of my own and it would also be useful help when determining is a question offtopic or not.

Answer 1

While this is a Frequently Asked Question, it is one where the community as a whole cannot—and should not be asked to—agree upon an answer.

For instance:

• Is The Wizard of Oz SF?
  The immediate answer is "No," right?

  Are Heinlein's World as Myth books SF?
  It's generally agreed upon that they are.

  But if the "World as Myth" is SF, and the Oz books are part of the "World as Myth", how can we say that Oz is not SF?
  _{Note: this is a thought experiment, not my personal opinion.}

• Was Star Wars a Fantasy up until Lucas came up with the idea of midichlorians, and after that SF?
  _{My personal opinion on this one: SW was SF until Lucas came up with the idea of midichlorians, after which it was crap.}

• If a multi-book series starts off as Fantasy, and then later retcons in a slight scientific backstory, does that make the entire series SF?
  _{I'm looking at you here, Pern. And Darkover. And Wheel of Time. And any number of other worlds that fit this particular shoe.}

  If a multi-year SF television series falls down a magical plot hole towards its end, does that make the whole thing Fantasy?
  _{Ah, BSG, we had such high hopes…}

• If a sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, then how can we say that any given fictional culture based on magic isn't actually based on advanced tech?

• And so on, and so on…
  All lovely things to play with in your mind, but none of them help to achieve consensus.
  _{I don't expect that everyone will all come to the same conclusions when I can't even decide which ones I believe are SF two days running.}

Answer 2

What if …?

The shortest definition of SF I know of is that it's any form of fiction that asks “what if?”. That's SF as in speculative fiction, not the more restrictive “science fiction” or “sci-fi”.

The ISFDB policy seems like a good start, though I wouldn't be too strict with borderline cases such as technothrillers. (And of course this site isn't limited to written works.)

I don't see any mileage in refusing certain parts of SF such as alternate history or fantasy. This is too likely to generate fight upon fight about where the boundaries are. And there isn't really a science fiction community the way there is an sf community.

Be careful when using the terms “science-fiction” or “sci-fi” or “sf”, because people have different definitions. Science-fiction is usually about what might be, alternate history about what might have been, and fantasy about what can't be, but people disagree strongly on where to draw the line (is Star Wars science-fiction? Is anything with faster-than-light travel science-fiction? Is technology so advanced that it's indistinguishable from magic science-fiction?)

I especially warn against “sci-fi”, because many people who define themselves as “sf” aficionados use it in a somewhat disparaging way, limiting it to B-grade science-fiction.

Answer 3

There's a pretty good list of definitions on Wikipedia. Of those, my favourite is the most recent, by Jeff Prucher: "A genre (of literature, film, etc.) in which the setting differs from our own world (e.g. by the invention of new technology, through contact with aliens, by having a different history, etc.), and in which the difference is based on extrapolations made from one or more changes or suppositions; hence, such a genre in which the difference is explained (explicitly or implicitly) in scientific or rational, as opposed to supernatural, terms."

But that definition doesn't work when the nature of the difference (is it supernatural or rational?) is not made clear -- for example, Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series looked like fantasy in the first few volumes and it only became clear that it was SF after we had more information about the background and history of his world. I don't believe there is any feasible definition of science fiction that would let you categorise the first volume of the series as science fiction without reference to the later volumes.

Answer 4

Wikipedia is a good source to decide whether or not something is Science Fiction, and we can surely take some information to specify some subgenres or unclear Questions.

For me there is a definition like the following most matching:

Definition of Science Fiction

There is a 3 Step definition:

1. Science fiction is a genre of fiction in which the stories often tell about science and technology of the future. It is important to note that science fiction has a relationship with the principles of science—these stories involve partially true-partially fictitious laws or theories of science. It should not be completely unbelievable, because it then ventures into the genre fantasy.

2. Science Fiction is a genre of fiction in which the plot creates situations different from those of both the present day and the known past. Science fiction texts also include a human element, explaining what effect new discoveries, happenings and scientific developments will have on us in this different future (or a different past).

3. Science fiction is a genre of fiction in which texts are often set in the future, in space, on a different world, or in a different universe, dimension or an alternative timeline.

One of these criteria needs to be fit, to define whether something is Science Ficiton or not.