When is science fiction existing?

Question

I asked a question similar to this https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/34196/depth-of-an-inhabitable-shell-around-the-earth on the SF&F site. I deleted it because I didn't want to lose the rep just to have it get closed on me. This comment, while helpful, is incredibly disturbing to me.

This question is much better suited to worldbuilding.stackexchange.com. SciFi.SE is about existing properties, and I'm pretty sure cross-posting is frowned upon. -Name Omitted- 16 mins ago

Better suited, okay I'll concede that point... Don't cross post, okay, I can accept that. But existing properties??

As a young writer, one of the things that established writers consistently repeat is that, "If you write you're a writer." This is important because it helps new writers to not look down on themselves because they are not published. Getting paid is not what makes good writing, or good sci-fi.

I believe the SF&F community should be just as much about building up, teaching and even helping to create the next generation of science fiction and fantasy. Otherwise, all this might as well just be a chat. Why make it permanent if not to be a lasting resource? The Q&A format that we live and die by here is about answering questions in perpetuity.

So that's my two cents, but I'll respect the opinions of the community. Is the question that I asked appropriate for the site or not? If not, does a work of science fiction need to be published for it to be discussed here? If neither of these are correct, then where do we draw the line?

Answer 1

Regarding your original question¹, there are actually three problems with it:

1. It's got loads of sub-questions. This is something we want to avoid as much as possible, for a number of reasons unrelated to your core concern
2. Your last part is "help me define this question." I can appreciate that you want to cover all of your bases, and I think that's commendable from the standpoint of a writer; but it's not a good fit for the Q&A format of SE.
3. Off-topicness.

That last one is what you actually asked about, so I'm going to cover it very extensively from here on out. But I wanted you to be aware that your question had other problems (something I notice the WB folks have already pointed out).

Is your question off-topic

Yes. I'm sorry, but yes. One of our off-topic reasons is:

Questions seeking scientific solutions or explanations are off-topic unless they relate directly to a cited work of fiction.

There have been attempts to pin down what we mean by this, but your question clearly falls under it.

Why is your question off-topic

So, I think this is really what your question is driving at, and the answer is what sort of site we want to be.

According to you:

I believe the SF&F community should be just as much about building up, teaching and even helping to create the next generation of science fiction and fantasy.

I don't think that sort of community is a bad idea, but it's not the sort of community we have here. The reason for that is mainly because of our knowledge domain.

At this site, we're experts on the genre of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Personally, I'm an expert on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien; we have experts on Harry Potter, Star Wars, Star Trek, or even on the published output of science fiction and fantasy literature.

What we do not have (or, not in abundance) is expertise in geophysics, materials sciences, or narrative storytelling.

At the moment, the larger community is perfectly happy having that division of expertise; and we've been around for long enough that it's unlikely we'll be able to shift our momentum now.

But you still want a community like that

Great! Personally I think that, between WorldBuilding and Writers, you're pretty well sorted. But if you think there should be another SE community more specifically tailored to supporting aspiring SFF writers, then more power to you. We have a way of accomplishing that: Area51. That's how all (well, most) SE sites got started, and your idea might flourish too.

The point I want to get across is that, just because something isn't a good fit here doesn't mean it's not a good fit anywhere. SE may not have the niche you're looking for, so you should create it.

This does come with the caveat that your niche may not be a good fit for the SE format, or may not have enough support to get off the ground. Those are both unfortunate reasons why Area51 proposals flounder, and I can't really help you with them.

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¹ 10k+ only link, sorry

Answer 2

There's a number of issues with your post, all of which made the advice to head over to Worldbuilding exactly appropriate.

The first, and biggest, issue is that the scope of this site, as has been determined over the years by the community, has settled on discussions of works of science fiction and fantasy, and the overall features of the genre itself. In order to be on-topic here, the question needs to relate to some work of science fiction that other users can consume and comment on, or else, directly related to the genre (history questions, trope questions, etc.

A question about a work of fiction you're still in the process of writing is off-topic here because we can't read it yet. That makes it impossible for us to answer questions about it.

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The other issues with your question are:

• That's way too many questions for one post; what if one person answers #1 and a second answers #2, which is "correct?"
• Many of those are asking for open-ended discussion, meaning there's more than one right answer. On this SE site, that's off-topic.
• Many of those are asking for real-world science explanations of what's "plausible" or "possible". From our perspective, whatever you put in your novel is possible, because we focus on the in-universe physics you create, not the real-world physics that really exists.

Answer 3

"Existing properties" means "published works"; works that have already been created and are accessible to the general public.
That ranges from the most famous franchises and works by writers that are known to people outside SF-aficionados, to stuff by relatively obscure writers with just a small number of readers. We actually have some writers and aspiring writers among out regulars.

But the line is drawn at consuming vs. creating. If you want to ask about creating a fictional world, ask over on Worldbuilding. If you've read or seen something and aren't sure how to interpret it, ask here.