Speculative Fiction

    Hello, and welcome back to Hats, Boots, & Chocolate! I hope all is going well for y'all right now. :)

    Today, I want to talk about speculative fiction, and then I'll discuss how that relates to what I think my genre as a writer is.

    The reason this has come up is that, a few days ago, I was chatting with one of my professors before class. You see, that day, I brought a book to school with me to read in the gaps between my classes (if you're interested, the book is Allegiant, which is Book 3 of Veronica Roth's Divergent trilogy. It's an awesome trilogy; I highly recommend it. The movies are pretty good, too, but I was a little disappointed to find that the movies changed a lot of things from the books, and a lot of those changes ultimately simplify the plot, which is kind of sad.). Anyhow, my professor came over and asked, "What age are you reading?"

    Once we clarified that she was asking whether I was reading YA or Children's Lit., we got into a discussion of dystopian fiction.

    My professor has never read any sort of dystopian fiction aside from The Giver, by Lois Lowry, so she wanted to know more about the genre, and thus our discussion was begun. Along the way, we discovered a few things, which I'll explain more about in this post.

    But first, what is speculative fiction?

    I would define speculative fiction as any fiction that speculates about a world that is not our own. It is the "umbrella genre" that covers fantasy, science fiction, and dystopian, plus a couple of other genres that I have no experience with. But those are the big three.

    The interesting thing about these three genres is that, while fantasy and science fiction are often considered separate subgenres, dystopian is a little... weird. Dystopian often has elements of science fiction or fantasy in it, but it usually doesn't take those elements anywhere near as far as science fiction and fantasy do. If the three genres are on a scale, fantasy is on one end, science fiction is on the other, and dystopian is somewhere in the middle.

    So, what makes fantasy and science fiction different? They both contain fantastical elements, after all.

    I would say that something becomes a fantasy when its fantastical elements are not based off of anything from the real world (or are only based loosely off things from the real world, which is the case in a lot of Brandon Sanderson's books). Fantasy is where you usually see your dragons, fairies, elves, and witches. Fantasy is where you see complex magic systems based off of anything from the four elements to colors.

    Something is science fiction when its fantastical elements are based off a known scientific principle in the real world (eg. Einstein's Theories of Relativity). However, science fiction doesn't just take a scientific principle and start playing with it; rather, it takes the principle and extrapolates many generations into the future, inventing scientific discoveries relating to that principle that make impossible things happen. For example, Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series is based on genetics--at the very start of Pern's chronology, the intergalactic settlers from Earth take an existing Pernian species and genetically alter it to create ridable dragons. Now, the existence of dragons cloaks Pern's status as a science fiction world, which is the only reason I read it because I usually dislike science fiction, but if you read enough of the series, you'll realize just how much science fiction is buried under that fantasy veneer.

    Dystopian lives in the middle ground between the two. Dystopian fiction usually has a couple of fantastical elements (for example, the different serums in the Divergent trilogy I mentioned earlier), but it doesn't extrapolate them nearly as far as science fiction. However, it also usually avoids inventing them out of nearly-thin-air the way fantasy does. What dystopian fiction extrapolates to a crazy degree is society. Dystopian speculates, "What would happen if a utopia was created in X way?" And then it goes on to show exactly how that utopia turns into a dystopia, and then ultimately collapses (if it's a good ending) or beats down the characters until they give up (if it's a bad ending).

    Where fantasy and science fiction are inherently imaginative, dystopian tends towards the philosophical, and usually the philosophical question involved is some version of, "What happens to a world in which people are not allowed to choose for themselves?" It usually contains some fantastical element, and typically, that element tends more towards the science fiction side of the spectrum.

    In most dystopian fiction, the story is one of rebellion. We see this in The Hunger Games (admittedly, I only made it through the first book. But I understand the story well enough to know it's a rebellion story). Katniss begins to realize how messed up the system is, and ultimately she helps lead a rebellion to break that system apart.

    Now, my professor has never read that kind of dystopian story before. She has read The Giver, and that book is unique among dystopian stories, because instead of leading a revolt, the main character leaves. As soon as he realizes how bad the system is, he takes what is most valuable to him and he leaves to find a better place. Looking at this from an emotional health standpoint, this is one of the best ways to deal with a dystopia. Rather than taking on other people's problems (which they may not see as problems, depending on how indoctrinated they've been by the system) and becoming co-dependent, the main character deals with his own problems and leaves everyone else to deal with their own issues themselves. There is no rebellion--only the setting and holding of a healthy boundary. The character doesn't want to live in the system anymore, therefore he leaves and finds a new one, and lets everyone else decide for themselves.

    In the Divergent trilogy, we get the joy of seeing 3 different "utopia" systems and how each one restricts the characters' agency in a different way. We also get to see the characters try different approaches to dealing with those systems.

    In Books 1 and 2, the characters try rebellion. They throw down the old system and help put a new one in place. But in Book 3, they realize this new system is just as bad (or worse) than the old one. So they leave and search for a new place.

    In the middle of Book 3, they find a new system that, on the surface, looks way better than either of the other ones they've tried. So they jump in and try to start a new life. However, they quickly discover that this system is also corrupt, and with nowhere else to leave to, they try rebellion again.

    But this time, they learn from their mistakes, and when their first try doesn't work, they try again with a better plan--and this time, their plan works. They completely delete the existing system and set up a new one in its place. However, in building this final system, they've learned just how important it is for people to be able to choose how they live their lives, and so they build a system that is very much like our own.

    The biggest thing I've learned from reading dystopian fiction is that I have reason to be grateful for the system I live in. Things could be a lot worse! At least I have the option to choose who and what I want to be, what I want to learn, how I want to live. I'm not trapped in a system that dictates what role I'll take to support society. I get to choose! And that's a beautiful thing.

    Finally, as I've been reading more dystopian fiction, I've begun to realize that I kind of love the genre--almost better than I love fantasy! I love the philosophy behind it, I love the minor use of fantastical elements in an otherwise real or like-real world, I love the discussions of morality and what makes a person or cause good or evil, I love that it is one genre that feels as though it could be real, even after the story has ended and suspension of disbelief is no longer necessary.

A List of My Favorite Dystopian Books and Series:

The Alliance, by Gerald N. Lund -- This is the first dystopian novel I ever read, and while I think I read it a little young, I really enjoyed it!

The Giver, by Lois Lowry -- Again, this is the only dystopian novel I've ever read where the protagonist did not start a rebellion of some kind, and I think there's a lot to be learned from that. (Also, the other three books in the quartet are fantastic, but Son is the best!)

The Hunger Games (Book 1 only), by Suzanne Collins -- I really enjoyed the first book of this series! It was interesting, engaging, and it made me think. However, I did not like the second book (I didn't even make it past Chapter 3!) because it felt like the steady, practical character that Collins set up in Katniss suddenly lost all of those qualities and jumped right into love-triangle messiness. I hate love-triangle messiness and excessive drama in romance overall.

The Divergent Trilogy, by Veronica Roth -- These books are really, really good at exploring choices and their consequences. They also have a lot of really interesting emotional development for the main characters as they respond to and recover from their various experiences throughout the books.