Speculative fiction requires you to speculate what it would be like in some place or time no-one has experienced. You might like to set your story in the future. You may wish to set it in the past, but make it a past which is different from that in the history books. Or set your story before recorded history. You may wish to create other worlds, far from Earth. Or you may wish to place your characters firmly on Earth, here and now, but change the laws of nature as we know them. You may wish to add magical powers, or genetically engineered deviance. As soon as you go into realms unknown to those of us who live in the real world, you have entered the domain of speculative fiction. Stories based in the world we live in is often referred to as 'known world' fiction. Speculative fiction involves worlds which are not our own familiar planet and its familiar societies with our known abilities. Fantasy and Science Fiction, together, are called 'speculative fiction' but they have some distinct differences. If you start with a rustic setting and primitive tools, then your reader is expecting fantasy. Start with metal and a ship sailing through space, then they are pretty certain they are reading science fiction. But it is much more than that. You could set sci fi in a woodland just as fantasy could possibly happen on a space ship. It's just not usual. Your major task for this unit will be a significant piece of writing in your chosen genre. |
 |
 |
Your readers want to be taken to places no-one has ever been! In no other genre do you have such total freedom to let your imagination go wild. Science Fiction stays within the realms of possible science but ventures into the world where science has gone beyond what we already know. It explores the 'what if ...?' without breaking the science we already know. Animals don't talk English. Dragons don't fly and owls don't deliver the school mail. People can't use magic to destroy or save the world. Fantasy cares less about sticking to possible science and more about worlds which are wildly imaginative and stories which are powerfully emotional. The supernatural is really quite a natural thing. Write a story with no rules and laws, though, and you will have a dull story. If anything is possible, then nothing is impossible, and there is no problem which can't then be solved by simply waving a magic wand. Great fantasy and science fiction works within a strict set of natural laws which rule the imagined world. Be they close to science, or far away, there must be laws and they must be understood by the reader. What fun!
|
 |
The following table lists the top 40 grossing films in all time, adjusted for inflation and based on worldwide box office receipts. By adjusting the figures for inflation, you get a more accurate record of which were the most popular films in terms of actual bottoms on seats. The list does not include television or video sales.
The list was taken from Wikipedia on October 21, 2006. This is the link, to check if it has changed since. The links in the table will take you to Wikipedia's entry on the specific films.
What percentage of the top 40 are science fiction? Fantasy? Speculative fiction? |
| Rank | Movie name | Worldwide Gross |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gone With the Wind (1939)* | $2,699,710,936* |
| 2 | Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)* | $2,591,057,697* |
| 3 | Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)* | $2,425,862,786* |
| 4 | Titanic (1997) | $2,245,078,983 |
| 5 | Jurassic Park (1993) | $1,236,257,268 |
| 6 | Bambi (1942)* | $1,191,311,757* |
| 7 | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) | $1,187,603,356 |
| 8 | Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in US) (2001) | $1,077,433,191 |
| 9 | Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999) | $1,054,205,059 |
| 10 | The Lion King (1994)* | $1,032,957,482* |
| 11 | Independence Day (1996) | $1,016,915,857 |
| 12 | The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) | $1,005,580,484 |
| 13 | The Sound of Music (1965) | $978,767,575 |
| 14 | Planet of the Apes (1968) | $977,132,692 |
| 15 | Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) | $973,225,343 |
| 16 | One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)* | $966,612,040* |
| 17 | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) | $961,458,991 |
| 18 | Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) | $935,804,406 |
| 19 | Jaws (1975) | $912,899,628 |
| 20 | Finding Nemo (2003) | $908,394,209 |
| 21 | Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) | $891,719,985 |
| 22 | Spider-Man (2002) | $877,117,127 |
| 23 | The Exorcist (1973) | $870,322,714 |
| 24 | Forrest Gump (1994) | $864,696,421 |
| 25 | E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)* | $851,419,200* |
| 26 | Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005) | $848,480,246 |
| 27 | Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) | $811,115,427 |
| 28 | Spider-Man 2 (2004) | $805,131,538 |
| 29 | The Jungle Book (1967)* | $802,223,303* |
| 30 | The Sixth Sense (1999) | $767,350,777 |
| 31 | The Matrix Reloaded (2003) | $775,988,356 |
| 32 | Ghost (1990) | $752,150,867 |
| 33 | The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) | $729,047,539 |
| 34 | The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) | $704,795,008 |
| 35 | Men In Black (1997) | $694,579,105 |
| 36 | Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002) | $693,187,865 |
| 37 | Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) | $687,015,694 |
| 38 | The Sting (1973) | $679,018,919 |
| 39 | Doctor Zhivago (1965) | $669,977,327 |
| 40 | Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)* | $665,181,894* |
