Doctrine on Fantasy and Science Fiction
I was talking about this tonight with my girlfriend. I am kinda particular in how I like fantasy and science fiction, because I like there to be some reality to it. It’s almost an extension of my hatred for those scenes in bad movies where people with guns shoot more bullets than a clip would hold without reloading. I’ll try to explain this as thoroughly as possible.
Rod Serling [of Twilight Zone fame] said, “Fantasy is the impossible made probable; science fiction is the improbable made possible.” When even science fiction pieces go beyond the improbable into the possible, it becomes fantasy, and I hate it when they do that. That is, unless is a science fiction/fantasy piece, a la StarJammers. Otherwise, science fiction should follow scientific conventions.
As far as my own writing goes, I feel like there should be some standard to magic. I don’t entirely like having gods for magical use, nor do I want to use the conventional good magic versus bad magic. I think there should be a small measure of science in magic, following a couple rules. I tend to think of magic as an energy, and in order for something to be magically created, it should consume a proportionate amount of matter.
I try to stay away from using common mythologies and the standard EGOD formula [Elves, Goblins, Orcs, Dwarves]. I think they should be pretty closed to dead by now, having been beaten into fantasy stories for decades now. I would like there to be a little bit more diversity in fantasy fiction.
At any rate, that’s just a few things.
-Jaron
Hi Jaron
I like your idea of laws of magic(s). Probably because I’ve been thinking similar concept myself. Our laws of physics could give some bearings but they should only be used as a guideline.
I believe, that M-theory suggests that there are infinite amount of universes and everyone of them could have different laws of nature. Maybe some small twist in fundamental equation(s) could lead to magical energy.
Personally, when it comes to magic, I like it when the author creates a couple of basic principals, and then extrapolates from there. The key is internal consistency.