From the Back-List - Explaining the Unreal

Cover art from the Song of Scarabaeus on Pinterest

Here at the Supernatural Underground, we are enjoying another awesome read from our back-list, posted Thursday, July 29, 2010 by the Philip K. Dick and Aurealis Award nominee, Sara Creasy. 

In this post, she talks about the difference between paranormal and SF. 

You can check out Sara Creasy's current work, The Wynter Wild Series on her Website. Join Wynter and her brothers on a heartrending and humorous journey through elementary particles, power chords, and the many meanings of love.

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Explaining the Unreal by Sara Creasy

Goodreads Choice Nominee

As writers and readers, how do we define the difference between the science fiction and paranormal genres? Both are “unreal” (in that they are fictional) and “speculative” (in that they extrapolate from existing ideas). The paranormal by definition breaks the laws of physics, but science fiction often does too (warp speed, anyone?).


I think the difference comes in what each genre needs to explain. For example, classic vampires can’t be exposed to sunlight without terrible consequences. Readers of paranormal fiction know this fact about vampires. If the writer chooses to contradict the convention by having her vampires run around the sunny beaches of Santa Barbara, readers expect a (paranormal) explanation: that old sunlight thing is a myth, the vampire has a magic ring, or this is a tribe of new improved vampires.

On the other hand, readers of science fiction base their expectations on the natural world. If a certain creature explodes into flames in sunlight, which contradicts what we know about the natural world, the writer needs to provide a (natural) explanation: the “vampire” has a medical condition such as a total lack of melanin, or, more exotically, the vamp’s unstable atoms are prone to decay when exposed to photons of a particular wavelength.

As readers we bring a stack of wonderful knowledge with us, drawn from mythology and the real world, saving the writer from having to describe and explain everything. But when a story contradicts that knowledge, often for interesting reasons of course, we want to know why...

 

 

To read the full post, including insightful comments, click here. 

To find out more about what Sara's doing now, visit her Website.