fiction and non-nonfiction

[Snarky]

Confused? Yeah. Don't worry, I'll explain.

Has anyone noticed that when you're talking fiction, it usually falls into one of two groups? One is fiction where everything and anything can happen.
The second is non-nonfiction. That's what I like to call it. It's stuff that didn't happen, but could happen. Well, a lot of the time the characters are very unrealistic but it's basically stuff that take place within the confines of 'reality'. Anyone notice that there seem to be WAY to many in the second group? In my expirience there is.

 

[Fieldy]

so group one would be fantasy

and the second group would be fiction.

In Fantasy anything can happen if you describe the parametres for it, whilst it wouldnt make sense in 'normal' fiction to go about reality like normal and then expect something beyond it to take place ... unless your writing science fiction which would probably be fiction - fiction

Or are you making a different point?

 

[Snarky]

I just wonder why, it all being fiction, it's so sliced in half. It's odd. And possibly a sign of the apocalypse

 

[Fieldy]

I just wonder why, it all being fiction, it's so sliced in half. It's odd. And possibly a sign of the apocalypse

Im not too quite sure what you mean from this.

- The actual apocalpyse
- Or the apocalpyse of fiction?

And being less vague would help

But carry on because i think you could make a very good point! And it'll be interesting from your perspective of which you thinkis going on

 

[Snarky]

I was just being silly about the apocalypse.

But if you look at fiction, there's fiction where the events did not actually happen, but are set in the 'real world' where dragons don't pop out of cracks in the side walk to say hi and offer you a smoke. It seems to me that this paticular kind of fiction is much more prevalent. Which is quite a waste. I mean, if you can do anything, why restrict yourself to the logistics of the 'real world'? And it seems that science fiction and fantasy don't intersect with the idea of the 'real world' a lot.

Yes, I know you're confused. I'm trying to explain. When someone writes a fantasy or a science fiction novel (in my own personal expirience) the author more often then not constructs a whole different world in which weird things are much more common. But I don't see a lot of stuff (some, but not a lot) of books in which weird, amazing, cool and illogical things happen with a 'real world' setting.

 

[pink shadow]

I'm not completly sure where you're going with this snarky, but there is an enormous amount of books in which weird things happen in the real world: it's called low fantasy, as opposed to high fantasy where the world is made up. One of my favourites is Charles de Lint. Then there's the horror genre with vampires and werewolves and whathaveyous and they're usually set in the real world too.

 

[beer good]

Not to mention the whole genre of magic realism... Márquez, Rushdie, Borges and that lot.

 

[Snarky]

My library sucks.

I'm intrigued by the concept of 'low fiction' and 'high fiction'. Please tell me more.

Also, please forgive me if I sound like an idiot. I'm still young.

 

[pink shadow]

My library sucks.

I'm intrigued by the concept of 'low fiction' and 'high fiction'. Please tell me more.

Also, please forgive me if I sound like an idiot. I'm still young.

Lol, you don't sound like an idiot! Believe me, it took me years before I found anything but Eddings and Tolkien (Swedish bookstores are not exactly full of fantasy). Think of all the great books you have to look forward to!

As I said earlier, high fantasy is usually what you first think of when you hear the word fantasy: a made up world with dragons, wizards etc, for example Tolkien or Eddings. Low fantasy might also be dragons and wizards but it's either set in or somehow connected to the real world, for example Charles de Lint. I am of course generalizing, since each genre is really diverse, but you get the picture.

Is there a sf/fantasy bookstore where you live? Because that would be a good place to start browsing. Otherwise, browse Amazon's Fantasy pages or one of the many fantasy pages on the net (http://www.sfsite.com/ or http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/ for example). You'll be able to find loads and loads of low fantasy there, I promise! And then there's the Science Fiction and Fantasy part of this forum, where you'll also be able to get lots of suggestions. If you're still lost after that, I'll give you a few suggestions myself. Actually, I'll start right now: Nightlife by Rob Thurman is really great! Let me know if you need more help

 

[mrkgnao]

Here are some recommendations of "low fantasy" books:

everything by Neil Gaiman
"Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell" by Susanna Clarke (magicians in 19th century England)
"The hitch-hiker's guide to the galaxy" (5 books) by Douglas Adams (more sci-fi than fantasy, but everything and anything can happen )
"The books of Abarat" (2 books so far) by Clive Barker (starts off in our world though it's mostly set in a very different one)
"Tithe" and "Valiant" by Holly Black (fairies in the USA)
"The Master and Margarita" by Mikhail Bulgakov (demons in Russia)
"War for the oaks" by Emma Bull (fairies in the USA, with music)
"The Dresden files" (7 books) by Jim Butcher (a wizard P.I. in Chicago)
"Inkheart" by Cornelia Funke (people escape from books into reality)
"His dark materials" by Philip Pullman (set in our world and many others)
... and then some...


*mrkgnao*

 

[ValkyrieRaven88]

I just wonder why, it all being fiction, it's so sliced in half. It's odd. And possibly a sign of the apocalypse

XD. I usually work in my fantasy stories trying to make it seem like it could happen. Michael Crichton did that in his sci-fi, and I thought Jurassic Park was pretty d**n convincing.