What is speculative fiction?
A spectrum of definitions
Robert Heinlein, the science fiction writer, first used the term speculative fiction in the 1940s, as his preferred term for science fiction.*
“Speculative fiction (I prefer that term to science fiction) is also concerned with sociology, psychology, esoteric aspects of biology, impact of terrestrial culture on the other cultures we may encounter when we conquer space, etc., without end.” — Robert Heinlein, in “On Writing of Speculative Fiction” in L. A. Eshbach Of Worlds Beyond 11, 1947
Over the years, people have debated the definition, and some have advocated an expanded concept. Today, the Speculative Literature Foundation casts a wide net, to include epic fantasy, science fiction, and horror — as well as fairy tales, magical realism, and modern myths.
“Any piece of literature containing a fabulist or speculative element would fall under our aegis…” — Speculative Literature Foundation
A common, narrower definition says speculative fiction is about worlds or events or technologies that could exist but don’t — yet. If a story includes dragons or time travel, for example — things that (supposedly) could never exist — then it’s fantasy, under this definition.
“For me, ‘speculative fiction’ means plots that descend from Jules Verne’s books about submarines and balloon travel and such — things that really could happen but just hadn’t completely happened when the authors wrote the books.” — Margaret Atwood
This delineation echoes Heinlein’s thinking:
“Speculative fiction is not fantasy fiction, as it rules out the use of anything as material which violates established scientific fact, laws of nature, call it what you will, i.e., it must [be] possible to the universe as we know it. Thus, Wind in the Willows is fantasy, but the much more incredible extravaganzas of Dr. Olaf Stapledon are speculative fiction — science fiction.” — Robert Heinlein, in a letter written in 1949 appearing in R. A. Heinlein & V. Heinlein, Grumbles from the Grave (1989)
To sum up, speculative fiction speculates about the possible — unless you want to go big and say it speculates about the impossible, too.
For writers
Since the term gets used in various ways, I think we as writers of it are at liberty locate ourselves wherever in the scope of opinions we feel comfortable.
To me, the main thing is to know what I myself consider to be speculative fiction, and where my work intersects with it— mostly so when people ask me what I do, I can answer confidently, “I write speculative fiction” — without mumbling. And then, if necessary, explain what I mean.
*To be precise, the term is known to have once appeared earlier, in 1887 in a books column penned by one M. F. Egan, in reference to work by Edward Bellamy and George Parsons Lathrop.
Learn to write speculative fiction in 60 days.
I’m doing it here at Isle of Words in August and September 2021. I’ll be posting daily about fiction writing and speculative fiction — while also writing a “practice” novel on the side.
The agenda for the 60 days is here (free of course!).
Here are some ways to get and use this material:
In real time (August and September 2021):
- Follow this publication (Isle of Words on Medium.com) so you’ll get notifications as the posts appear.
- And/or subscribe to the weekly newsletter — it will link to all the posts from the week, give download links for all the tools for the week, and include extra tidbits that didn’t make it into the posts.
- You can also follow me on Twitter.
Later (anytime after August 1, 2021):
- You could read the posts on this site.
- You could have the complete set of posts (all 61) delivered to your inbox either daily or weekly.
- You could wait for the ebook in November. Here’s how you can get a notification.
Happy writing!
Toze Weaver is learning to write speculative fiction in the 60 Days to Become a Speculative Fiction Writer project at the publication Isle of Words.
