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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/21743
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Sci fi and fantasy get shelved together in the bookstore because they are such interchangeable sub-genres of the one umbrella genre: speculative fiction. What would life be like if X happened or existed? You get one cool thing that doesn't exist for free; the rest you have to earn by telling a good story.

Around 2003, I discovered D&D. D&D isn't so much a game as a TOOLBOX for playing games of the adventure type. They have stories, and you can draw on so many inspirations, both those mentioned in the published rulebooks, and those that aren't. D&D is a game, and is one part dice rolling, one part statistics, and about a million parts storytelling. The setting is typically of the fantasy variety, but that definition is to writers what an arts degree is to a Starbucks employee.

Telling a speculative fiction story is to pick and choose which _elements_ to use, and which not to. What monsters, spells, hero types, gods, landscapes, types of societies, tech levels, etc do you WANT to use? Answer that and then go ahead and USE them. Stuff what the naysayers say - you can use ANY story or setting element you want, as long as you tell an engaging story. A painter chooses which colours, types of paints, brushes, surface, size, easel, and so on to use to create his or her painting. There are methods to achieving success, and there's a lot of art knowledge to help you understand what you're doing, but ultimately, it comes down to what you WANT to paint. It's the same with writing speculative fiction.

Anyone who says you CAN'T have science in your fantasy fails to understand fantasy. Those who demand that all fantasy follow the same formula is missing the whole point of fantasy to begin with - anything goes!

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