The Speculative Genres

Now that Realistic Fiction has been more or less defined and explored, it’s time to expand storytelling into the more imaginative realm of Speculative Fiction. While the term may be a little intimidating or strange to those that don’t typically deep dive into literary genre terms, it is a relatively straightforward — if incredibly varied — definition. “Speculative” refers to the type of fiction that deals with theoretical or “what if” ideas; what if humanity colonized Venus; what if there was a world were trees walked and talked; what if the Roman Empire had never fallen, but endured from antiquity until now; what if there was an evil clown living in the sewers? The point of Speculative Fiction is to go far beyond the natural rules and laws God established in the beginning and imagine stories in worlds completely separate from our own.

It is this break from God’s carefully and wonderfully designed reality that makes some Christian creatives and members of the Christian audience want to shy away from Speculative Fiction. Some view it as a sin to try to imagine a world different from what God designed, others fear using that much imagination could lead to other sins. While Speculative Fiction may be a sin for those who believe it is (Romans 14:14), and there may be types of Speculative Fiction that tend to be more sinful than others (in the modern era, Romantasy is a good example), the act of using our God-given imagination to explore concepts and ideas about the world is not a sin in and of itself. Unless a creative takes their imagined world and says “this is better than anything God could’ve come up with” — an act of which could be firmly placed under the category of human pride — there is no sin coming up with new ideas for how the world could work in a “what if” scenario. A child might pretend their parents’ kitchen is blue when its really yellow, but that is not disrespectful to the parent (unless the child is intentionally being disrespectful).

In many ways, Speculative Fiction can be used to explore the world that God made by either exaggerating concepts that already exist, such as physics or biology, or by breaking entirely from reality and exploring foundational changes to the world, such as a complex magic system or fundamental differences in how animals reproduce and adapt to their environment. Even in these extreme cases, we can still explore God’s good universe by defining what it is not. Additionally, using our imaginations in this way is by definition exploring how God made us, both collectively as creatures He made in His own, creative image as well as individuals. How do we imagine things differently than other people? How do we see the world, where do we see areas to explore and play with ideas?

That is the second good quality that Speculative Fiction can bring to the table: the idea of play. Letting our minds loose to paint with strange colors, to rest from daily life just a little, to step into new worlds and universes governed by different laws and the intellectual chewing that can take; all of these can fall under the category of using stories as a form of play. It can provide the brain a necessary break from it’s usual thought patterns, anxieties, and struggles or inspire new ideas and ways of thinking. While God’s children need to be diligent in the responsibilities that He has given them, He is also a God who encourages regular, healthy rest. If Speculative Fiction provides that rest — either in ingesting or creating it — and causes no sin in one’s heart, then it itself is not a sin.

Setting aside the grander and heavier theological elements of Speculative Fiction, there is another approach we can take: all of the imaginative elements are merely set dressing. It is an actress on a stage wearing a green dress instead of a red dress; it is painting a car black instead of orange; it is a pair of earrings or a little lipstick. The important meat of the story is the message and theology, the characters, and the plot. That is where the Christian creative can bring out good, good Godly messages and expound the Truth. It’s this very core of the story that might not change between Realistic and Speculative Fiction, although it may wear a different type of shirt from one kingdom of fiction to the other.

The next few articles will dive more deeply into a handful of different Speculative Fiction genres, particularly their definitions, pitfalls, and theological strengths and weaknesses. It will also take a look at one of Speculative Fiction’s greatest strengths: that is getting under the defenses of the audience, which can be a useful tool for the Christian creative.