What are fantasy, fantasy, and science fiction?

Answer 1

Fantasy, fantasy, and science fiction were related to a certain extent.
[Fantasy]
The fantasy genre was the most difficult genre to define and summarize in online novels.
In general, fantasy could be understood as the opposite of science fiction. It referred to works that had fantasy but could not be explained by science.
The term " fantasy " originated from Huang Yi's " fantasy series " novels, which meant " a combination of metaphysics, science, and literature." After the birth of online novels, many people classified their works as fantasy because of Huang Yi's profound influence on that generation of authors.
In fact, at this stage, the concept of fantasy had already changed. It generally referred to all web novels that had elements of fantasy. With the development of online literature, in the fantasy genre, one small genre after another gradually took shape and grew stronger. One by one, they became independent from the fantasy genre and became a major genre that was on par with it.
With the further development of online literature, fantasy genre evolved into a relatively narrow concept.
It referred to a high-level martial arts novel with a world background of ancient oriental culture and a clear cultivation system. Of course, some novels with more special content that were difficult to distinguish were still habitually classified as fantasy.

[Fantasy]
In a sense, fantasy was the antithesis of fantasy. The only difference between the two was the background and setting of the story. One was more Chinese, while the other was more Western.
In fact, fantasy novels appeared before online literature. At that time, the fantasy genre covered a wide range, including western fantasy novels, later fantasy novels, and even urban supernatural novels.
However, after the birth of online literature, the fantasy genre had a new definition. It referred to novels with a world setting of ancient western colors and surreal settings such as magic.
It was worth noting that the " Western background " mentioned here was precisely the ancient Western background imagined by China readers. To a large extent, it was only reflected in the setting of some terms, such as names of people and places.
Of course, there was another branch of fantasy, Western fantasy. They strictly followed some Western-style settings, such as D&D rules, and made the background setting, worldview, and character thinking of the works close to traditional Western fantasy novels. Even the text style was close to the translation style. Western fantasy had a small but relatively loyal readership. This type of work had many restrictions. It had certain requirements on the author's relevant knowledge and even the standard of writing.
As the twin sisters of fantasy, the two types had similar attributes, but the China Western background was not as familiar and intimate as the direct China background. Compared to fantasy, fantasy took a detour. It was slightly more difficult to write, but the reader base was far inferior. It was a bit of a thankless task.

[Science fiction]
Science fiction in the traditional sense, according to the definition of Ci Hai, was " based on new discoveries and achievements in science and technology, as well as the predictions that could be achieved on these foundations, a new type of novel that described human beings using these new achievements to complete certain miracles in a fantasy way." To put it simply, it was " a novel that fantasized based on scientific evidence."
The concept of science fiction in online literature had changed. Generally speaking, it referred to " novels that contain elements that can be understood as technology, and that elements have a profound impact on the protagonist or the background of the novel."
In fact, such technological elements did not necessarily need to be based on science. Similarly, the focus of online science fiction was not on science fiction itself, but to help tell the story or simply use it as the protagonist's golden finger.
The coverage of sci-fi genre and its compatibility with other genre and elements were not bad. In other words, it was a very mixed genre.
However, with the development of the market, the boundaries between sci-fi and fantasy became more and more blurred, so much so that a considerable number of comics and doujin works were also classified under the sci-fi category. This might not be in line with the definition of sci-fi, but it was the result of market development.