Too mundane for SFF?

I think as long as your plots include SF/F stuff that makes them in some way different than the same plot set in the real world, anything can pass. At least that's my opinion.

But what do I know? I'm just a window cleaner....

I can't remember where I read it, but someone in the field once defined SF like this: If you remove the science (or spec element) and the story doesn't fall apparent, then you're not writing science fiction.

If your stories deal with "mundane" issues but are utilizing the world/science/etc you've included, then you're probably good.

If you take out all that and the story still stays fundamentally unchanged, then I'd have to agree: Why try to make it sci-fi if you aren't utilizing those elements in the story? When I read spec-fic I expect the story and characters to be heavily entwined with the proposed fantastical in some way.

The only question I would have is: Do the issues your characters deal with and around which the story revolves tie into the fantastic elements of your world? As long as that's the case, I don't think you have a problem. Science fiction and fantasy doesn't have to be action and adventure, and can certainly encompass social issues. A lot of the stories published in these genres are about social issues. They're about how these fantastical changes would impact their societies, or they're using certain features as metaphors and really commenting on our world, etc. The only problem would be if you're using the fantasy elements purely as window dressing and they have no impact on your character's lives or problems. If that's not the case, don't worry about it.

virtue_summer said:

Science fiction and fantasy doesn't have to be action and adventure

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YES, this. SFF takes all kinds of forms. The idea that SFF must contain a world-wide war or a travel quest is simply false.

There are plenty of fantasy stories that make good use of the fantasy element, but have a more socio-political plotline. The Alchemy of Stone, Dawn, and Bone Dance: A Fantasy for Technophiles are just a few examples that immediately come to mind.

It's called "science fiction" but there are social sciences as well as physical sciences. Social science fiction is hands-down my favorite form the SF/F genre. I know many writers, published and unpublished, who enjoy SF specifically because it allows them to write alternate societies that holds up a mirror to our own. This teaches readers to think outside the box and question our own way of doing things.

There is incredible power for SFF to create a new history and speculate on a new society. Most other genres will restrict you to modern life and real-life history, which means authors are limited to rehashing the historical status quo over and over instead of brainstorming solutions (or at least alernatives.)

Many fantasy enthusiasts complain about fantasy races and tropes as being "overdone", but I think the worst offense is to take a fantastical world and make it a copy of our own western culture. Why so many monarchies instead of meritocracies? Why so many patriarchies instead of gender egalitarian societies? SF/F puts a limitless universe of peoples, worlds, and societies at our fingertips, but too many fantasy authors retread the same pseudo-Midieval grounds and SF authors mimic the social values of 2011 without thinking how different they'll be in another 500 years (You think 99% of astronauts will all be white men in the future? Really?)

Be a pioneer--make it social, make it political! Keep it on the small scale with characters we care about instead of copying the wars of warmed-over Tolkien rip-offs. You're in good company of hundreds of other SF/F writers who care about the same things you do, and use spec fic elements to illustrate their themes and ideas.

Have you read Passage or Bellwether by Connie Willis? It's hard to get more "mundane" than those books and they are definitely Science Fiction.

Its SF and the mundane does not bother me so long as there is a conflict that ties all the stuff together and which must be resolved.

Otherwise, if I am just reading someones diary of their daily life, SF or no SF, I am moving on...

The presidential elections, depression, and social issues exist in the context of your fantastic world, right? Many others have already said that makes it completely legitimate SFF and you're in good company.

Some would say that the ability to address normal issues from a fantastic viewpoint is one of fantasy's strengths. You can talk about politics without bringing up specific parties or nations, dealing with the issue in abstract without distracting secondary issues. You can explore depression from an angle that we don't see in the real world. If toilet paper plays a major role along the way, that's just gravy.

I guess it kind of puzzles me why you came up with the new tech at all if it doesn't matter to the story. I can know lots of things about my world that I don't mention in the book, but if I mention something unique and interesting in the book, generally it's going to matter to the story. If the science isn't crucial, it's not science fiction. But social science is also science, including political science. Whether what you write about is going to be interesting to the "typical" science fiction audience is one thing. But I don't think not focusing on the technology disqualifies it from the genre. It's called science fiction, not tech fiction.

If you're worried about the book not going over well with a sci-fi readership, then I suggest you change the sci-fi to supernatural and write it as literary fiction -- you'll have magical realism, which is a very popular genre among Latin American readers as well as Latin America's best writers like Allende, Marquez, and Lorca, and has a strong following outside the Hispanic world, too.

Good luck.

Spot on. I agree. Nice to cite Dune, too. I've read it numerous times and think it's a great example to use here.

SFF is still stories about the human experience. I think that we use the extended metaphors that SFF allows us in order to tell a broader pallet of stories which are still, at their essence, about our own selves.

One way to think of it is how individuals (not necessarily humans) interact with circumstances different from those in our current reality.

Totally SFF.

Besides, you can't be too mundane for SFF. I mean, there's an entire sub-genre called "mundane science fiction". XD