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Fiction Vs Speculative Fiction

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Speculative fiction gives writers a larger landscape to write in, in terms of genre. Speculative fiction encompasses many other genres, which gives more room for the reader to explore between the lines of the story and speculate as they read. As opposed to realistic fiction, there is a smaller scale which doesn’t offer enough space to explore new ideas. What sets the two apart, is that there are more questions that the reader can ask when reading speculative and it can give space for the reader’s curiosity. Although realistic fiction is grounded in the world now, readers often reach for escapism when it comes to books and speculative fiction is the perfect genre for that. Being able to fall into a story that is far away from the world we live in now gives the readers a chance to forget about their lives or whatever they are going through. Speculative fiction also allows authors to move in between genres, but keep the story as one. Novelist Julia McKenna describes the difference, “Speculative fiction may not mimic real life but it uses its magic mirror to reflect on the world around us. It's a fundamentally outward-looking genre, in direct contrast to literary fiction, which looks inward to explore the human condition.” (https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/apr/18/genre-debate-science-fiction-speculative-literary) by saying this the genre gives readers a chance to explore the world in a new way, an almost magical way and allows readers to see the human condition with a

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