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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Zappo" data-source="post: 1920431" data-attributes="member: 633">I think that fantasy and sci-fi are defined by having a completely or mostly invented setting. Other genres are set at some temporal and spatial point of Earth, sometimes with some differences but still recognizable.  Since inventing a good setting is a lot of work for the author and understanding it is a lot of work for the reader, writers generally make it central to the plot. Since the easy way to do so is to make the plot change the setting, lots of fantasy/sci-fi books are epic save-the-world stuff. Since the easy way to show the setting to the reader is to use a character who himself doesn't know much about the setting, lots of fantasy/sci-fi books (more fantasy than sci-fi actually) feature a main character who is largely naive and clueless but has to tour the whole world for some reason and eventually gets experienced enough to complete the quest.  Of course, that's the easy way. Joshua Dyal is right. Since many other genres have their characteristics in the plot or characters but not in the setting, you can have plenty of fantasy/sci-fi that isn't epic. The only problem lies in making the setting important; otherwise, you could as well set the story on Earth instead of wasting your and the reader's time in explaining the setting.  Fantasy/sci-fi being considered as 2nd class literature is a true disgrace. Unfortunately, the publishers keep putting out the same naive-hero-goes-on-epic-quest over and over again. Dudes, when Tolkien did it, it was still original. Now it isn't by any definition, and having a really weird setting or an antihero instead of a hero isn't original either. Stop buying it, and maybe we'll see something new sooner or later.</blockquote>

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