THE (SHIFTING) LINE BETWEEN ROMANTIC SF AND SCIENCE FICTION ROMANCE
Source: thegalaxyexpress.net
Sometimes it’s easy to spot the difference between romantic science fiction and science fiction romance. If you can remove the romance without affecting the plot, then it’s romantic SF. It even boils down to the physical word count, in the sense that the majority of text is devoted to the external plot or worldbuilding, and the story doesn’t spend nearly as much time on the development of the romance.
Other times, it’s not as easy to measure when romantic SF crosses over into science fiction romance territory. In this case, reader subjectivity plays a significant role. I, for one, am highly guilty of interpreting the presence of a romance in romantic SF as much more predominant in a story than it actually is, if one measures it based on the ratio of romance to external plot. The issue is important when it comes to both defining science fiction romance as well as making reading recommendations. There are some SFR books on which we can all agree; others might lead to a healthy debate over where to draw the line.
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Hmmm. What do you think? Is there a difference between romantic scifi, and a scifi romance? Which do you prefer to read? For me, I’d definitely prefer to read a science fiction book, that has a bit of romance in it, but stands as a story alone , than a romance that has a sci fi plot inserted into it.
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