[TheEarCollector]

Ok... I guess this is a question based on your perspective of certain occurrences, but how does "supernatural" fit into writing? With fantasy, it's easy, but I always saw sci-fi as more of a "where we're going" sort of topic in which case you have to know where you are. Everything has an explanation in sci-fi, but not everything has an explanation in our world.
Ghosts, sasquatch, chupacabras, yetis, the loch ness monster... They are all things that some people believe exist, yet not all agree. To those people who do believe in their existence, there is no logical explanation, so does this mean their lives would read more like a fantasy?
I am just curious to see how you all interpret this...

[SubZero61992]

Not really.

I mean c'mon, the every day world itself is becoming a fantasy ( hi-tech wierd stuff) but I called peoples beliefs their own opinion about things.

Their is many religions yet I go by one while others may take 2 or 3.

So I guess it is just their opinions.

[Expendable]

A lot of reputable people have seen ghosts and ufos. Sometimes there have been witnesses and sometimes evidence.

And sometimes you discover what's making those crop circles is a guy with a board and some rope.

Some of it may be real. And some of it might be a trick or a story.

[SubZero61992]

Well, to add more, I believe in PAranormal, I think there is alot of evidence to prove it.

I believe the Devil can do anything God can but conquer good.

And last but not least, I believe animals spirits can pass just like humans.

( my beliefs, please no arguments)

Oh, and does this belong in the Writing forum or more likely the General forum?

[Holbrook]

Myths, legends, the supernatural, the history of the land I live in, its past and present religions etc are my research book, so to speak.

If you are writing SF you follow the trends in emerging technology and expand it. With fantasy you take other elements and scaps of information and expand from that.

The whole thing really is using the information as a spring board for your imagination, you don't know where it will take you and that's half the fun.

[Archren]

The fantasy elements of our world stand out because they are unusual or out of the ordinary. The science fiction elements of our world blend into the background of our lives because they are so ubiquitous (cars, computers, cat scans, etc.) that we don't notice them.

This would lead me to conclude that our everyday lives have more to do with SF than with Fantasy, but I really like Holbrook's comments. It's all to do with imagination.

[KatG]

I'm still trying to figure out the question. :)

There are people who believe in the yeti, UFO's, ghosts, and other paranormal things. These are beliefs and don't actually shape the real world. People who have these beliefs do believe that they live in a paranormal world.

Where I'm unclear is how you want to connect this to writing. Are you asking about writers who believe in paranormal things, or about how writers can make use of paranormal beliefs in writing fantasy or sf fiction?

[Dawnstorm]

Everything has an explanation in sci-fi, but not everything has an explanation in our world.

I don't know if I can agree with this.

Does the sentient ocean in Lem's Solaris really have a final explanation? Or the monolith in Clarke's 2001?

To me the difference is more in the attitude of the characters. Fantasy is more partial to "priests-who-know", whereas SF is more partial to "scientist-who-seek-to-understand". Non of this is as easy as it sounds (you can have "priests-who-seek-to-understand" or "scientists-who-know") and this is why SF and F meet in the middle so very often.

[TheEarCollector]

Well... I am seeing, as writers, how you all see where the world is going. if you are like me you see the sci-fi spin on the future where technology becomes increasingly important in the lives of people (and ultimately shapes the future), but then again there are those little unexplained things that some people believe and some don't... So in writing do you choose to leave those out for the sake of creating a more "sci-fi" more or do you include it to make it a more realistic world where not everything can be explained...
I don't know if that clears anything up.

[Dawnstorm]

I leave'em in. SF often examines the boundries of science and technology. There's a lot of ideology implicit in science, anyway.