Science Fiction

To define anything, I believe it is important to start with the general and work towards the specific.  To begin with, a work of science fiction is just that: a piece of literature which is invented as opposed to recorded, and in which a prevailing theme of science exists.  To move towards a more specific definition, one must look for common elements in pieces of science fiction.  After reading some science fiction stories, it is difficult to identify a common ground.  Some have aliens, others do not.  Some are set in the future, others are set in the past.  Some are set in space, others are set on earth. Some place emphasis on new technology, while others place emphasis on humans and society.  Looking at works as different as The Hunger Games, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and Brave New World, it is difficult to pinpoint what unites them.  How is it that all of these stories can be classified as science fiction? What aspect differentiates them from any other work of fiction?  In my opinion, what makes science fiction distinct as its own genre is how it appeals to the mind of its audience.  Not many things that happen in works of science fiction are really very likely to happen.  However, science fiction takes these improbable occurrences and uses concepts of science to make them seem possible.  This possibility, however unlikely, is what stimulates the audience to enter the world of science fiction and what defines it as a genre.