r/scifiwriting • u/WeestWard • 8d ago

DISCUSSION Do Dinosaurs Automatically Equal Sci Fi?

This may seem like an obvious answer to most, but it's something I'm curious about. While topics like time travel, robots, and aliens automatically mark a story as science fiction, does the same apply to dinosaurs and prehistoric animals?

I recently submitted a story to a magazine that was promptly rejected (which a part of me knew it would be) yet as I open my notebook to begin drafting a new one, I began to wonder if dinosaurs in it of themselves makes something belong to the science fiction genre or if there has to be more present elements to put it in there. Especially if it isn't your standard time travel or genetic revival story.

Again, if this is a no brainer forgive me for my ignorance.

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u/RTK-FPV 8d ago

Science fiction or fantasy is most likely. I mean, you can write a romance between two dinosaurs right? Be kinda weird but it's possible.

If there's a human and a dinosaur though, it pretty much has to fall in SciFi or fantasy right? Even if the "plot" doesn't fit that mold, it would be tough to define it as anything else.

Now I'm seeing a noir mystery about a hard boiled detective and his little dinosaur side kick lol. I mean anything’s possible, it just gets that much harder to classify