The wobbly theory undergirding “speculative” fiction is how it stands against false fiction. Supposedly, it is a genre built on words that may be fictional but sprouting false theories. Madame Wikipedia says it’s characterized by lesser adherence to realistic or plausible individuals, events, or places.
But realistic fiction is just that, real. Literature as prose describes imaginary events and people. It doesn’t speculate, it educates. Most speculative fiction is drawn and quartered by depicting imaginary places, times, motives, and outcomes under which neither law, nature, common sense, honesty, or truth is welcomed with closed arms. It owns a sub-genre called fantasy fiction. Isn’t all fiction fantasy?
Occasionally, speculative authors predicate themselves on imaginary universes where basic laws of nature don’t exist, impossible technology does, and major news events spun on major media outlets are presented as flawed fiction. And because there’s nothing scientific about it, there are no formulas or weather predictions.
But still, it’s popular. De Mode says, “It’s been gaining popularity in recent years, with new and exciting trends emerging that has captivated readers and viewers alike. From dystopian societies to alternate realities and fantastical creatures, speculative fiction has become a powerful force in the literary and entertainment industries.”[1]
In upside/downside ways it glides readers through true historical moments doctored to look like imaginary events or actual recent major new events that are imaginary, alternative history.
None of it is “bad” or “good.” Most fiction seems vaguely familiar as though it happened, but everyone forgot about it as it was happening.
Understanding speculative fiction calls for real-world metaphors. The website, Orin’s Belt, features staff writers who are “savvy, bold, poets, and editors who embody the magazine’s vision for literary speculative fiction.”[2]
“All fiction is to a certain extent metaphorical. The setting and plot points of a story matter, but they matter in that they create a foundation for the passions and laments and psychological tensions that give a story the capacity to captivate its audience. Theorists from Aristotle to Percy Shelley have discussed this idea, but a basic form of it is common knowledge. A story that only has plot points and no emotional resonance beneath them would be, in common opinion, a bad story. Narrative storytelling uses a layer of artifice, relating the facts of a made-up situation, in order to better communicate a layer of truth: feelings and yearnings that relate to the world we inhabit. Those story-facts have a metaphorical value, and that value is why they make us care.”[3]
The essence of speculative fiction is that “layer of artifice.” Artifice is a clever, cunning device used to trick or deceive readers, at least a little bit. It is magnificent trickery. Imagine this trick. Your novel has at its core a beautiful diamond bracelet. Later in the story, the reader learns it is as beautiful as a fake diamond can be. Its pricing in the story and the character’s yearning for it are all for naught. That’s artifice, the essence of artificial.
The ethical imperative of all fiction writers, speculative or otherwise, is to write honest facts, opinions, and beliefs. They should be bound by the rules of moral authority. Moral authority has the capacity to convince others of how the world should be. They shouldn’t speculate about it. While it’s rare these days, whether actual fiction or speculative fiction, writers should write “essential truth.”
“Essential truth is when the story’s plot, emotional current, characters, and dialogue convey authenticity and “ring true.” This takes place in fiction and in memoir whether the story is Steinbeck’s portrayal of life during the Great Depression, Mary Doria Russell’s rendering of a time-traveling, space-traveling priest who returns to earth to tell his tale, or Frank McCourt’s depiction of life as a poor child in Ireland. When a story shows this quality of essential truth, the reader may inhabit it without feeling manipulated by an author using deception, or working with a hidden agenda. Interest level in any story is a subjective reader experience. Believability too is also subjective. But I believe guidelines exist for writing quality work and ethical work as well. Essential truth is when the story’s plot, emotional current, characters, and dialogue convey authenticity and “ring true.”
This takes place in fiction and in memoir whether the story is Steinbeck’s portrayal of life during the Great Depression, Mary Doria Russell’s rendering of a time-traveling, space-traveling priest who returns to earth to tell his tale, or Frank McCourt’s depiction of life as a poor child in Ireland. When a story shows this quality of essential truth, the reader may inhabit it without feeling manipulated by an author using deception, or working with a hidden agenda. Interest level in any story is a subjective reader experience. Believability too is also subjective. But guidelines exist for writing quality work and ethical work as well.”[4]
[1] https://www.demodemagazine.com/the-rise-of-speculative-fiction-a-look-at-the-latest-trends-de-mode-of-literature
[2] https://www.orions-belt.net/masthead
[3] https://www.orions-belt.net/archives/metaphor-and-speculative-fiction
[4] https://www.namw.org/2013/07/the-ethics-of-truth-in-writing-fiction-and-non-fiction-betsy-graziani-fasbinder/
I am an author and a part-time lawyer with a focus on ethics and professional discipline. I teach creative writing and ethics to law students at Arizona State University. Read my bio.
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I am an author and a part-time lawyer with a focus on ethics and professional discipline. I teach creative writing and ethics to law students at Arizona State University. 
My latest novel is Hide & Be. 
If you have an important story you want told, you can commission me to write it for you. 