Does Sci Fi Rely on Real Life? – Thesis Question, participation appreciated!

[Talysia]

I voted for both.

Imagination comes from the writer, and that drives the story to new levels. However, without a basis of some sort in reality, it's often difficult to relate to. That's what I've found, at least.

[pyan]

Both.
Yes, writers draw on "real life" for inspiration- but it's the ability to transcend this and let the imagination break free of it that makes them a Science Fiction (or Fantasy) writer.

[Ian Whates]

The way the question is framed, I had to vote 'Yes'. Of course imagination is a vital ingredient in anything science fiction, and in many stories it's far and away the most important ingredient, but the initial inspiration invariably comes from something encountered by the author: be it something experienced first hand, or something seen, heard, read, or a combination of such things, reality has to have played a part.

What the imagination then does with that inspiration is all important, but somewhere buried beneath the fiction, an element of real life will have formed the seed around which any SF story is constructed.

After all, to take things literally, science is defined as "the systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world" to quote the Oxford English Dictionary. So by definition, Science Fiction is the excercise of imagination based on such study.