- Shishka
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- Exalted Mythic Member
If you really need to water it down, I'd look at it from the standpoint of the writer.
To be more specifically, Science fiction deals mainly in time that takes place during or after the lifetime of the writer. The basic staple is "technology," which is often if not always explainable, either via a specific or complicated terminology, or has some basis for being "too advanced" for current understanding.
Fantasy runs the opposite course, taking place before the lifetime of the writer. Ballistics often do not exist unless in the form of musket or cannon, replaced by simpler weapons and/or magic. Magic is often the fantasy response to Sci-Fi's "technology" approach, and is generally only explained in vague terminology and exists more as a collection of concepts and theories rather than proven (in relation to the story universe, anyway) facts.
Plot is generally interchangable between Sci Fi and Fantasy. Any Fantasy story can become Sci-Fi if the mise en scene is adjusted appropriately, and vice versa.