Has anyone here ever written or tried to write a science fiction story? Fanfic doesn't count, duh. I'm wondering because I'm trying to write a sci-fi story of my own right now. It's still more in the concept stage, but I've been coming up with new ideas on how to put it together. The hardest part is that I'm much more of a linear-type person, so writing isn't the easiest thing for me, but I still feel like I want to at least make an attempt. Can anyone who's written any sci-fi shares their experiences, and perhaps give some tips?
Anyone here ever try to write science fiction?
- Thread starter TalkieToaster
- Start date
Does fantasy count? My first book (stories with subtle fantasy elements) comes out in October, and a straight-on contemporary fantasy novel in the spring.
Many of the "fan-fic" writers have also written non- fanfic material. Your question would be better addressed in that forum or in the Trek Lit forum. As for tips-find a situation/location/time of day etc where you are both alert and comfortable, let your mind wander over your planned story until ideas come to mind and then write them down. That's really all any writer does.
I'm a big believer in outlining. If you have all the logistics plotted out in advance, and already know how to get the plot from Point A to B, then you can concentrate more on the actual prose. I rely heavily on index cards, legal pads, and other low-tech writing aids.
Thanks to modern-day word processing, you can also layer in various parts of the story, so you're not trying to do too many things at once. I may concentrate on dialogue one day, then go back and fill in the visuals and physical business later on. Or vise versa.
Hope this helps!
Thanks to modern-day word processing, you can also layer in various parts of the story, so you're not trying to do too many things at once. I may concentrate on dialogue one day, then go back and fill in the visuals and physical business later on. Or vise versa.
Hope this helps!
Every single writer has a different way of doing things, unfortunately. If you're a linear thinker, you will probably have better luck drawing up the outline first. Just remember that you may have to play with the outline as you're working if you come up with things early on in the writing process that weren't in the outline.
And I'd lay good money you'll do that.
The biggest tip I can give you? Butt in chair. You're not going to do anything if you don't put your butt in the chair and write. Conceptualizing is all well and good, but that's not the end product you have in mind, is it?
And I'd lay good money you'll do that.
The biggest tip I can give you? Butt in chair. You're not going to do anything if you don't put your butt in the chair and write. Conceptualizing is all well and good, but that's not the end product you have in mind, is it?
I heard an anecdote once about Randall Garret, author of the Lord Darcy stories. He was at an early scifi convention, it was late and he was (shockingly) 
drunk. A young man came up to him and asked him questions similar to the OP. He allegedly listened for a moment, then pulled a pen out of his pocket and handed it to the young man. "Just write," is what he told him, before stumbling off into the heart of the party. The young man listened rather well to this simple advice. Robert Silverberg has quite the name in scifi circles today.
drunk. A young man came up to him and asked him questions similar to the OP. He allegedly listened for a moment, then pulled a pen out of his pocket and handed it to the young man. "Just write," is what he told him, before stumbling off into the heart of the party. The young man listened rather well to this simple advice. Robert Silverberg has quite the name in scifi circles today.
Terri is absolutely right that every writer finds what works for them. A writing instructor once told me that there were at least two different kinds of writers: gardeners, who tend to let the story grow organically without much advance planning, and carpenters, who painstakingly assemble the story according to a detailed blueprint. I'm more of a carpenter myself, but there are also plenty of successful gardeners out there.
I've got several ideas for books in different stages of development; a few of them have drafts begun.
Outlining I have found to be both a blessing and a curse. It's nice to know where I'm going with the story and how I'm planning to get there. On the other hand, I'm haunted by a science fiction novel that I once outlined. A beautiful, wonderful epic spanning years and planets and following a character as he takes a deep journey into himself while seeking revenge not only for himself, but on behalf of his entire race. I still think it's an interesting story. But I doubt the thing will ever get written, because I spent all my creative energy and drive on the very specific, very detailed outline...nothing was left over for the actual writing. So what I've done for the book I'm writing now is sketch out the huge plot points in the loosest of terms: "A and B travel to Location X to take down Villain" and other obvious turning points. That way I leave room for innovation and invention while I'm actually doing the real job of creating the story.
EDIT: Greg, I love that metaphor.
Outlining I have found to be both a blessing and a curse. It's nice to know where I'm going with the story and how I'm planning to get there. On the other hand, I'm haunted by a science fiction novel that I once outlined. A beautiful, wonderful epic spanning years and planets and following a character as he takes a deep journey into himself while seeking revenge not only for himself, but on behalf of his entire race. I still think it's an interesting story. But I doubt the thing will ever get written, because I spent all my creative energy and drive on the very specific, very detailed outline...nothing was left over for the actual writing. So what I've done for the book I'm writing now is sketch out the huge plot points in the loosest of terms: "A and B travel to Location X to take down Villain" and other obvious turning points. That way I leave room for innovation and invention while I'm actually doing the real job of creating the story.
EDIT: Greg, I love that metaphor.
That's honestly one of the very few genres I've never tried. It just seems like something get my head around, but I certainly admire the hell out of anyone who can.
Uhm, not in a book sense, but I've made my own screenplay if that counts 
. It's pratically complete, and has been for months. I keep going back to it every now and again to edit it. I've also got two more screenplays (which were sequels, but now the screenplay that was going to be the first sequel, is now the first in the series, and the first screenplay I wrote is the follow on, get me?) that I'm currently still writing. All in all I think the first is around 120 odd pages, the second so far (which in my eyes is now the first) is up to 40 odd pages, and that's only really the first quarter of what I want, and the third is taking a while and only up to about 10 pages, not including the end scene which I wrote before I completed the first one. 
.
It's sci-fi I suppose...
. It's pratically complete, and has been for months. I keep going back to it every now and again to edit it. I've also got two more screenplays (which were sequels, but now the screenplay that was going to be the first sequel, is now the first in the series, and the first screenplay I wrote is the follow on, get me?) that I'm currently still writing. All in all I think the first is around 120 odd pages, the second so far (which in my eyes is now the first) is up to 40 odd pages, and that's only really the first quarter of what I want, and the third is taking a while and only up to about 10 pages, not including the end scene which I wrote before I completed the first one. .It's sci-fi I suppose...
Give the credit to Suzy McKee Charnas. She's the one who told it to me. I've always thought she was onto something there.
I'm somewhere in between. I outline my stuff and do plenty of concept and backstory notes, but my outlines are often fairly loose and I leave room for figuring out details as I go and discovering new things. I often feel that some of my best work happens when I'm adding or filling in something that wasn't in the outline and I'm just discovering stuff as I go.
And I seem to be relying less on outlines lately. My latest Star Trek novel had just about my leanest outline yet; since I outlined it for the Abrams continuity before seeing the film, I left a lot of it fairly vague, and I just filled in sequences, characters, and subplots as I wrote, coming up with a number of cool characters and arcs that just emerged with no prior planning. I'm pretty much doing the same thing on the original spec novel I've been working on over the past few months. I wrote the outline for it a few years ago, but I've rethought a lot of its structure since; yet, rather than rewriting the outline, I just went ahead and started writing the book (I was impatient to get on with it) and I've been figuring it out as I go. Which can be tricky, because sometimes I introduce something and have no idea where I'm going to go with it or how it's going to pay off or fit into the larger story.
Though that can produce some marvelous serendipity. For my spec novel, I came up with a technological concept that was basically just a vehicle for providing the initial exposition and setup in an interesting way. But I didn't have any other use in mind for it in the story, so I feared it was kind of gratuitous. But later, I realized that it could provide a solution to a problem I had later in the book, thus making it integral to the story. That actually happens a lot in writing, at least in my experience -- you have two unrelated loose ends and then you realize that they can complete each other.
But of course you can always go back and revise things as needed. There have been instances where I've figured something out about a character in a middle chapter and then gone back to earlier chapters and folded in the appropriate setup for it, so that it wasn't a sudden, out-of-nowhere revelation.
I'm a gardener, but I'm in an alternative-history phase at the moment. I have tried writing sci fi and fantasy and failed, but I know now that this was not due to the lack of my writing ability, but lack of a strong enough story.
Once I've finished my alt-history novel, I have a whole book of ideas to follow up on, some sci fi, some fantasy, crime, or perhaps even a sequel to my current novel.
As others have said, the best way to move forward is to write. You can always edit the mess out later.
Once I've finished my alt-history novel, I have a whole book of ideas to follow up on, some sci fi, some fantasy, crime, or perhaps even a sequel to my current novel.
As others have said, the best way to move forward is to write. You can always edit the mess out later.
The down side is sometimes you corner yourself. I have 32 hand-written pages of a story-and I've spent the last 7 years trying to get out of the corner I painted(not continuously-I took time out for marriage, children, work, eating, etc). The problem I have is I love what I've got written despite painting myself into that corner-I don't want to back up and start over because I'd have to gut the story to do so. So outlines sometimes come in kinda handy...
I once got this idea for a story I wanted to write, I started writing and got about 6000 words written, and suddenly had no idea of where I actually wanted to go with it. I'd written an outline of the story before I started writing but when I read back what I'd written it was nothing like the outline. So I guess I'm no good as either gardener or carpenter. 
I wrote a novel back in the early 90s. It was about relationships redefined by what was then new and speculative technology. Friends pointed out that I had more or less written Ghost in the Shell. I had never heard of it. 
i've written both fan-fic and non fan-fic SF. i usually write an outline and then start writing it 'in my head' before i can get time to do it on the PC, sometimes this comes out the same, other times, it changes as i go, but i always stick with the basics of the outline.
