So you want to write a Sci-Fi Book?

 So you want to write a Sci-Fi Book?

I’ve never been able to create a world where aliens lived, so I will never be able to write a Science Fiction Book worthy of publishing. Now give me a murder mystery or political drama and I’ll run circles around you, but sci-fi no way. However, I do know how to write a book, after all I’ve written five of them already and am working on a new series now. So, I can tell you how to write a book, so let’s get started with Sci-Fi fun.

Let’s start by asking ourselves a few questions:

Does your world have a believable structure that your audience will expect?

Don’t neglect your characters by not giving your readers their background story.

Have you read enough science fiction novels to understand the realm of what science fiction could be?

Science fiction followers are meticulous in what they expect in a storyline. So be sure to know your audience and what they will expect from you as a writer. Also know your subgenres so you plug your work into the right niche for better success.

Diehard science fiction is composed of real scientific laws and understandings such as mathematics, physics, and biology that will form a crucial part of your plot.  

If you haven’t checked out the hard science fiction works, here’s a list of those you should check out to learn how this genre works.

The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton

The Martian by Andy Weir

Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars trilogy

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

Foundation by Isaac Asimov

Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke

The Sentinel by Arthur C. Clarke

Soft Science Fiction writers take what is current scientific knowledge and fast forward their imagining of what our future or our alternate world would look like. In general, hard sci-fi is closer to current science, whereas science fiction that gets further away from what is presently known is considered soft.

Cosmonaut Keep by Ken Macleod  

The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters

The Destroyer by Victor LaValle

My favorite is Blackout by Connie Willis because it deals with history and time travel.

No matter what genre you write Hard or Soft Science Fiction, your key plot and structure needs to be spot on. In other words, the world in which you create needs to be believable. Besides the laws of scientific rules and laws, you must have a believable social structure that governs your book’s social society within your storyline. Build your own guide to your world building so that you can stay on point and not alter your world as you get lost in your story writing.

You can use real life aspects to give you inspiration while creating your fictional world and bringing it to life. You must have a strong real-world structure to build your fictional world, so take notes on the real world and incorporate them into your fictional world.

Research is key in creating your fictional world. For example, take Egyptian history, its ecology, its culture, and its theology to name a few that can enhance your world because it’s based on history and facts. Think of the television show StarGate-SG1 where the writers created alternate worlds using Egyptian history and culture. What about Battlestar Galactica which also used history to create an alternating world.

Your alternate world must seem logical and hold its own to the real world. Don’t make the mistake of creating a grand structure before you begin to write. Use bare bones ideas to create the world, then write until your story until you need to modify it to fit the storyline. Be sure not to overwhelm your reader with too much information, instead use a prologue to introduce your reader to your new world but only give a small amount of information then while writing your story, introduce new details along the way. This way you won’t overwhelm the reader with too much stuff in the beginning.

Always remember that your worldbuilding details should be incorporated into everything, your scenes, your dialogue, your arcs, and even major plot points. If you spread them out, giving bits and pieces along the way, you make it more interesting for the reader to follow along without feeling lost or confused.  You should also remember to pinpoint your central conflict that is the underlining cause of any challenge your main character has to deal with.  Remember that any good story has a three-part segment and an important arc to overcome. Don’t just concentrate on the beginning and the end and forget about the middle of your story, the journey. Also make sure you consider building chemistry between your characters either romantically or friendship chemistry.  

 

Artist and Author Elizabeth Kilbride is a former political operative, author, scriptwriter, historian, and journalist. business professional, creative artist, and life coach consultant. Ms. Kilbride holds a master’s in criminology and a BS in Business Management she stepped out of the loop for a while but is now back with a powerful opinion and voice in the direction of this country and our economy. As a life coach, she is available to counsel individuals to enjoy their dreams and a better life. Ms. Kilbride loves to travel and photograph her surroundings and is also a gourmet cook who loves to garden and preserve food for the winter months.