Inventing Reality Editing Service Blog

Among the earliest types of science fiction stories are utopias, or stories that describe ideal societies. Such tales are a perfect match for science fiction, which extols the benefits of science and technology. If reason and new inventions can make our lives better (as they have done by reducing disease, increasing food production and distribution and offering material prosperity), then there may be no limit to what such progress may yield.

An example of a science fiction utopia is Edward Bellamy’s “Looking Backward.” In his society, people only do work that they enjoy and that supports the common good. This leaves them time for cultivating the arts and sciences.

In an age of the hydrogen bomb, industrial pollution and global warming, most readers find utopias naïve. Still, a deep yearning runs among science fiction readers and people in general for a better world: one with no war, no disease, ho hunger and no poverty. The United Federation of Planets of “Star Trek” fame appeals to many science fiction fans for this very reason. Indeed, utopias often aren’t practical blueprints for human society, but they are extremely inspirational.

Visit my Web site about writing science fiction, Inventing Reality.
(c) 2008 Rob Bignell

Tags: dystopia, getting started, types of science fiction, utopia

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When the general public thinks of science fiction, they most often think of one kind of SF – space opera. In such a story, action forms the plot, usually in a space battle or on another planet. It’s the Buck Rogers of 1930s and 1940s radio and Saturday matinee dramas.

This type of science fiction also is known as a “space western” because it largely adapts the conventions of the Western genre to space: horses become spaceships and Indians become aliens. To a large degree, it utilizes “used furniture” and in part because of it is rarely critically acclaimed.

This is not say that all space operas are bad. “A Mote in God’s Eye” by Larry Niven and James Pournelle, for example, stands out as a worthy work in this genre.

Tags: getting started, plot, space opera, space western, used furniture

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When writing any story, your goal ought to be to create and maintain a fictional dream, or an “illusion that there is no filter between reader and events that the reader is actually experiencing what he is reading,” as the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. defines it.

For the reader, one of the joys of literature is to be immersed in the fictional dream. As a writer, there may be no greater disservice to your reader than to break this illusion. As science fiction author and editor Stanley Schmidt once wrote, “Your job as a writer is to make your reader forget that he or she is reading …”

The stronger the fictional dream, the more immediate the story and its characters are to the reader. The payoff for the author is that his story’s message will stick longer with the reader – never mind that the author’s stature (and sales) correspondingly will rise.

Tags: fictional dream, getting started, plot, show vs. tell, style

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One of the obstacles facing beginning writers is finding a place where they actually can write. Too often our responsibilities and modern civilization’s many distractions don’t allow for a moment – or place - of peace and quiet in our lives. Yet, just such a place where we can put our fingers to keyboard or pen to paper for a while is necessary if we are to write.

To be a writer, you must find a place where you can write with few distractions. That means no new magazines or books in easy reach, no TV, email or Internet to take your focus off the task. It must be a place where others will not carry on a conversation with you. For some, this place is the kitchen table, for others a den, for yet more the coffee shop.

In addition, your writing place should be stocked with what you need so you don’t spend valuable time looking for those items. Always keep on hands items you need to write: laptop/desktop computer, paper, pens, dictionary, whatever it is that will keep you from getting out of the chair so words aren’t flowing from your fingertips.

Wherever you do write, ensure that you can avoid ergonomic issues - repetitive motions (carpel tunnel syndrome, tendonitis), awkward positions, improper lighting. If writing becomes physically stressful, you’re not likely to keep at it. So avoid the library with the too low/too high of a table, the tree in the park that doesn’t offer back support, the coffee shop where the sun glares through the windows so you can’t see your laptop’s screen.

Remember, to become a successful writer, you must write. And part of writing is finding “a room of one’s own” to practice your craft.

You Do It
Turn a bad experience trying to write into story gold: Think back to a place where you could not get anything written; now pretend that you were a prisoner there in an intergalactic war, and write a 250-word scene describing your trials and tribulations.

Visit my Web site about writing science fiction, Inventing Reality.
(c) 2008 Rob Bignell

Tags: distractions, getting started, writers block

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Though literacy is at among its highest rates ever in America, the amount of time spent reading is among the lowest in a century. Television, motion pictures, the Internet, video games and a myriad of other activities all draw people away from books and magazines.

As writers, I suggest we have an obligation to help support our colleagues by reading their works.

Ironically, for most writers, reading other peoples’ works is often what prevents them from writing! There’s a lot of good works out there, and sitting in our easy chairs with the latest science fiction novel reading them keeps many writers from instead sitting before their word processors. Some would-be writers even find themselves intimidated by the quality of their favorite writers and so never put pen to paper. A little self-discipline and self-confidence is all these would-be writers really need.

Some writers, however, just plain don’t read anything – other science fiction, science journals or magazines, newspapers. They’re content to get their dose of science fiction from the Sci-Fi Channel or Netflix. Yet, if you don’t like reading science fiction, how could you possibly enjoy writing it?

Tags: generatiung story ideas, getting started, reading

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n Anthropologize - What might a group that exists now be doing in 50 years?

n Brainstorm/extrapolate - Imagine a new invention. How might it change a profession? What dramatic tale can be told if these changes occur?

n Create maps of imaginary places – Draw coastlines, mountains, cities, nations, star lanes then develop a story around them.

n Distill conflicts into lists - What are incompatible desires and aims that someone could experience? Then match it to an appropriate “What if?” (a situation that aggravates or accentuates conflict).

n Fictionalize yourself in an unresolved situation that someone else faces – How would you resolve the problem?

n Find conflicts in everyday life - Look at the problems those around you are going through and have your characters resolve them in their universe.

n Keep abreast of scientific research and technological development – Resolve the current mysteries of science through fiction. Good sources for new science news are Science Daily, New Scientist, Astronomy, Nature, Astrobiology.net, and my astrobiology blog, Alien Life.

n Place a person you know in a different setting - For example, place an urbanite on a Southern farm or a school janitor in a corner office of a high-tech firm. How does their lifestyle and view on life change? You now have a character and a setting. Next, imagine that a problem occurs, upsetting their routine. You now have a plot.

n Read both science fiction and other good literature - You’ll get ideas by noticing points that are unexplored consequences of the central premise, or turn the central premise on its head. Read bad literature, too – if reading critically, you’ll learn from their errors.

n Start with a “novum” and ask “What if?” – A novum is some element introduced to our world that doesn’t now exist in it, such as the arrival of aliens, a spaceship that can travel faster than light or an artificial intelligence. Ask “Who would fear that? Who has something to lose by the addition of this novum to his world/universe?

Tags: brainstorming, getting started, novum, stoy ideas, writers block

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You’re at a coffee shop or a party or a writer’s workshop, and someone asks you what you are writing - a short story or a novel? You pause for a moment, wondering if what you’re really writing is a novella. So what is it?

There’s no hard or fast rule about what is a short story, what is a novella and what is a novel. It’s largely a subjective matter for which editors and publishers assign arbitrary numbers based on their needs and available space. To avoid confusion, this site follows the word counts used in the Hugo and Nebula contests:

n Short story - 7,500 words or less

n Novelette - 7,501-17,500 words (many editors simply lump this category into either the short story or the novella groupings)

n Novella - 17,501-40,000 words

n Novel - 40,001 or more words

Some stories are better told in one category rather than another. So when deciding how long your story will be, think about the advantages and disadvantages of each category and which one best serves your tale.

Short stories and novelettes

Advantages:

n Easier for author to maintain consistency of purpose as there are fewer characters and settings, so better dramatic and thematic unity

n Practical for authors; you can complete it more quickly, often in days or weeks

n Good place for new writers to start to build their reputation and garner a novel deal

Disadvantages:

n Limited platform as short stories may offer too narrow of a framework for the author to tell his sweeping story

n Don’t make much money

Novels and novellas 

As you probably can guess, the advantages and disadvantages of the novel are virtually opposite of those for the short story.

Advantages:

n Larger scale for developing ideas and characters

n Can introduce characters and settings at a more leisurely rate than a short story

n Plots can be far more intricate than short stories

n Make more money and build broader reputation

n Can be too large of a platform for new writers to handle

n Too broad of a framework for the author to tell a more narrow in scope story

Tags: getting started, novelettes, novellas, novels, short stories, word count

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Unfortunately, writing is hard work. Most who write find themselves filled with anxiety and self-reproachment as they pen their paragraphs and compare it to those authors who inspired them to write. And then there’s always the frustration that comes when the right word (or even no words) won’t come.

As Karl Iagnemma, an MIT roboticist who also happens to also be an acclaimed fiction writer, once said: "A lot of people, when they think about writers, probably imagine people wasting time in cafés, drinking a lot and smoking too many cigarettes, and working when the inspiration - whatever that is - seizes them. But writing is rigorous. Writing, for me at least, takes a lot of concentrated work and effort. It takes dedication and the willingness to do the work even when that feeling of inspiration isn't there at all."

Few of us like to do hard work. But in writing, the rewards are worth the effort. Fortunately, there are a number of ways you get motivated to write:

n Keep a project “bible” - Create a notebook of reference materials in a 3-ring binder of loose-leaf paper. Often “inspiration” will strike on one of those ideas. At least it gives you a collection of ideas you can back to when you don’t know what to write about.

n Keep a daily log - Track how many words you wrote and challenge yourself to top it the next day.

n Keep a journal - Often the kernels of stories later can be found in your journal.

n Keep in touch with fellow writers - They can offer encouragement and provide advice when you’re stuck.

n Start with free-writing - Sometimes when driving aimlessly you see a billboard that gives you an idea for a destination. The same can occur when writing - sometimes when writing aimlessly you develop an idea that gives you idea for a story.

n Begin your writing by editing and revising work already completed and continue onward - At the very least, you’ve polished your past day’s work and maybe have identified trouble spots that you need to mull over to solve.

n Stop at a good point - If you’ve had a productive writing session, put down the pen at a point where you know already what you want to do next. You will not be stymied when starting the next day.

n Ask outrageous questions - Science fiction writer Stephen Baxter once wrote, “If you want to generate new and original ideas, you have to ask yourself outrageous questions. Such as: Could humans survive on the equator of a fast-spinning neutron star?” Well, how would they? Why would they want to? How would such a residence change their outlook on life? Would it change how others viewed them?

n Keep plugging along - No matter the quality of your work or the number of rejections you receive, don’t stop writing, The biggest mistake those who want to be writers can make is to not write.

Tags: getting started, journals, writers block

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Not all science fiction stories are about space or time travel as many believe. In fact, many “types” or “subgenres” of science fiction exist. Often writers specialize in one or two of the differing types.

Just as there are many subgenres, so there also are a number of different ways to categorize the basic types of science fiction stories. Some editors and critics divide the field by “speculations that may be”, labeling stories as “cautionary”, “inspirational” or “satirical”. Some talk about “otherness”, as does Christopher Evans in “Writing Science Fiction” when he divides science fiction into the four categories of “other times” (past, future), “other worlds” (alien world, alternate histories), “other beings” (altered humans such as mutants, cyborgs, supermen and immortals; artificial humans such as robots, androids, computers; aliens such as humanoids, nonhumanoids and monsters) and “other states of mind” (telepathy, precognition, telekinesis and teleportation; reaching/creating other realities through the mind; and drugs/agents that create new states of mind). Both systems, and those similar to them, are fairly academic in approach.

The problem with these approaches is that individual stories tend to fall into each of these categories. For example, the movie “Star Trek: First Contact” is about other times (it’s set in the 2060s and in the 24th century), it involves other worlds (the Romulan Neutral Zone and an alternate future Earth in which the Borg have conquered humanity), other beings (the Borg, the android Data and the Vulcans). What use is a system of categorization if a work falls into three of the four groupings?

I prefer a more traditional (albeit a bit messier) way of thinking about the “types” – as subgenres, or groups of stories that share similar conventions and approaches that represent a narrow, but recognizable and popular or trendy, piece of the entire genre. Among the most recognized of those categories with an example are:

n Space opera/space western – Melodramatic adventures, often involving space battles (Buck Rogers)

n Utopia – Description of a perfect society, at least in the author’s mind (Ian M. Banks’ “Culture”)

n Dystopia – Description of a society gone wrong (George Orwell’s “1984”)

n Hard SF – Scientific rigor marks the story’s focus (Hal Clement’s “Mission of Gravity”)

n Soft SF – Characterization and ideas about society mark the story’s focus (“Star Trek”)

n Feminist SF – Deals with women’s role in society (Ursula K. Le Guin’s “The Left Hand of Darkness”)

n Cyberpunk – High tech in a society that has broken down (William Gibson’s “Neuromancer”)

n Alternate histories – History has diverged from the one we know (Harry Turtledove’s “The Guns of the South”)

n Alternate futures - A possible future never comes to pass, often because a character travels back in time and alters the past (“Back to the Future II”)

n Slipstream - Fantastic or non-realistic fiction that crosses conventional genre boundaries between science fiction and contemporary literature (Thomas Pynchon’s “Gravity's Rainbow”)

n Science fantasy – Elements of fantasy and of science fiction are melded (Anne McCaffrey's Pern novels)

n Dark SF – Elements of horror and science fiction are mixed (the movie “Alien”)

n Erotic SF – Sex and sexuality are explored in a science fiction setting (Lois McMaster Bujold’s “Ethan of Athos”

n New wave – A movement of 1960s, it boasted a high degree of experimentation, both in form and in content (Harlan Ellison’s “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream”)

n New space opera – A movement of 1990s, the stories tend to be more military-themed and literary than original space opera/space western (David Weber’s “On Basilisk Station”)

n New...

Tags: getting started, subgenres

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You’ve heard it all before: You’re at a party or sitting with colleagues at others during lunch, and someone smirks when they discover you like to read and write science fiction.

Someone then dismisses science fiction as “unreal”. Another nods and adds “science fiction writers just make up a bunch of weird stuff”, that they “deal with stuff that doesn’t have anything to do with real life”. Someone else chimes in it’s because science fiction writers “can’t think of any stories to tell about real people”. Suddenly we feel like we’re the embarrassing uncle everyone avoids at family gatherings.

And if you’re not too thin skinned, you begin to wonder if science fiction should be taken seriously.

Yes, it should be taken seriously. If anything, we ought to pity those who just put down the genre.

They’re missing out on some great thought-provoking literature that often provides a good action-filled ride. 

Granted, science fiction isn’t for everyone – and that’s okay. I’m no fan of the mystery genre, but I respect its authors for mastering the genre’s conventions and good storytelling techniques in general. And I certainly don’t look upon the lover of mysteries as a freak or put down the genre.

Science fiction probably will be met with a raised eyebrow for a long time to come. It’s a genre out at the edge of what is known, often exploring worlds that don’t yet exist, so on the surface it appears weird. In many cases, people just aren’t familiar with the genre and what it offers.

Tags: getting started, science fiction, writing

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You’ve written story after story, but none of them ever seem to measure up to your favorite authors’ pieces. Meanwhile, editors keep rejecting the few of your stories that you thought were actually decent. You’re starting to wonder if you have the natural-born talent to be a writer.

Before you start getting hard on yourself, we should explore your underlying assumption: that some people are born with a natural ability to write.

No one really knows if such a talent is “genetic”. There’s no doubt, however, that some people spend their formative years garnering the experiences and mastering the skills that later will make them good storytellers. So, with a qualitative “yes”, there are people with talent.

But they can squander it. Many become journalists, speech writers or college professors who never pen the Great American Novel despite their love of writing and literature. Others find their family’s needs and the daily grind of their jobs leave them too little time to write.

In any case, there are those with “less” talent who work at making themselves writers - and their writing shines brighter than many who are talented. Remember, George Orwell once was viewed as an average kid with no talent; today he is considered one of the greatest writers of the 20th century.

So how you do “work” at becoming a “good” writer? Three ways:
n Read - Read a lot. Read the great works and authors of this genre, like Asimov, Bradbury and Heinlein. Read the great works and authors of all time, like Homer, Shakespeare and Hemingway. You can’t be a good writer unless you see how the masters did it.
n Write - Olympic weightlifters trained and practiced every day for years to achieve their success. Likewise, writers have to train and practice to achieve their success. Write every day, even if what you pen isn’t any good. It will get better over time.
n Get feedback - Placing your manuscript in a drawer for no one else to see rarely leads to improvement. Join a writers’ critique group (there are many online), attend writing workshops, hire a manuscript editor (full disclosure here: I offer such a service). See how others react to your work and use their advice to improve.

You Do It
Set a schedule in which you commit yourself to reading, writing and getting feedback on a daily basis. If you have only an hour a day, write for 30 minutes, read a short story or novel for 20 minutes and seek feedback via a writer’s group for the other 10 minutes.

Visit my Web site about writing science fiction, Inventing Reality.
(c) 2008 Rob Bignell

Tags: getting started, reading, writers workshop

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