Inventing Reality: A Guide to Writing Science Fiction

Every story has a theme. An aspect of that theme is your story’s “moral order” – the sense of what’s right and wrong based on how your characters are rewarded and punished for their actions.

The simple moral order of most science fiction television series and movies, for example, is that good is stronger than evil. But in well developed series, it’s more complicated than that. “Star Trek,” for example, defines “good” as a humanistic universe in which diversity and equality are paramount. The search for knowledge, rather than the accumulation of wealth, is the driving force of society. As alien societies are explored in the series, we gain a better sense of what makes up “good” in this humanistic vision.

Characters in stories usually display moral issues in a purer way than people do in the real world. Because the story is constructed, the choices are more clear cut. Limited word counts mean you can’t extensively go into the deep psychological background of your character, so the moral issues being faced often are presented as a simple choice between one or two options. Given this, many science fiction stories are allegorical.  

When writing your story, consider these problems that can arise when you create a moral order:
nIt’s a good idea to be aware of what moral order is being portrayed so you don’t unintentionally tell a story that advocates ethics and viewpoints with which you don’t agree.
nThe moral order of your story must be logically consistent. What’s presented as “good” in one part of the story can’t later be a punishable offense (unless you’re trying to be satirical). If the ways of a Jedi are positive in one part of the story, then those moral values ought to continue to be presented as positive later in the piece.