Tomorrow, you'll get to read an author interview from
Greta van der Rol, a fantastic, strong science fiction writer (among other things). Today, in celebration and in anticipation of both the interview and her upcoming new release, I thought we'd discuss what makes great science fiction.
Well, okay, this list is entirely subjective. But this whole blog is subjective.
Science fiction is basically defined as plausible, real-world based fiction. It's different from fantasy;
fantasy is more about magic and the supernatural. Science fiction is rational and logical. Like a
Vulcan!
The Iron Admiral certainly wasn't my first brush with sci-fi and it won't be my last. I love
Star Wars and I've always been a closeted
Star Trek fan. (Mostly the
Original Series and
The Next Generation, much to my father's exasperation; I just can't get into
Deep Space Nine.) I spent my teen years reading
Elizabeth Moon,
David Weber,
Orson Scott Card, and
Douglas Adams. I still read the
Star Wars expanded universe books. I'm actually reading
Death Troopers by Joe Schreiber right now. (Zombies. In Star Wars. How much more could I ask for?)
Mike Stackpole is the first author who really opened my eyes about the business of being a writer.
A lifetime spent reading the genre has given me some perspective on what makes a great science fiction story. I believe this to be true, anyway. So I'm going to share my list.
Rational science.
You have to make the reader (or viewer) believe that the science in your universe is sound. In the
Star Wars movies, space travel is never really explained, but that doesn't matter, because everyone in the Galaxy Far, Far Away takes space flight for granted because
they understand it.
Human interest.
When everything else in your new world is strange and unfamiliar, the audience needs to understand your characters. In
Tanith Lee's Biting the Sun, virtually nothing about life or society is recognizable--but the protagonist's struggles with her humanity are all to familiar.
Sound politics and war strategy.
Whether your antagonists are human, alien, robot, or hybrid, if you're writing political maneuvering, you need to make it believable. In
Star Wars, The Empire is based on the Roman Empire and the Nazis (something you didn't see much in the films was the Empire's utter disdain for non-humans and women). In
Star Trek, you have the Borg (and the Klingons, and the Romulans). If you're writing a war, you need to make that strategy believable, too. How we fight wars has evolved from literal sticks and stones to tanks and sniper rifles that can take out an enemy from several kilometers away. Strategies, like chess strategies, have remained largely the same. In your future war-torn galaxy, your protagonists might have fancy new weapons and brilliant leaders, but their strategy won't change too much.
Alien life.
What good is science fiction without aliens? The
ptorix are easily a new favorite of mine, but I'm also a fan of Wookiees, pretty much every alien mentioned in
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and--despite the fact that they were the antagonists in one of the most heart-breaking book series' I've ever read--the Yuuzhan Vong. The thing about aliens is that you can come up with whatever you want and your audience will generally buy it.
Cool technology.
Hyperdrives. Faster-than-light travel. Flying cars. Underwater cities. Floating cities. Datapads. Portable communicators. All right, so we have those last two (tablet computers and cell phones), but my point remains valid. The best sci-fi has some seriously cool gadgets.
Bonus: Planet hopping.
Most of my favorite stories take place on more than one planet. I blame this on my fascination with anthropology. I absolutely love the idea of other inhabitable worlds that are sort of like Earth but not really at all.
