Sci-fi, short for science function, is a genre that plays with concepts of the future - space, advanced technology, robots, post-apocalypse etc.
Let's have a look at key compounds of a great sci-fi story!
1. Create a realistic, intriguing world that invites the readers to be slowly discovered.
2. Rules and society structure. How different is it from what we know? Why is it that way?
3. Avoid overused sci-fi tropes. How is your story different from others? How is it not just another sci-fi book out there?
4. Character motivation, desires and antipathies should be extra highlighted. Show the readers why that particular inhabitant of the future is worth their attention.
5. The genre's base is in science. Stay true to it, examine it, and make sure you have enough knowledge to write about your chosen topic.
SOME OF THE SUB-GENRES OF SCI-FI:
APOCALYPTIC / POST-APOCALYPTIC
APOCALYPSE = the final destruction of the world / destruction on a catastrophic scale
Popular ideas: zombies, nuclear war, natural disaster, pandemic
→ why is the world the way it is?
→ what does the MC do to survive in this world? What is their goal and motivation?
→ play with mystery, fear, destruction, hope, morality conflicts
→ carefully and thoroughly design a world during/post apocalypse
Books from the genre:
J. G. Ballard, The Drowned World
Cormac McCarthy, The Road
Stephen King, The Stand
CYBERPUNK
- story is set in a dystopian future, featuring technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and cyberware, juxtaposed with societal collapse or decay
→ what are some advanced technologies that you can tell the readers about?
→ how does the MC survive in the cyberpunk world?
→ what are some major problems the society is facing?
Books from the genre:
Katsuhiro Otomo, Akira
William Gibson, Neuromancer
Masamune Shirow, Ghost in the shell
SPACE OPERA
- emphasizes space warfare, with use of melodramatic, risk-taking space adventures, relationships, and chivalric romance
- entirely unrealistic, unlike most subgenres of sci-fi
→ what are the reasons for the tension in the story? What political and social issues exist in the story?
→ are there forbidden technologies or areas of the galaxy that characters avoid?
Books from the genre:
Frank Herbert, Dune
Adrian Tchaikovsky, Children of time
Christopher Paolini, To sleep in a sea of stars
STEAMPUNK
- incorporates retro-futuristic technology and aesthetics inspired by, but not limited to, 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery.
Steampunk works are often set in an alternative history of the Victorian era or the American "Wild West", where steam power remains in mainstream use
→ what period of time inspired your story? Why? What parts of it are you going to incorporate in the story?
→ may contain alternate history or alternative future
Books from the genre:
Cassandra Clare, The Infernal Devices
Jules Verne, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
Andrea Tang, Kingdom of Without
HOPEPUNK & GRIMDARK
HOPEPUNK is about characters fighting for positive change, radical kindness, and communal responses to challenges.
Its opposite is GRIMDARK. Its setting is particularly dystopian, amoral, and violent.
Books from the genres:
Hopepunk:
Becky Chambers, A psalm for the wild build
Katherine Addison, The goblin emperor
Grimdark:
Joe Abercrombie, The blade itself
Mark Lawrence, Prince of thorns
SOFT SCI-FI
SOFT SCI-FI focuses on how technology has affected characters and the world around them. It is less focused on how the technology works and feels no need to explain it. The focus is on the characters, their interactions, and their psychology.
Books from the genre:
Maria Doria Russel, The sparrow
Emily St. John Mandel, Station eleven
HARD SCI-FI
HARD SCI-FI is characterized by concern for scientific accuracy and logic. A story should try to be accurate, logical, credible and rigorous in its use of current scientific and technical knowledge about which technology, phenomena, scenarios and situations that are practically or theoretically possible.
Books from the genre:
Isaac Asimov, Foundation
Larry Niven, Ringworld
horror • romance • adventure • fantasy • mystery • slice-of-life • historical fiction • folklore • inspirational • western • thriller
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