<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve returned to the land of the living.\u00a0 My eyes track.\u00a0 I can walk through a doorway without colliding with a doorjamb.\u00a0 I can even keep up a conversation without sliding sideways off my chair onto the floor.\u00a0 Next week I climb the Matterhorn.\u00a0 Bravissimo!<\/p>\n
I looked through the news feeds.\u00a0 And, so help me, I even considered watching the Georgia run-off.\u00a0 But there just wasn\u2019t anything the least bit interesting.\u00a0 I even considered pulling a Jussie Smollett.\u00a0 I was going to claim that a Canon camera enthusiast sent me a derogatory e-mail making fun of my many bison photos of the day.\u00a0 But my hard-bitten honesty just wouldn\u2019t let me do it.\u00a0 I love those bison!<\/p>\n
I thought, \u201cI\u2019ll just write about something I like.\u201d\u00a0 After all that post about nuclear war had some great comments and that stuff really interests me.\u00a0 Why not do something like that?\u00a0 So that\u2019s why this is coming out of left field.\u00a0 I just didn\u2019t feel like beating a political drum that\u2019s already been beaten to a bloody pulp.<\/p>\n
So, for a theme I\u2019ll select the question, \u201cWhat\u2019s the most important component of a good science fiction story?\u201d<\/p>\n
Is it the tech?\u00a0 Is it a good plot?\u00a0 Is it well written characters?\u00a0 Or does it absolutely require some balance between the three?<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s explore this a little bit.\u00a0 Start with tech.\u00a0 I suppose that space opera has lost a lot of support among the modern readers of science fiction.\u00a0 Stuff like the Skylark of Space, The Legion of Space or the Lensman books are probably disqualified as too na\u00efve and hopelessly early 20th<\/sup> century for anyone under sixty to consider reading.\u00a0 But is the inexplicable faster than light (ftl) drives of these stories any less plausible than whatever also implausible ftl drives are currently being used by modern science fiction writers?\u00a0 I\u2019ve got to say I don\u2019t think they\u2019re disqualifications.\u00a0 I\u2019d say the rule is it just has to be self-consistent with whatever \u201crules\u201d you\u2019ve made up for the tech.\u00a0 So, it doesn\u2019t have to be somehow scientifically accurate.\u00a0 It just can\u2019t be bone-headedly stupid.\u00a0 What it does have to be is convenient.\u00a0 The technology has to allow the plot to evolve the way you want.\u00a0 If space travel takes centuries, then don\u2019t kill off too many good characters by leaving them back on Earth.\u00a0 Or if time travel can only go backwards then don\u2019t leave your spare batteries for your ray gun in your other pair of pants when you head back to the neolithic.<\/p>\n And the tech should be a fun toy for the reader if you can manage it.\u00a0 I always loved how Heinlein lovingly designed his \u201ctorchships\u201d and made the passenger and service areas of his ships seem well thought out.\u00a0 But I also know of authors whose tech is basically a black box and for all we hear we could be sitting inside the fuselage of a jet plane.<\/p>\n While tech is necessary (after all it is sf) it\u2019s not the deciding factor whether a story works.<\/p>\n Well, how about characters?\u00a0 Yes, they are important, in the sense that they must at least exist.\u00a0 But I\u2019ve read some supposedly classic science fiction where the characters are as flat as pancakes (Asimov and Clarke come to mind).\u00a0 Now this may no longer be the case.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure.\u00a0 I enjoy a good amount of character development in my fiction and I\u2019ve been able to find it.\u00a0 But I could easily believe there could be a very good story where character was in short supply.<\/p>\n What about plot?\u00a0 Well, I could imagine a story that had a strong tech component and interesting characters but the plot was almost minimal.\u00a0 Maybe like some of Bradbury\u2019s short stories like the one where the Ladies\u2019 Sewing Circle is trying to ignore the impending nuclear holocaust by concentrating on their work.\u00a0 It\u2019s all character.\u00a0 But I guess you still have to say there\u2019s a plot or more like a scenario.<\/p>\n I feel like, for the most part, and except for very odd stories, the sine qua non of a good science fiction story is a good plot.\u00a0 If your tech is passable and your characters are at least bearable but you have a plot that rolls along and interesting stuff happening then you have a chance.\u00a0 But you can have great tech and witty, erudite, droll fellows populating your world and if not much of anything is happening except talk, then your readers will throw the book against the wall (or the digital equivalent) and go look for something better.\u00a0 And that\u2019s that!<\/p>\n Now I know there are many sf fans in the audience.\u00a0 I\u2019d love to hear your comments, especially if you disagree.\u00a0 I\u2019m always interested in the opinions of sf readers.\u00a0 The floor is now yours.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019ve returned to the land of the living.\u00a0 My eyes track.\u00a0 I can walk through a doorway without colliding with a doorjamb.\u00a0 I can<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[241,2510,1289,1263,237,4,242],"tags":[76,265,2744],"class_list":["post-21361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-reviews","category-literature","category-fiction-by-me","category-stuff-that-personally-interests-me-miscellaneous","category-reviews","category-sff","category-sff-book-reviews","tag-fiction-writing","tag-science-fiction","tag-things-that-really-interest-me"],"yoast_head":"\n