Different science fiction writers have produced every kind of world imaginable and for many different reasons.\u00a0 A very large chunk of writers did this because they wanted a paycheck and they were told that science fiction was the golden way.\u00a0 And depending on how talented they were, the stories they wrote were more or less interesting, memorable and coherent.<\/p>\n
The earliest of these stories were cobbled together based on an author\u2019s understanding of other genre literature.\u00a0 So, if the writer wrote cowboy stories previously, then we got Showdown at the Betelgeuse Corral or some such thing.\u00a0 And in the grand scheme of things that\u2019s not really the worst outcome.\u00a0 I mean, if our western author is a good story teller then the Showdown may be a very interesting space cowboy story.\u00a0 And who doesn\u2019t like space cowboys?<\/p>\n
But if science fiction should include some world-building that actually has something to do with science then an author should go the next stage and make some kind of hand-waving exercise to justify the technology being used.\u00a0 You know, warp drive fueled by matter\/anti-matter mediated by di-lithium crystals that provide the warpity-warpity part (somehow).\u00a0 Okay sure.<\/p>\n
Now you have the means for a story but why<\/u><\/strong> is it?\u00a0 Who is doing what to whom?\u00a0 And here is where the cowboy story might be just what you want.\u00a0 Or maybe it\u2019s the Roman Empire writ large or space Arabia with monstrous spice sandworms or the American Revolution on Luna or Vietnam in space or, or, or.\u00a0 Whatever gives you a good idea for a story with humans or humans and aliens or just aliens.<\/p>\n And if you want the story to be really worthwhile, well, learn enough about humans to write them somewhat convincingly.\u00a0 Of course, this is going above and beyond.\u00a0 There were (and probably are) plenty of writers who apparently have never spoken to or even bumped into living humans.\u00a0 So, they\u2019re forced to base their characterizations on themselves and thereby end up with some truly weird conversations and interactions.<\/p>\n Now, all of these things are on my to-do list for my foray into sf but I want one more ingredient.\u00a0 I desire my world building to be the basis for more than one story or even one series.\u00a0 I\u2019m ambitious.\u00a0 I think of Heinlein building his \u201cFuture History\u201d timeline with its torch ships, terra-forming, social crises and advances in medicine and longevity and the first halting steps to the stars.\u00a0 Now that\u2019s the way to do it.\u00a0 Build up a framework that will allow for a whole suite of related but not interlocking stories.\u00a0 Give yourself some guidelines and parameters but leave plenty of elbow room for different events, characters, locales, times and moods.\u00a0 I want to make sure I don\u2019t paint myself into any corners so I need some kind of overall outline that I\u2019ve thought through.\u00a0 That way I\u2019ll be satisfied with whatever restrictions are involved.\u00a0 For instance, maybe in this universe there isn\u2019t any working star drive and maybe there never will be.\u00a0 Or maybe the sun is dying and my Earth is working out a crash program to send colonists in suspended animation to every solar system that\u2019s been telescopically identified in the hope that at least some of them will survive.\u00a0 Or maybe a universe where the aliens found us and have put us in a remedial program to become less stupid and we have an enormous inferiority complex that is causing terminal ennui.\u00a0 Whatever the setup is I\u2019ll have mentally signed off on it.<\/p>\n So that\u2019s what I\u2019m working on (in a sort of retroactive way).\u00a0 I want to build a world that my sniper story can be nested into.\u00a0 I like the idea of our real world being reflected in a story with a way of resolving the problems we have run up against.\u00a0 But I think I have to put a lot more potential in the story beyond the political conflict.\u00a0 So, I\u2019m trying to look at the big picture and add as many gee-whiz angles to make it more fun.\u00a0 I think I may add cold fusion to the mix.\u00a0 I\u2019ve always liked the idea of some research into some of the heavier metals providing some unhoped-for breakthroughs in advanced physics.\u00a0 Maybe not as drastic as the E. E. Smith trick that gives his Skylark characters a star drive but definitely limitless and elegant power production.\u00a0 It\u2019s definitely cheating but I\u2019m thinking about it.<\/p>\n But all this big picture stuff is hurting my head so it\u2019s a tough slog.\u00a0 But I think it\u2019s the right order of operation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Different science fiction writers have produced every kind of world imaginable and for many different reasons.\u00a0 A very large chunk of writers did this because<\/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":[241,1289,1263,237,4,242],"tags":[1290,38,1355,265],"class_list":["post-30405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-reviews","category-fiction-by-me","category-stuff-that-personally-interests-me-miscellaneous","category-reviews","category-sff","category-sff-book-reviews","tag-my-fiction","tag-review","tag-reviews","tag-science-fiction"],"yoast_head":"\n