Sea of Genres: Sci-fi

Here it is, writers.

Sci-fi.

That is the genre I am covering today.

So sci-fi, science fiction, "is a genre of speculative fiction that typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universes, and extraterrestrial life"—at least according to Wikipedia.

Some sci-fi novels are Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (which could also be classified as "adventure"), The Lunar Chronicles series by Marissa Meyer, and Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton.

Now that we've gone over a bit of what sci-fi is, let me give you the tips I have for you today.

Establish governmental and economical systems in your world.

In sci-fi, it is usually about an alternate reality.

To make your reality more realistic, you really have to go into detail about how it works.

Show your readers how its government works.

Show your readers how the economy works.

This is important in other genres, but mainly in sci-fi because there tends to be more of a governmental presence in these novels.

Even if it's not a huge factor in your novel, you need to at least outline the basics of how the government in your fictitious place—whatever it may be—works, such as, if it's a hierarchy or a democracy. Or maybe the government just separates people into different classes that aren't the standard lower class, working class, middle class, and upper class. Make sure to cover that.

You could even just cover it in a simple way. For example, in the beginning, if you're introducing the place, you could give a brief overview of the government just to give your readers an idea of what it's like.

Most times, you can continuously add in information and give an idea of what your governmental system is as you go along in your novel. You don't have to add all the information to your book in one huge chunk.

A dsytopian theme is a common trope among sci-fi.

And if you're choosing to write this, you have to outline how the government works.

Are there some tropes where you don't have to talk about the governmental or economical systems in your world?

Well, I would say no.

To me, brushing over the way your government works is just part of introducing your reader to the world you created.

Nothing's too far "out there".

There is so much freedom in sci-fi.

You can write your weirdest ideas down and turn them into a story.

Want to write about a reality where the earth is flat?

That's great!

Decide you want to make humans the actual aliens and write a story about other creatures on a planet freaking out at their descovery?

That is totally cool!

This is the beauty of this genre.

You can let your imagination run wild.

Villains.

You know what's really important in sci-fi?

The villian(s).

You have to have someone or something that your hero or heroine is trying to defeat.

The whole genre of sci-fi normally has a "bad force" and then those trying to combat that "bad force". Think Emperor Palpatine from Star Wars.

We need a villian in a sci-fi novel.

....But books don't always have to be the classic "bad guy vs. good guy" story....

I know, many sci-fi movies or books have this powerful villain and then the underdog "good guy" trying to defeat them. But you don't have to write it like that.

The villain doesn't even have to be a person.

I know.

Weird.

Villain

/noun/

Definition:

A person(s), being, ideal, or "force", your characters must combat and work against.

That's my definition of a villain.

Basically, your villain does not have to be the classic "powerful bad guy". It could be a law your characters don't like, a certain ideal in their society; in a dystopian novel, along with combatting whoever the political leader setting the laws is, the MC also has to combat the idea of "perfection". That's just as much a villain as the "evil leader".

You have to have a villain in your book.

But, it doesn't have to be a set person. You're villain doesn't even need to be obvious. It doesn't need to be a black and white story. Your character could even struggle to figure out who or what the villain actually is.

Make your world consistent.

Along with establishing your governmental systems somehow, every detail in your world must remain consistent.

Why?

Because that's how you create a world.

If you tell your readers at the beginning of the novel that the grass is a firey orange and then tell them in the middle that it's an aqua blue, what do you think will happen?

Yeah, I know. That's an obvious mistake. You would never slip up like that.

Okay. Let's make it more subtle. What if you added in a little detail about how plant life was incapable of growing on a planet because of ground conditions and then wrote a whole section about someone's backyard garden?

Does this sound a little more like something we could accidentally do....?

And you could even be thinking while writing that, "Well, they can grow plants in their garden because of this certain fertilizer." But your reader doesn't know that. So to them, when you wrote about a garden, they would be questioning what they read prior to that.

Little contradictions like that in your book are where your world can fall apart.

You might think, "Oh, well, that's a small mistake easy enough for someone to over look." But what if you keep making those small mistakes? Your reader's going to start to question what your world is actually like. Your world is the location for the story so I'd say it's pretty important your reader knows what it's like.

Consistency is important.

Make your characters match the world you've put them in.

This should seem obvious, right?

But you'd be surprised at how many times we can create a character that doesn't match the way they were raised or the way their world works.

For example, let's say you were writing about an alien named Tami. Tami was raised on the planet Xeniyo, and her only relative, her mother, died when she was 13. She was alone most of her life because there were no alien civilizations near her. She basically raised herself.

How do you think Tami would act?

Think about it.

The way we want to think about how characters should act is by imagining ourself in their shoes.

So how would you act?

If you were an alien, all alone, raising yourself, how would you feel? What would your attitude be?

I'm going to leave this an open question because I want you guys to think about it. Really think about Tami and how she would look upon her life.

Making our characters match their situation and the world we put them in is so important. It's what gives the book a realistic factor. It helps your reader understand their struggles and their life.

Sci-fi is the genre of futuristic worlds, space exploration, time travel, dystopias, aliens, and so much more.

Nothing is too far "out there", as I mentioned before.

So have fun with your books, guys.

Take into account what I've written in this post, but most importantly have fun.

I hope you all enjoyed today's enstallment of the Sea of Genres series! Stay tuned for next week when I'll post the final installment!

If you have any questions or just want to talk, message me in the contact bar below or contact me on my Instagram @livingonthewriteside.

As always, happy writing!

-Jocelyn