[2NC.I.A.]

Hi guys! I am trying to write a sci-fi stroy but as i am rookie i don't know what kind of principles should i have in my brain about this type of stories. Can you help me?
Thanks:)

[JimF]

Hi guys! I am trying to write a sci-fi stroy but as i am rookie i don't know what kind of principles should i have in my brain about this type of stories. Can you help me?
Thanks:)

Hi and welcome to the boards.

That is really not much to go on.

First and foremost write the story you have to tell.

2nd Write every day. even it is only 100 words. don't worry too much about quality, get your ideas down and polish them later.

Maybe you can hit us with some questions on a specific topic.

Jim

[kmtolan]

1. Get your basics down (grammar, story structure, characters). I always start with that advice (grin).

2. Hard SF or Space Opera? If you do "hard" SF, then get your science right. The man-and-machine thing is emphasized in these stories.

3. No galaxy-sweeping weapons. Leave that cartoon stuff to the SyFy channel. Everything should have both limits and cost.

4. Characters, characters, characters. It's about the characters, so make them deep and believable. Leave the melodrama elsewhere. And if you don't understand what melodrama is, watch a copy of Flash Gordon.

Okay, now you're ready. Go write that novel!

Ahem.

Considering folks have written books about any of these subjects, and SF in general, you're probably served better by hitting Amazon.com for some tutorials by Orson Scott Card on writing. No way such a broad subject can be covered in here, and you'll be swamped by different equally valid perspectives than mine. No magic formula for this stuff.

Kerry

[EMMAXIS]

1. Get your basics down (grammar, story structure, characters). I always start with that advice (grin).

2. Hard SF or Space Opera? If you do "hard" SF, then get your science right. The man-and-machine thing is emphasized in these stories.

3. No galaxy-sweeping weapons. Leave that cartoon stuff to the SyFy channel. Everything should have both limits and cost.

4. Characters, characters, characters. It's about the characters, so make them deep and believable. Leave the melodrama elsewhere. And if you don't understand what melodrama is, watch a copy of Flash Gordon.

Okay, now you're ready. Go write that novel!

Ahem.

Considering folks have written books about any of these subjects, and SF in general, you're probably served better by hitting Amazon.com for some tutorials by Orson Scott Card on writing. No way such a broad subject can be covered in here, and you'll be swamped by different equally valid perspectives than mine. No magic formula for this stuff.

Kerry



This kind of advice makes me furious. You are simply telling the poor guy what you think makes good fiction. I cannot stress enough that there are absolutely, positively no rules in fiction. None. The more I read and write (30 years now) the more I learn this to be true. If he wants to write about galaxy sweeping weapons, why not? And what's wrong with Flash Gordon? Some people appreciate Sci-Fi pulp fiction. Some people love plot heavy fiction, writers like Edgar Rice Burroughs, H.P. Lovecraft, Ray Bradbury, Phillip K. Dick, Douglas Adams, Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Stanislaw Lem, etc. etc.

Where I do agree with you is that there is no magic formula for good writing. The best advice is to read, read, read, not only Orson Scott Card, but every Sci-Fi book you can get your hands on.

[kmtolan]

You are simply telling the poor guy what you think makes good fiction.

Glad to see you caught on to that.

I cannot stress enough that there are absolutely, positively no rules in fiction. None.

From what I've seen in the self-published section of Amazon, I tend to agree with you, unfortunately.

Ain't my first rodeo either, by the way. Might want to let the OP judge for him/herself as to the good or bad advice. Plenty of both here, apparently.

Kerry

[HellsGuardian]

-Keep a notepad and pen handy and start looking at everything in you life for ideas and jot them down.
-Spend some time (a month?) building your world and your characters as well as the plot.
-Get your first draft down, don't worry if it's a bit pants, no self respecting author would want anybody to see their first draft.
-One you've polished it a few times, submit it for critique and proof reading. (www.critters.org)

[Princeroth]

Give us a sample of your main character.

[2NC.I.A.]

Thanks for the tips guys! Any advice is always welcome and useful to me!:)
My main character is a human, a young girl, who works for a advertising company. This girl has the super power to read all the orders of the computers with her mind and can hack into the most difficult servers within seconds. However, she doesn't want to use this gift for bad reasons and so she tries to hide it from the police or the authorities that can take advantage of it.

This is approximately the basic core of my character. But, i still don't know what type of heroes should i use (vampires, angels, witches, dragons etc.). What do you advice me to do? Can i just use all of them or it's too much???

[Princeroth]

My advice, if you are planning to build a new world, is to write a little essay on its history, how it came to be, what things lurk there and why.

How does that thing go?

Who
What
When
Where
How
Why

It took me years to get comfortable with my own universe and sometimes I forget about how things work. I have a mountain of notes that have nothing to do with my story, but explain things about the world.

So - start building.

[Loerwyn]

Don't go for vampires. Ever. A lot of people will turn their nose up at it for that alone. Regardless of how well you write a vampiric character, they've been so abused in genre fiction that I suspect they're getting to the point where people don't want to read about them. If you're writing sci-fi, keep it sci-fi. The fewer fantasy elements you throw in the better. The synopsis you have, to me, shows no room for supernatural beings. That's not to say they can't be supernatural characters, but it would seem to have little to no bearing given the plot you've mentioned.

I don't want to sound rude, but the old adage K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Stupid) is more important right now. You admit to being a rookie, and if you complicate the story with different races etc, you're going to confuse yourself and the reader. Work on getting the basics done. The more elements you add in, the harder it'll get for you, and the higher the chance of not writing what you want.

I'm not saying you cannot do these things, but I'm saying you should not. I would say that you should, and perhaps must, work on your writing beforehand. If you take this story that you've obviously put thought into and try to write it now I would guess, if you're anything like me, that you will make mistakes, get frustrated and become disillusioned with writing. Learn to walk before you learn to run.