Category: Science Fiction

When writing science fiction, you might find yourself in a position where you have to create a fictional technology in order to complete the story. It might be as small as a nanochip or as large as a generation ship, […]

Science fiction and world-building go hand-in-hand. You can’t have one without the other. When you write a sci-story or novel, you’re creating a time and place that doesn’t currently exist. And that time and place should have its own unique […]

The rest of this article explains (1) what science fiction is, (2) common characteristics of the genre, and (3) how it’s different from other genres of speculative fiction. What Is Science Fiction? So, what is science fiction? The Merriam-Webster dictionary […]

Science fiction explores big ideas in a though-provoking manner, more so than any other genre. But how do science fiction writers come up with their ideas? And how can you, as an up-and-coming writer, generate ideas for an original science […]

I’m writing a book on writing science fiction and it starts here. Each week, you’ll get a new “chapter” on a different aspect of sci-fi storytelling. A table of contents is forthcoming. Today’s topic: the three most important characteristics of […]

How long should my science fiction novel be? What’s the shortest it can be—and the longest? What’s the average length for this genre? How long is too long for a sci-fi novel? And should I be counting by pages or […]

Artificial intelligence has influenced many books and films over the years, ranging from the Wintermute AI in William Gibson’s Neuromancer to the Skynet defense network in the Terminator movies. And who can forget HAL 9000, the calculating AI that controlled the spaceship in 2001: […]

You read science fiction. You love science fiction. And now you want to try your hand at creating a sci-fi story of your own. Maybe you even have some story ideas marinating right now, but you need help getting them […]

In previous articles, I’ve offered suggestions as to what science fiction writers should do when writing sci-fi stories and novels. Today, we’ll examine the flipside of the coin, with a list of common mistakes to avoid when writing science fiction. Common Pitfalls […]