Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
  • Mood: busy

"10 Issues for Hard Science Fiction" by Mike Brotherton

Here is an excellent essay, with supporting links, about common mistakes in science fiction and how to get things right. Also this is a good wrecking ball for dealing with writer's block.
Tags: science fiction, writing
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  • 7 comments
fayanora

fayanora

September 9 2008, 09:38:53 UTC 12 years ago

The one about "Is DNA the only possibility?" I have already considered this. On Traipah, there is no DNA. Just RNA. Not just any RNA, but tri-helical RNA.
One thing that has always bothered me about Star Trek is the human/alien hybrids. It just isn't possible, there wouldn't be enough genetic similarities. And even if it WERE possible, the hybrids would be sterile.

And about the singularity... I keep coming up with all sorts of fantabulous ideas. I like quantum manipulation technology, which appears in my Traipah novels. And just the other day, I came up with the idea of a culture that has figured out how to make subatomic nanites that can turn atoms into circuits and thus turn any object at all into a quantum computer. I was also thinking, the way they use their technology, it would look like good old fashioned magic. Imagine a wizard's staff that was really a computer so powerful and fast that it made the most advanced computers of other cultures look like abacuses in comparison, and has energy emitters so tiny that you can't even see them with a scanning electron microscope, so that the staff could be used as a "magical" weapon, shield-producer, levitator, and so on. Hell, for that matter, one could turn one's whole body into such a computer/machine, and not even NEED a staff!
ysabetwordsmith

Hmm...

ysabetwordsmith

September 9 2008, 15:28:06 UTC 12 years ago

>> One thing that has always bothered me about Star Trek is the human/alien hybrids. It just isn't possible, there wouldn't be enough genetic similarities. And even if it WERE possible, the hybrids would be sterile.<<

That depends on your definition of "hybrid." We tend to think of hybrids as things like mules (offspring of a jackass and a mare). But a virus is also a kind of hybrid: it gets into a host's body, hijacks an existing cell, and uses that to reproduce itself. This can work gloriously as science fiction; I highly recommend Wen Spencer's Alien Taste or Janine Ellen Young's The Bridge as examples of novels featuring viral hybrids.

>>Hell, for that matter, one could turn one's whole body into such a computer/machine, and not even NEED a staff!<<

Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, and vice versa.



fayanora

Re: Hmm...

fayanora

September 11 2008, 00:34:42 UTC 12 years ago

This can work gloriously as science fiction; I highly recommend Wen Spencer's Alien Taste or Janine Ellen Young's The Bridge as examples of novels featuring viral hybrids.

You know, this actually reminds me of a humorous scifi short story I had once, wherein one character's species reproduced via a virus. The virus takes over the host body and changes the DNA. Which I suppose may have been inspired by a similar Star Trek episode.

Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, and vice versa.

Indeed. :-)
ideealisme

Interesting

ideealisme

September 9 2008, 09:53:18 UTC 12 years ago

I write very little sci-fi and when I do I obey the rules of mundane science fiction, which precludes FTL travel, transportation and dodgy aliens. Have a look at the blog Mundane SF, it's interesting.
ysabetwordsmith

Re: Interesting

ysabetwordsmith

September 9 2008, 15:40:08 UTC 12 years ago

I write along the whole perspective: fantasy, science fantasy, science fiction, and occasionally hard science fiction.
sharaith

sharaith

September 9 2008, 10:09:24 UTC 12 years ago

Great article! Thanks for the link.
neodaoist

neodaoist

September 9 2008, 10:20:27 UTC 12 years ago

Greetings and Felicitations,

If you liked this article you should really like this website. Atomic Rocketships of the Space Patrol If you like writing hard-sci fi then this website is one of the best for reference. It is full of factual information which is weaved into snippets of sci-fi stories. I will give you the same warning I give others I refer to this site. If you have any romantic ideas about space exploration and space warfare then be careful before you read the site.
From a personal standpoint I really like the standpoint about how difficult space warfare is. It brings hope that the sheer difficulty will help humanity drop war as its first choice.

You might also like The Orion's Arm Universe Project. Its a space opera setting based on transhumanism and hard sci-fi.

Sincerely Yours,
C. David Neely