World-building is essential for every story, but obviously genre will have a major influence on how much our story requires. Setting, though not technically world-building, can also add an entirely new level of dimension to our stories. World-building is setting, but taken to a whole new level.

This might be a personal pet peeve of mine, but I HATE books that forget to add any setting. There are few things more jarring than to make it 20 or 30 pages in only to realize the story is set in winter, or in the 19th century, or the character is in a magical forest.

Yes, I know a lot of these details I ‘should know’ from the cover/story description. But, when writing, assume we bought your book in a garage sale with no cover.

World-building can be subtle or it can be SO expansive that the world, itself, becomes a character unto itself. Think Dune, Dr. Who, any popular Marvel or DC line, Star Trek, Star Wars, LOTR, Stranger Things.

Yes, science fiction and fantasy are what most people think of when one mentions ‘world-building’ but techno thrillers like The Hunt for Red October or even crime procedurals like Rizzoli & Isles or NCIS also must create a world the audience understands.

Most people don’t automatically know how an autopsy works, or the inner workings of intelligence agencies and nuclear subs. This is where world-building is key.

World-Building Bible

Before we go any further, for the record, I have an upcoming class, World-Building 101 because this topic is way too expansive for one blog post. Today, we are taking a 50,000 foot view of the subject.

The more expansive your world-building, the more important it is to create a world-building bible (similar to a story bible). This is to help you keep track of what’s what and what isn’t. The more world-building we have, then the better records we need to keep. If we break our own rules, the readers WILL notice and they can be very unforgiving.

In your bible, you’ll detail out any magic or technology, how it works or doesn’t. This will make it simpler for you to go back and refer to as you’re writing.

Spells & Superman Syndrome

Fantasy can run the spectrum of how much detail is necessary. There are the quick ‘sword and sorcery books’ like the old Dragonlance series that really is pretty straight forward basic RPG-ish writing. Harry Potter? That is an entirely new level of detail. The more details, the bigger the bible.

Make sure magic has limitations and exacts a cost.

Characters that are too perfect are BORING. I call this “Superman Syndrome.” Superman was the first superhero as we know them in the modern age. Superman, over time, unlocked so many powers that, even the writers admit that it was incredibly difficult to tell new stories with this character.

He’s inhumanly strong, faster than a speeding bullet, could leap buildings in a single bound, and FLY and even REVERSE TIME!

Superman’s ONLY weakness was… kryptonite (an extremely rare substance, particles of his decimated home world).

ZZZZZZZ

In fact, back in the early days of DC, creators gave Superman every kind of power one could imagine and what happened? Readers (and writers) soon became bored.

Magic Needs Boundaries

The same thing can happen with magic. If a character can do everything and anything with just the wave of a wand or a quick spell, then they’re never really in peril. Neither are those around them.

Since peril is the lifeblood of story, we can unwittingly kill our story before it ever begins by making any character too powerful.

Thus, when envisioning how magic works, make certain it has limitations, requirements and that is might not be as dependable and the character would like.

As an Old School D&D Nerd (before it was cool), magic was dependent on mana, a form of raw magic one might liken to The Force in Star Wars. The more inexperienced a magic user, the less mana they had access to. This is what a) limits their spell casting b) the power/efficacy of a spell and c) duration.

A magic-user needs to level up, obviously. But, at least in D&D, they can meditate or study to learn more magic, level-up, and replenish mana. Few things are more frustrating in a battle than for your magic-user to redline on mana (since magic-users generally are not fighters).

But, say we leave D&D behind. One of my favorite examples of magic having limitations was in a series called Carnivale. Ben Hawkins finds refuge with traveling carnies during the Dust Bowl. He can heal the sick and even raise the dead…but at a price. He must ‘steal’ life from another source to ‘give’ life.

There is a powerful scene where a young child drowns in a stock tank. Ben revives the child and, moments later, all the fish in the pond float, dead, to the surface. This is why Ben must be extremely careful how, when, where and why he uses his power.

World-Building and Technology

Obviously, science-fiction is another genre that uses a lot of world-building. Again, one can keep it simple, such as is the case with Star Trek. Yes, there is a bit of world-building such as tricorders and dilithium crystals, etc. but it isn’t very in depth and largely relies on suspension of disbelief.

If, however, we get into hard science fiction, that is an ENTIRELY different group of fans (comprised of scientists, engineers, and tech people). Should we create some form of tech, we will need a certain degree of plausibility.

These are the fans who hate/make fun of Star Trek and love The Martian. Since science, math and technology are part of their day jobs, they are a tough crowd. Like doctors trying to watch House or actual detectives trying to watch Miami CSI.

Thus, when choosing what KIND of science fiction you want to write, make sure to keep the audience in mind when creating new tech. I read a lot of articles from Popular Science and Popular Mechanics to give me ideas of up-and-coming technology I can riff off of.

For instance, in the story I am working on, if someone loses a limb, the techs can simply use DNA and essentially a 3-D printer to create one that is good as new with nerves, sinew, etc. While ‘out there’ it really isn’t SO ‘out there’ one couldn’t make a good argument this could eventually exist.

World-Building: Go Easy on the Names

Whenever I read samples, in my The Write Stuff Special (going on now and only 10 slots until July 24th), I get a lot of fantasy and science fiction. One of my MAJOR bugaboos is too many names too quickly.

Remember, especially in the opening pages, we need to hook the audience. If we have to keep up with the name of five characters, a religion, a mountain range, a certain spell, a sword (that is called something other than ‘a sword’) it is a LOT of vocabulary hitting us at one time.

This will make it very easy to lose the reader. I am not saying we cannot have a zillion different names, just not on the first page, please. Also, when it comes to everyday items that are what we’d know on Earth, don’t feel the need to create new words for them.

Even on Earth, a cup has been a cup for centuries. A sword is a sword, a cape is a cape, etc. Though, obviously it is YOUR book, my recommendation is to save made up words for things that are unique. If it is a unique type of ceremonial sword, then fine, call it something else. Just remember your reader is there for a story, not to learn an entirely new language.

Even J.R.R. Tolkien called it a sword, a wagon, a road, a hat.

World-Building & Readers

Obviously, the goal of any kind of world-building is to a) help suspend disbelief and b) become a place where readers want to escape. This is where reading/watching series becomes critical. What are the books/series you love? WHY? Can you list elements that captivated your attention? WHY?

What sort of feel are you going for? Are there elements you can reasonably mix together? Hunter by Mercedes Lackey is a fantastic example of mixing ‘fairy tale’ monsters with new creations in a high-tech world. They use magic as well as traditional weapons like modern guns and knives and futuristic force fields.

A Little Bit of Hatred by Joe Abercrombie (Book 1 of The Age of Madness series) is much, much darker. There are kings and castles but also factories. So there is a bit of steampunk blended in. It is very, VERY graphically violent.

While Hunter is ‘violence lite’ and involves a far higher level of technology, A Little Bit of Hatred gives Game of Thrones a run for its money with gore, and the tech is all steam-based.

Not every reader has the desire to read something as weighty as Dune or Lord of the Rings. But, many do (obviously) or they wouldn’t be so enduring.

A lot is going to depend on your personal tastes. If you have not READ a lot of fantasy or science fiction with large-scale world-building, I’d hold off until you do. It is MUCH harder than just making up a bunch of funny-sounding names and tech.

Everything has Inherent Order

Believe it or not, even though we are allegedly ‘making things up’ we really aren’t. We need to draw from what readers already know so they have some sort of psychological tether. For instance, Dune is about rival houses, but the worlds eerily reflect the age of colonization and the battle over the Middle East.

Arrakis derives much of its beliefs, traditions, and ways of life from what might logically be derived from the Bedouin or other desert nomads. Since we mere Earthlings understand nomadic cultures, we have something to ground us.

Even if one is going to construct an alien language, language has inherent order and logic. Is your made-up language like English which basically just beat up other languages and rifled through their pockets for spare vocabulary?

Or is it more like other languages that have feminine/masculine/and neutral expressions? Even RUSSIAN has masculine and feminine.

Girl is pronounced DYEH-voosh-kah, and boy is pronounced MAHL’-cheek. Notice how, like many other languages, the feminine ends in an ‘ah’ sound. Word order will need to be consistent as well.

In English we have subject —> verb —> adjective—> direct object. Latin-based languages have subject —> verb —> direct object —> adjective.

I live in a white house (English), versus Vivo en una casa blanca or ‘I live in a house white’ (Spanish).

Even totally made up languages will need inherent rules. If we use this language for any amount of time, the ear will pick up on consistency and thus make it ‘seem’ more authentic because it will ‘sound’ like an actual language (just one we don’t understand). Keep this in mind for vocabulary as well.

Yes, I ‘learned’ Klingon back in my teenage years. One more thing that made being a Trekkie just that more fun.

World-Building Reality

World-building isn’t just for science fiction or fantasy. The regular everyday person doesn’t understand how crime scenes work (NCIS), how detectives do their job (Rizzoli & Isles), the way the bridge of a submarine runs (The Hunt for Red October), how pilots learn to fly fighter jets (Top Gun).

Even genres like mystery, thriller, suspense, will need a degree of world-building. I am from a military home and also have been a competitive shooter. Even NCIS sometimes irritates me.

You just positioned your agents on top of the building like that? You WANT a crossfire? Because this is how you get a crossfire.

It really is in the details.

If we set our story in another time period, appreciate that most readers (aside from history nerds) might not know the ins and outs of that age. Just be VERY CAREFUL about anachronisms.

Anachronisms are actually a bugger in pretty much all world-building. I once read a story that was set in King Arthur times (armor, knights, kings, castles), but a small boy was playing with a toy train. Um…NO. Unless the story is one of those creative hybrids I mentioned earlier? NO.

I hope this gives y’all a good start about what you need to keep in mind when building your world. Would love to see you in class, obviously. We’ll go into SO much more detail. World-building covers WORLDS so yes, it is a lot.

BUT, when done properly, authors have the pleasure of seeing fans in costumes, conventions, adding in their own fan fiction, etc. Our books can become a far richer experience that takes on a life of its own.

What Are Your Thoughts on World-Building?

What are some of your favorite worlds? Obviously, I LOVE Dune but I am a huge fan of Stranger Things’ Upside Down. I remember inhaling Dragonlance books like candy because I was a nerd when that wasn’t exactly cool and loved the escape. That and I had a crush on Raistlin Majere, thereby proving emotionally unavailable men are weirdly attractive to many girls and women.

I LOVE hearing from you! And if y’all have topics you’d like me to cover, put them in the comments. I am over 2000 blogs in and it gets a bit tough after a while.

Remember I am running The Write Stuff Special and grab a slot because there are only ten available and they fill up QUICKLY. In depth edit of your first 20 pages for $55.

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The post World-Building: Captivate Readers & Never Let Go appeared first on Kristen Lamb.

Science fiction has always been a popular genre, but, like most other genres, it has peaks and valleys. These days, science fiction has exploded in popularity, making it a great genre to write.

We’re now living in a world humans never believed actually could (would exist).

We have 3-D printers, drones, and Alexa devices that we can ask to find us a marinara recipe while we’re elbow-deep washing dishes. In an age of texting, wifi, virtual reality, and self-driving cars, humans are now faced with all those sticky moral questions posited by the original science fiction authors over a century ago.

This is why story is so critical. Today, I have a special guest, Maria Grace, author of twenty-three books and contributor to Putting the Science in Fiction. She’s here to give us some simple tips to launch our science fiction into SPACE!

Take it away, MG!

***

A Brief, but Nerdy History

I grew up on science fiction. From some of the worst stuff imaginable (I’m looking at you Lost in Space), to what would become some of the most influential franchises in history.

Star Wars and Star Trek? I was there from the get-go.

I probably shouldn’t confess this, but I cut my nerdy ten-year-old chops on a manual Smith Corona typewriter…writing Star Trek fan fiction. 

Wait … wait … don’t click away, I promise I’m normal now. No wait, what did I just say? Never mind. I’m a writer and we’re not normal, ever.

And we lie.

But I digress.

All these years later, I still drool over some of those gadgets. Who couldn’t use a Universal Translator when talking to their teen-aged children? It would work for that wouldn’t it?

And the replicator? Oh, I want a replicator.

After dinner, wouldn’t it be a dream to just toss everything into the bin and not worry about all that cleaning and scrubbing? Be still my heart. And a transporter …

*wipes drool off keyboard*

You know what’s even better?

I Now Get to INVENT Those Gadgets

*rubs hands together and cues maniacal laugh*

Oh, the things I can create. I want a 3-D printer to craft my bluejeans so they fit just right every single day. How about a flying car? The Jetson’s promised me a flying car, and I want one now yesterday.

Point is, there are so many possibilities that it’s easy to get carried away. And there, my friends, is a major pitfall that can trip us up when writing science fiction.

Too. Many. Gadgets.

Tell me it isn’t true. No such thing as too many whizzbang-humdingers, right?

About that…

Sorry to break it to you, but it’s dead Jim, dead…wait no wrong line—right idea, but you get the gist.

Tell Me It Isn’t True

When we venture into the brave new world of writing science fiction, its easy to get caught up like Augustus Gloop in Willy Wonka’s factory, crafting one shiny doohickey and an even shinier thingamabob.

Pretty soon we end up running right off the cliff and into the chocolate river to be sucked out by the extraction pipe to the dreaded boiler room—and on one wants that—right?

Just because we CAN, doesn’t mean we SHOULD. So, take a deep breath fellow writers and step away from the sonic screwdrivers.

Science Fiction Secret Sauce

Hold off tossing the digital tomatoes. I can already hear the protests.

Blasphemy! Science fiction needs tech and you’ll only get my light saber when you pry it out of my cold dead hands.

Of course science fiction needs science—it wouldn’t be science fiction without all those science-y fiction-y toys. But—and of course there had to be a ‘but’—there’s something more.

A secret sauce.

Come close my pretties and learn the extra special sauce recipe that will bring your science fiction to a whole new level.

*drumroll*

Are you ready? Wait for it….

Tell an amazing story.

Good Science Fiction Contains FICTION

Um…it’s in the name for a quick and simple reference.

It’s so easy to get caught up chasing shiny bits and bobs that we forget science fiction includes fiction (which is a STORY). All the structure and techniques that apply to writing great fiction also apply to writing great science fiction.

A solid story problem is the core of every great science fiction work. When we strip away all the blinking lights and things that go ‘boop,’ what we’ll find are basic human problems that drive the story.

Dilithium crystals are totally your call.

Look at Tony Stark (Iron Man) from the Avengers. Sure his suit is super-cool, but it’s actually Stark’s flawed and complex character that piques our interest. Mix Tony’s more-than-carry-on emotional baggage with an intriguing story problem plus some end-of-the-world stakes? And that’s a formula that keep us going back.

Movie after movie after movie…after movie.

Just how many Star Trek incarnations are there now? Doesn’t matter. My point is simply that, sure, it wouldn’t be Star Trek without starships, transporters, replicators, emergency medical holographs, and, and, and…

But take a moment to reflect over each incarnation. Focus on the main characters driving the story ship line: Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Worf, Spock, etc.

Remember the problems they faced: being overrun with vermin (Tribbles), wrestling with what it means to be ‘human’ (Data), the struggles that go with being a ‘half-breed,’ the progeny of two diametrically opposite races (Spock).

In science fiction, all problems are human problems.

Science fiction is two words—science + fiction. Subtract the gripping story and memorable, dimensional characters (fiction), and that leaves only science. Science without a story is called a textbook, not a novel.

Granted, science can be fun. In fact, those of us who are drawn to the science fiction genre likely were the nerds eager students who couldn’t wait for lab day.

Please understand, I love my microwave, my tablet, and the T.V. remote my husband bought me that I can’t figure out how to work (but keep trying anyway). Alas, those are all ‘things’ I can put down, walk away from, even lose—and all are simple to replace.

And that’s the crux of the matter. Superlative fiction has no simple replacement. Science fiction crafted properly shouldn’t have a good place for a bookmark.

When we draw readers into our story, they should feel as if they’ve been snagged by a tractor beam, and no amount of thrust can free them (and frankly, they’re happy to be taken captive).

Two Tips for Riveting Science Fiction

If we want to make our science fiction totally binge-worthy, as in stay-up-all-night-even-though-there-is-a-big-presentation-tomorrow binge worthy, there are two big things we can do.

First, we need to craft a story that can stand up on its own, without all the glittery gizmos.

Take Killjoys—Hubby’s and my current guilty pleasure. Here’s my log-line for the show:

A bounty hunter with a mysterious past and her team discover the Company’s deadly intentions and now her dark secrets hold the key to saving the world from the Company.

Read that again. What do you notice? Take your time. I’ll just be here, waiting patiently.

*cues Jeopardy theme*

So, what do you notice about that log-line? I’ll give you a clue: it sounds like a fantastic story, but it also could be set just about any place, during any time.

Sure, Killjoys is set in a system of four planets, complete with space travel and all manner of cool doohickeys, but the log-line doesn’t depend on all that ‘stuff.’

The same story could be set in the Wild West, the Australian Outback, or today in any major city and it would still work.

*mind blown*

Now, before anyone protests, I agree changing the setting also changes most of the story details. If we set it in the Wild West we’d have horses instead of spaceships and the Company’s secret would be salient to the time period. But, let’s just refit the log-line and you’ll see…

*sounds of sonic screwdriver*

A bounty hunter with a mysterious past and her team discover the Company’s deadly intentions and now her dark secrets hold the key to saving the unsettled western territories from the Company.

Granted, the Wild West version is no longer science fiction, but the core players and the goal are roughly the same.

In terms of the underlying story though, those aren’t the important details—the core of the story stands.

That’s why we can retell fairy tales in the modern day, or rewrite classic stories (I’m looking at you Jane Austen buffs) into the modern day and they work.

The core story doesn’t depend on the setting.

Sure, there are facets of the stories that might make them work easier in one time period or setting than another, but they can still work.

That’s the point: Good stories just work.

But then what’s the point of writing science fiction when you can just plunk a story down anywhere, wind it up and let it go?

Here’s where the magic—oh wait, here’s where fantasy…I mean science happens.

Oooo Science!

Once the bones of our story are all fit together and standing on their own, now we flesh it out with all those awesome gizmos we love. Notice I didn’t say ‘dress it up’—that implies something that isn’t really important to the story—and that’s far from true.

Tech is vitally important and a large part of the science fiction ‘magic.’

But, the deus ex machina—the sonic screwdriver than can perform any task to save the day can make it too easy on our characters.

Add in those mindless MacGuffins that only serve as convenient plot devices, those are just too easy on us as writers (we can be more creative than that).

Great science fiction tends to treat techy-shiny things in one of two ways…

Foreground vs. Background

Foreground

On the one hand, we have Dune where the spice Melange (used by the navigators for intergalactic space travel) is foundational to the story problem. 

Everything in the story revolves around who will control the spice. Getting rid of the spice would fundamentally change everything about the story world. That is what makes Melange solidly part of the foreground.

I, Robot is another good example where the technology is in the backbone of the fiction. Pull it out (um, ouch), and we’ve got a lot of dry bones lying on the floor in desperate need of being wired together with something else.

This is the go-big-or-go-home version of tech.

Background

Another method is what we’ll call the Star Trek approach to technology. In most of the Star Trek episodes and franchises, the replicators and transporters are simply part of the everyday world like our cellphones and automatic doors today.

***Remember those were largely science fiction not so very long ago.

In this case, the gizmos define how day to day lives work, but don’t attract any more attention than our cellphones would today—unless they suddenly quit working in a way that’s essential to the plot. Essentially, the gizmos reside in the background and remain there.

Hold on. Don’t shout me down, yet.

Star Trek had characters—Data and the emergency medical hologram—who WERE technology. What can be more whizz-bang than that?

That’s absolutely true. But, when we take a closer look at these mechanical marvels, we can see those technologies that created the characters always resided solidly in either the foreground or the background.

In certain episodes, the core plot problem revolved around the technology—usually asking the question of what it meant to be a sentient being who is ‘alive.’

More often though, their nature was just part of their core traits and these characters played the same kind of role that the other characters did. The marvelous technology that created them then returned to its place as part of the background.

So what’s a writer to do?

Avoiding the Mushy Middle

As we’re building our fantastical science fiction worlds and filling them with the devices we most wish we could possess as well.

Seriously, I want that thing to print jeans that actually fit…

This said, it’s wise to avoid that mushy middle ground. The mushy middle is that soggy place in the center of the back yard where the mud puddles form after a good thunderstorm. That dip that bogs down the lawn mower every time because it’s a place that never seems to dry out.

When we run our thingamabobs through this area, they get stuck. They sputter, churn, and kick up mud until they finally run out of gas (or burn up the engine). Pretty soon our back yard is full of interesting lawn ornaments.

Then we get the call from our Home Owners’ Association…

‘Kondoing’ our Science Fiction Gizmos

It’s essential that we learn how to streamline our story-house with Marie Kondo ruthlessness.

For those who aren’t yet familiar with Marie Kondo, she’s a world-renowned organization and efficiency expert. What works for finally decluttering our office can also work magic for our science fiction.

Trust me.

Using the Kondo method, we should look at every piece of tech we introduce into our science fiction, then ask, ‘Does it spark joy?’ then ask, ‘Are these gizmos visible, accessible and easy to use and put away?’

Does it spark joy? Does the gizmo/tech make our plot sing and create something unique and beautiful in our story?

Is it visible, accessible and easy to use and put away? Does it fit seamlessly into our story world, creating a fleshed out setting without calling unnecessary attention to itself?

If we can answer yes to both these questions, then polish that puppy up and keep it in the story. If not? Follow Kondo’s advice.

Thank it for its service and get rid of it.

Once our glittering tech is polished up and sitting in the right places in our stories–squarely in the foreground feeding the plot problems or in the background creating the seamless backdrop upon which our story happens, then the all important FICTION bit of our science fiction can come to life.

***

THANK YOU, Maria Grace! I hope y’all will give her some love in the comments. Any questions, thoughts or opinions are ALWAYS welcome because we really do love hearing from you.

As for me? I am a hopeless nerd and can’t get enough science fiction, and I found it fascinating to learn what goes on ‘behind the curtain.’

I’d never thought of science and tech being foreground or background.

Anyway, this post is mere taste of the brilliance MG brings to the table. If you love science fiction, you want learn how to write it or even how to take your existing science fiction to entirely new levels…then seriously grab your slot in Friday’s class, More Than Crop Circles: Intro to Science Fiction.

In fact, use the discount code tinfoil10 for $10 off. Seriously, $35 for TWO HOURS of awesomeness and a FREE RECORDING to study and enjoy afterwards?

Also, for anyone interested in learning how to write another hot, hot, hot genre (okay, genre family) that actually never stops being popular (Um, hello? James Patterson?) make sure to join me tomorrow for The Edge: How to Write Mystery, Suspense & Thriller. Use the promo code thrillme10 for $10 off.

Remember that The Summer ON DEMAND CLEARANCE ends TONIGHT at MIDNIGHT EST, so there are only a few more hours to grab up these deeply discounted classes (scroll down or go to the On Demand Page).

***F.Y.I. Cait Reynolds is still alive and part of the team. She’s in the middle of a cross-country move from Boston to Los Angeles…and the thought of that is enough to give me a panic attack.

About Maria Grace:

Maria Grace is the author of 23 books. She has a PhD in Educational Psychology and is a 16-year veteran of the university classroom where she taught courses in human growth and development, learning, test development and counseling. None of which have anything to do with her undergraduate studies in economics/sociology/managerial studies/behavior sciences.

She has one husband, earned two graduate degrees and two black belts, raised three sons, danced English Country dance for four years, is aunt to five nieces, is designing a sixth Regency-era costume, blogged seven years on Random Bits of Fascination, has outlines for eight novels waiting to be written, attended nine English country dance balls, and shared her life with ten cats.

Available until July 17th, 2019

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The post Science Fiction—More than Just Gizmos appeared first on Kristen Lamb.

On Friday, we explored how shame is the beating heart of great fiction, how probing the shadow sides of human nature is what can separate the mundane from the magnificent.

All fiction has its place. Some fiction is purely fun and escape and the world needs more fun and feel good. Certain books are simply a holodeck to get away from the mundanities of life, the overwhelming pressures of being an adult (kids, laundry, bills, car repairs). They serve as a place of rest and we all could use more of that!

But that isn’t all fiction.

Many writers (myself included) desire to go far deeper with our fiction, explore wounds and human issues, poke and prod at larger social dilemmas using the narrative form to expose that which is diseased and show it can be overcome. Speculative fiction is an excellent outlet for this. This genre offers a myriad of ways to help us mere humans face all the stuff we fear the most.

I am breaking out of my comfort zone and now offering new classes specifically for the genres I love and read the most. In August I have a class on Speculative Fiction and one on Character-Driven Stories (which includes but is not limited to literary fiction and can greatly enhance genre fiction) before I leave for New Zealand to keynote.

Why did I pick these two to start with? These are my favorite kinds of books to read, which means I’ve read a lot of these kinds of stories.  I also find it fascinating how (believe it or not) great speculative fiction has a lot more in common with literary than one might believe.

What is Speculative Fiction?

Speculative fiction is an umbrella term used to describe narrative fiction with supernatural or futuristic elements. This includes but it not necessarily limited to fantasy, science fiction, horror, utopian, dystopian, alternate history, apocalyptic fiction, post-apocalyptic fiction.

Basically, all the weird stuff.

(And forgive me because today we are using seriously broad strokes.)

But what makes the difference between the laughable 1950s science fiction matinees and the long-forgotten pulp fiction versus the works of Philip K.Dick? What makes The Road literature even though it’s a post-apocalyptic novella? Why is Heart-Shaped Box or Wool so deeply disturbing and simultaneously resonant?

Why do star-packed big-budget films like Jupiter Ascending fizzle? Yet Blade Runner is a science fiction staple worthy of being remade for the newest generations to enjoy?

Plot

It’s easy to dismiss speculative fiction as escapist fluff and some of it is. But, when we look to the great speculative fiction, we see the authors are disguising explosive social commentary within narrative so it can be viewed and experienced behind the safety-glass/containment field of story.

By using story, we writers place the reader into this world then (hopefully) generate empathy that is impossible to create any other way. I’ve seen the movie I, Robot countless times and I bawl EVERY time during this scene.

Yeah this is me…

Stepford Wives was a commentary on the women’s liberation movement. Animal Farm was a treatise on socialism and the dangers of groupthink. The peril that comes with handing over too much power to those who claim to have noble and benevolent intentions without asking the hard questions.

Brave New World was Huxley’s stab at a culture propelled by temporary highs, unlimited choices and instant gratification while rejecting that which endured (love, family, marriage), because that which lasted required time, sacrifice and work. He showed us an eerily accurate picture of what society could become if we were not vigilant…and is now probably rolling in his grave.

*Makes note to write story about Huxley haunting Instagram*

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was Philip K. Dick’s commentary on artificial intelligence and just because we can play God, should we? What sort of moral implications are involved? These are issues we are now facing for real, that are no longer fiction and we are being tasked with the tough questions.

Is it wise to create and sell sex robots that come with a “frigid” setting? What happens when we extend the logic of this? Blade Runner. We get Blade Runner. Also a bizarre escalation/reinvention of the previously mentioned Stepford Wives.

All these great science breakthroughs that float across our newsfeed are now fertile ground for new and possibly even better stories that prod the science with ethical dilemmas.

We show the world it’s upside down and maybe even ways to right it.

I believe that the great speculative fiction writers have always been the conscience of culture, the voice that whispers things like, “Just because we can, doesn’t mean we should.” Or, “This really is a big deal and can go ugly really easily.”

Horror does a lot of that as well. Good horror writers tap into the subconscious angst and gives it a face. What happens when society is allowed to continue to devalue human life? When mobs are handed permission to call the shots? Let’s chat about this after watching The Purge.

To Make it BIGGER, Make it Smaller

When we care about everything, we care about nothing. Additionally, the human mind can’t truly grasp the loss of a billion lives. It doesn’t resonate because it can’t compute.

Thus the great spec-fic plots make the big small. We tell a small story of one person or a group of people as it plays out on the far larger stage. World War Z anyone?

This is why so many Hollywood movies about asteroids hitting the planet fizzle while The Road simply guts us.

Not All Big Stories are Big

Sometimes speculative fiction isn’t addressing something big, rather it dives into the intimate and deeply personal. Heart-Shaped Box is about a vengeful ghost out to destroy an aging rock star and anyone he loves. While the supernatural elements are terrifying, what is so beautiful and moving about this story is how the characters are forced to face and conquer inner demons they would have been happy to bury if not running for their lives.

The human story is what elevates this from a forgettable scary book into a work that prods at the deep dark places of the characters (and by extension the reader).

Character

Writing speculative fiction is really tough. It has a lot in common with literary in that it can turn preachy or fall flat so easily. Too many writers get fixated on world-building, when world-building is backdrop and can never substitute for story.

Spec-fic is tough and I swear it is the souffle of fiction. If we aren’t careful and look away one second? Yeah.

Plot of course matters in that we need a core story problem to drive the story, but characters are vastly important (possibly even more important). We must develop multi-dimensional characters with flaws and problems to set on this adventure because gizmos, gadgets, spaceships, magic, chainsaws, gore and ghosts alone are not a story.

We don’t need a bigger asteroid…we need a better story. Story is what is going to rattle the cage, not the two-ton spider. More blood or teeth won’t scare us and won’t change us.

In a world where we are overwhelmed with doom and gloom, where any debate on-line easily devolves into ranting, I think spec-fic is more important than ever in human history. Story is the place where the armor goes off and the heart is exposed and then able to be changed, fixed, remolded, and softened.

What are your thoughts? Do you love horror? Dystopian? Science fiction? What are your favorites? I LOVE HEARING FROM YOU! What makes spec-fic great? Or fall flat? What are your pet peeves?

I love speculative fiction, even though it took about 4 years to figure out what other writers meant by “speculative fiction.” I am a horror and science fiction JUNKIE. And I love the good stuff, the stories that poke and prod and that people can’t help talking about, debating, discussing in a way no Facebook rant-fest can. Which, again, is why I am thrilled to be offering a new class on it!

****And MAKE SURE to check out the classes below and sign up! Summer school! YAY! We’ve added in classes on erotica/high heat romance, fantasy, how to write strong female characters and MORE! So scroll down and sign up!

For the month of JULY, for everyone who leaves a comment, I will put your name in a hat. If you comment and link back to my blog on your blog, you get your name in the hat twice. What do you win? The unvarnished truth from yours truly.

I will pick a winner once a month and it will be a critique of the first 20 pages of your novel, or your query letter, or your synopsis (5 pages or less).

NEW CLASSES WITH USA Today Best Selling Author CAIT REYNOLDS!

Obviously, I have my areas of expertise, but I’ve wanted for a long time to fill in some gaps on classes I could offer.

Cait Reynolds was my answer.

She is an unbelievable editor, mentor and teacher and a serious expert in these areas. She consults numerous very successful USA Today and NYTBS authors and I highly, highly recommend her classes.

Gaskets and Gaiters: How to Create a Compelling Steampunk World July 21st $35 w/ Cait Reynolds 

Lasers & Dragons & Swords, Oh MY! World Building for Fantasy & Science Fiction July 28th w/ Cait Reynolds $35/ GOLD $75/ PLATINUM $125

Baby It’s Hot in Here—Writing Erotica & High Heat Sex Scenes August 4th $45 General/ $90 GOLD/$150 Platinum

Classes with MOI!

Branding for Authors  July 27th $35

Elements of Literary—How to Write Character-Driven Stories August 3rd $40

Beyond Planet X, Monsters & Chainsaws–Mastering Speculative Fiction August 10th $35

Classes with Award-Winning Author Lisa Hall-Wilson

Growing An Organic Platform On Facebook July 22nd $40

Method Acting for Writers—How to Write Deep POV August 1st $85 (two-week intensive class & lifetime access)

Beyond Lipstick & Swords—Writing Strong Female Characters September 9th $40

The post Science Fiction, Horror & More—Why Speculative Fiction Matters appeared first on Kristen Lamb.

In case I still need to introduce him to you: Alex Limberg has been a steady guest on my blog for the past couple months, and since he has taken to crate training far better than I anticipated, I might keep him around even longer.

Who’s a good guest blogger? *dangles treat*

Alex is a copywriter and blogs on Ride the Pen to help you boost your fiction writing. Check and improve your stories with his free ebook “44 Key Questions” to test your story (very helpful checklist for anybody who writes fiction).

All righty. How do you create your own fictional world from scratch? So glad you asked! World building is critical to writing a good story, especially in certain genres like fantasy, high fantasy and science fiction. As an editor, I can always tell writers who skipped this step, namely because it makes me want to throw their book across a room. We have to establish a world and the rules of operation in that world before doing anything else, but I am prattling on and Alex is going to help you today.

Take it away, Alex!

***

Admit it, you want to be a god.

You despotic, power-hungry person, you need your own little space where everybody (and everything) bends to your rules, and you need to get your way.

Why else would you write fiction?

Ok, maybe you have other, more noble motives as well. Nevermind, sorry for prematurely accusing you (maybe).

But still, one of the most satisfying feelings for a writer is to create his own universe. Where else can you string along any individual, save or extinguish them just as you please, decide about the colors and shapes of what is and even bend the laws of the world to your liking?

You will build your most complete worlds in two genres: Fantasy and science fiction. Here, you can recreate the entire world and re-invented every little detail, should you choose to do so.

Maybe people eat shoes and walk on bread. They might have one billion twenty-two hundred million and fourteen eyes or none. What’s an eye anyway?

For his fantasy world Middle-Earth, J.R.R. Tolkien even went so far as to invent not one, but several languages. Diving into a world that detailed and miraculous must feel very tempting to a lot of people. That’s why the masses pilgrimaged to movie theatres all over the world to watch Lord of the Rings: No doubt they would rather be guided by Gandalf than by their own employer!

Science fiction on the other hand represents a harsher, less elfish and cozy world. Whereas fantasy says This could be, science fiction tells us This will be, which is a call much more threatening call to make… we feel more personally affected by science fiction.

In the end, no matter what genre you are writing in, you are always building your very own universe.

Maybe your story plays in a police department, in a hospital, or any other environment that has its very specific code of conduct, look and pace.

Maybe people in your novel talk very realistically or maybe your characters are just goofy and funny.

It might be just about the angle your story is coming from: In a thriller, there is very little room for laughter, everything is looked at from a factual, suspense-driven angle; in a comedy, everything is supposed to be funny. You might have noticed though that in real life funny and tragic moments often take turns very quickly and even come as a package within the same experience.

So it’s finally proven: Your TV set is not your real life!

Ok, so you want to be a young god or goddess respectively, create your own science fictional world, kill everybody, and let the rest live to your liking… now how do you go about it? What tips and guidelines am I able to supply you with on your honorable quest?

Let’s look at a simplified recipe on how to prepare your own world like a warm, steaming, yummy apple pie.

And let’s use one of the most famous science fiction movies ever to inspire us.

The Outline

Before you start writing your first draft, I whole-heartedly recommend you spend some time on preparing a detailed outline for your background. Be absolutely clear about what it looks like and which rules it adheres to.

Even writing in a more “realistic” genre will be difficult without an outline (although it depends on which type of writer you are). But inventing your SF or fantasy world “on the fly” is certainly a bad idea.

Think about it: The less you know in advance, the more of your mental disk space the story background will occupy while you are writing. You can only concentrate on so many things at the same time. So while you think about what a driving tests for talking ostriches looks like, you will miss out on the characterization or on writing sharp dialogue, I can guarantee you.

Make sure to write a detailed outline on your background.

The Feeling

As a first step, you should settle on the mood you want to create: What feeling should your world evoke? Is it funny or serious, very technological or rather simple? How far off is it from the good old world we inhabit?

Image by Ludovic Bertron/Flickr CC

For example, it could be “fantastic” science fiction with many curious races involved, like Star Wars. Or it could be a high-tech futuristic environment drifting through the vast reaches of space like Star Trek.

What does it feel like, which aspect of science fiction does it highlight?

Remember the 80s movie Blade Runner?

Its plot is a bit thin. But it’s a perfect example to study background, because it consists mainly of atmosphere. The wonderful production design, the highly acclaimed cinematography and Vangelis’s gloomy score all make for an extremely moody environment.

Blade Runner outlines a dark cyberpunk world and emphasizes the somber, haunted aspect of science fiction. It’s a cold, lonely, alienated world, one in which you can’t be sure if your opposite is human or an artificial clone looking like a human (called replicant).

Of course, you could go an entirely different route and make your world a friendly place with aliens looking like SpongeBob, feeding you grapes all day long. Whatever floats your boat. The SpongeBob version would render a completely different context and statement, and would of course require entirely different details and procedures (see below).

But whatever background you choose, here is the trick:

Give it a healthy balance between a world well known to the reader and a completely unknown one!

If you use certain things and procedures that are familiar to your audience, they will identify with your world. The more you can wrap your reader up in the feeling of a real, existing world, the more she will care about your story.

On the other hand, if you embed these things in a new, futuristic context, you take your readers by the hand and lead them into a world full of wonders, which is exactly what fiction should do: Take queuing at the register in the supermarket (a familiar, slightly annoying feeling, but in your world it’s done resting on hovering chairs), or meter parking (city administration is ready to charge again, but in your world they want your karma).

Balance between realism and imagination matters. For if your entire reality is a completely new one, your readers won’t recognize themselves in it anymore; but if your reality is too close to the known world – well, it’s not science fiction any longer then, is it?

Image by Byron Villegas/Flickr CC

The Surface

Next, there is the purely physical level: Based on the mood you want to create, what does your world look, sound, feel like?

The future looks streamlined, sounds mechanic and feels waterproof – at least that’s what the convention in science fiction wants to make us believe.

What the audience “sees” and “hears” right away is the uppermost layer of your universe: In the case of Blade Runner, do you remember all of the tubes, consoles, screens, scanners and the feeling they gave you – apparently enough emotion to hook you for a full two hours (because remember, thin plot)?

Can you recall the dark, threatening details of that world, whether it was an abandoned, deranged apartment block or stacks spitting huge clouds of fire?

Technology taking over our lives is often the idea behind science fiction. Technology, by default, is artificial; science fiction worlds are user-friendly, repellent, made of plastic and metal. Have you ever seen an iPad made of raw meat? Me neither; these worlds are all synthetics and steel.

Typical science fiction design looks streamlined, reflecting, immaculate; it sounds mechanical and automated, like a clicking, a buzzing, a laser-like swoosh; it feels smooth, firm and cold. Minimalism and functionality prevail. Everything is made for quick use and to save time. Keep this in mind when you are describing your world and what the characters see, hear and feel.

Then again, all of this is just an idea, a stereotyped label. Yes, just go ahead, create some science fiction with overwhelmingly furry surfaces – show me that meaty iPad!

Image by L.E.Spry/Flickr CC

The Procedures

Now you know what your world looks and feels like. But what about its inner mechanics?

Think about the technology in your world – what’s ridiculously easy for people to do now? Do they beam themselves to work? Read each other’s thoughts instead of listening to them (time saver)?

Look at the technological advance. Then think logically and realistically: Because of the new technology, which changes might have happened in social life, in transport, in administration, in communication, in trade, etc…?

Throughout the centuries, technological changes have always brought along big changes in all other aspects of life: Take the law, for example. We have the internet now, people have access to never-before-seen technology to exploit each other on a whole new level; so we need a whole new set of rules, e.g. against cyber-criminals.

Think of all the areas of life internet has had a major impact on: Commerce (online sales), love (online dating), financials (online stock exchanges), and many, many more. With the advance of the internet, technological advance brought massive shifts in many other areas of life.

But let’s consider law again for a moment: Say if people read each other’s thoughts to save some time – where is the legal limit?

Are there thoughts nobody is allowed to read, private thoughts?

How is thought reading controlled, what’s the punishment for stepping over the line?

What’s the legal consequence of reading a policeman’s thought?

And as we are already at it, the government’s inclination to control its population always brings new threatening elements with it – that’s fertile ground for any science fiction story and some healthy paranoia.

In the Blade Runner world, citizens have to take emotional tests to expose if they are replicants or not. Replicants will be retired (executed). See how new technology (production of replicants) inevitably leads to new social and legal ramifications?

And sometimes, just once in a while, technology backfires – wasn’t the internet invented to save us a lot of time? And how much time did you waste on Facebook this week?

This is the irony of progress.

The Imagination

Finally, remember: That new universe of yours has to be imaginative! Had your reader the desire to read about the trashcans and trees behind his house, he would have just studied an essay about waste recycling in Dipshit, Ohio. Instead, not only give him something he doesn’t know and won’t ever know, but give him something nobody has ever experienced before.

What is it that makes science fiction so appealing?

It’s just that we love to imagine what the future holds in store for us! This is how human beings are wired, this is the dream of humanity – to live without the boundaries of gravity, of our bodies, of place, of time. So hand out some candy to the reader:

Which unimagined possibilities can he experience in your story that he won’t ever be able to enjoy in real life?

Is it time traveling to tell his younger self about the pitfalls of life’s journey?

Is it a robot who does all his homework?

Free-of-charge love with a clone?

In Blade Runner, we have things as mundane as a video device reacting to vocal commands; we also have flying police cars, which admittedly sound more like a nightmare than a dream to the average traffic participant – but at least they are every policeman’s wet dream!

So there you have it: The future is limitless and time is incomprehensible to the human mind. Humans will always wonder what the future has in store for them and humans will always be fascinated by science fiction.

And when the future finally arrives – it will be the new past within the blink of an eye… and a new future will be awaiting!

Alex Limberg is blogging on ‘Ride the Pen’ to help you boost your fiction writing. His blog dissects famous authors (works, not bodies). Check your world building, realism and many other story elements with his free ebook “44 Key Questions” to test your story. Shakespeare is jealous. Alex has worked as a copywriter and lived in Vienna, Los Angeles, Madrid and Hamburg.

Kristen here; I have beamed my way back into this post.

And now over to you: Have you written science fiction or fantasy before? Or any other genre when it felt like you were very much building your own world? Do you have a secret sauce to draw your readers into your universe? How do you make sure your audience is as fascinated by that universe as you are? Is riding a rollercoaster equally fun on Mars? If our knees would bend in the opposite direction, what would chairs look like? Let us know about the future of humanity in the comments!

Remember that comments for guests get double love from me for my contest!

I love hearing from you!

To prove it and show my love, for the month of FEBRUARY, everyone who leaves a comment I will put your name in a hat. If you comment and link back to my blog on your blog, you get your name in the hat twice. What do you win? The unvarnished truth from yours truly. I will pick a winner once a month and it will be a critique of the first 20 pages of your novel.

Before we go…

THIS SATURDAY! Branding for Authors. This is your best way to get PAID in the digital age. We have to cultivate that 1000 die hard fans who won’t settle for FREE.

For those who need help building a platform and keeping it SIMPLE, pick up a copy of my latest social media/branding book Rise of the Machines—Human Authors in a Digital World on AMAZON, iBooks, or Nook. 

The post Being GOD 101—The Basics of World Building appeared first on Kristen Lamb.