posted
I am starting to explore a new field, namely SF.
I immersed myself in some Heinlein, Bova and Asimov and I'd also like to pen the occasional hard SF story.
The thing is, the more I read the more I learn, but I saw a nice run down of SF terms and tropes in OSC's book about writing SF/F (things like the ansible, hyperspace, etc.) and I wonder if you guys know a site which could serve as a reference for scientific facts formulas... Nuts and bolts stuff.
Help would be appreciated (I googled for a while to no avail)
[This message has been edited by Foste (edited October 12, 2010).]
I didn't have much time to enjoy it with all the work that had been piling up... Later I got reassigned to England and I worked at Kosovo for a few weeks in the final stretch... I returned to Bosnia 2 days ago or so...
My old msn is buggered up so I'll add you to my new account.
posted
Hi Foste...I think it will really depend on what sort of science fiction you want to write. I can recommend the following if you are interested in genetics:
Also, many SFF writers will tell you that your science doesn't necessarily need to be 100% accurate, but it does need to be presented in a way that makes it believable.
I am reading the "Complete Guide to Writing Science Fiction" by Park, Darin and Law which covers some of what you are asking about.
posted
Science fiction covers such a wide scope of styles that answering your question is going to be really tough... Though it looks like you are leaning towards "hard" science fiction. My advice would be to read a few authors to find out the type of stories you like, then start to aim in that direction.
As for resources, I would point you to: http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/ a very addictive site I found when someone else referenced it on Hatrack...
Another trick is to study virtually any science topic or news story and figure out how it could be used to make a story. For instance, say you read a news article about some science guy at MIT finding a new explanation for Dark Matter. You think, "I'm not so sure what dark matter is..." so you do a little research (usually nothing beyond Wikipedia depth is required, because you can surf to any cross-links they have to go deeper into a topic) and you realize a cool story would be about a guy who is a dark matter harvester in a future space faring civilization.
Now with that prompt, you can start inventing. What is dark matter really? Why is it useful? And so forth.
Most of your ideas may fizzle out, but its a good way to keep the juices turning...
posted
Well Martin since until now I've just written fantasy and horror I always like to say "know your horses (interchangeable with metalwork, history etc)" so I want to read up a little bit before I attempt any SF projects. Besides, I'll learn something in the process and that's always great.
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