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Writing Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [science-fiction]

Stories about space, technology, the future, and other things that could be real but aren't.

The exact definition of science fiction is controversial. Generally, if what's happening in the story is impossible, but explained by scientific principles, it will qualify as sci-fi. "Hard" sci-fi focuses on strict extrapolation from contemporary scientific theories. "Soft" sci-fi is more apt to use hand-waving science in order to move the plot forward. Social sci-fi focuses not on technological advancements, but on the social, political, and ethical implications thereof. If the impossible things in your story are only explainable by magic, toddle over to the tag.

259 questions
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Worth writing, if end is obvious

I am currently sketching a novel about people at the end of time, some months or years before the Big Crunch: There is a space station full of people who can only sit and watch as their final moment draws closer and closer. There are several…
Alexander von Wernherr
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How do I avoid tech/social errors in near-future fiction?

Not long ago I read a novel set in the near future (mid-21st century). My suspension of disbelief was totally fine with time travel, an implanted "universal translator" of sorts, major medical advances... but balked at plot points that depended on…
Monica Cellio
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Vision/dream as an effective opening?

I'm looking for opinions on the effectiveness of this opening scene. It's a vision, not that he knows that at first. He thinks it a dream and won't quite act on it straight away. The vision was given to him by a sentient alien. It's basically the…
Nick Bedford
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Electrical engineering concepts in sci-fi

I'm thinking about inserting some deep engineering concepts in my sci-fi story, but I'm not sure how to do this without excluding the general public from it. An example: I want to describe the creation of a radio transmitter by a character. If I…
Vitor Andrade
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Modifying common fantasy species like elves, dwarves, etc.?

So I'm writing a science fiction story, with more fantasy that actual science. When I say "sci-fi" I really mean space opera. There are intergalactic companies, entire planets dedicated to slaver miners, empires that stretch across solar systems,…
sfvn
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Concerns about my novella trilogy's main antagonist

In my novella trilogy that I am writing, Of Aliens and Men, the leader of the main antagonist faction, an alien organization called the Empyre (pronounced: Em-peer) Empire, Empress Erika II holds nigh-limitless political and military power. I am…
Old No Name
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