Comments on: Terraforming: Worldbuilding for Sci-fi Authors

By: dholcomb1

dholcomb1 — Fri, 07 Jan 2022 05:02:09 +0000

Not my writing genre, but it makes sense.

denise

By: Eldred Bird

Eldred Bird — Thu, 06 Jan 2022 17:12:41 +0000

Welcome to the WITS family, Joseph. Great first post! Your principles work for more than just sci-fi, they're also a good thing to keep in mind when building fantasy worlds or even looking at the "real" world, be it contemporary or historical. I especially like the idea of optimistic vs cynical worlds. That concept will also work in just about any genre.

By: Ellen Buikema

Ellen Buikema — Thu, 06 Jan 2022 16:15:00 +0000

Wow! Great, informative post, Joseph.

I haven't tried writing in the SciFi genre, although my current WIP does have a crystal that opens a portal among other things.

I will definitely check out the podcast.

Welcome to WITS!

By: V.M.Sang

V.M.Sang — Thu, 06 Jan 2022 09:26:53 +0000

I've not written any sci-fi, but have written fantasy. World building is as important in the fantasy genre as the sci-fi.

I always try to make my world believable, using science. For example, where deserts occur. (In similar latitudes, south and north for scientific reasons.) I also make magic explicable by science. For example: an invisibility spell bends light rays around an object or person. Since we see something because the light reflects off it, no light reflection, apparently no object.

I've read a lot of science fiction, and for me, the science must be based on real science, even if embroidered and stretched.

By: Lisa Norman

Lisa Norman — Thu, 06 Jan 2022 05:08:43 +0000

In reply to Joseph R. Lallo. Definitely! Or you could do more with Dragons in Space...

By: Jenny Hansen

Jenny Hansen — Thu, 06 Jan 2022 04:05:53 +0000

In reply to Joseph R. Lallo. We'd totally read that!

By: Joseph R. Lallo

Joseph R. Lallo — Thu, 06 Jan 2022 04:00:16 +0000

In reply to Kris Maze. Thanks for listening to the podcast! Hope you get some good info out of it. And don't worry too much about the hard/soft designation. It's useful as a shorthand, but everything in literature is open to interpretation. What's hard for some is soft for others.

By: Joseph R. Lallo

Joseph R. Lallo — Thu, 06 Jan 2022 03:57:42 +0000

In reply to Jenny Hansen. Great! Sci-fi is loads of fun. Writing this article reminded me how long it's been since I wrote a full sci-fi novel. Might have to add one to the pipeline.

By: Joseph R. Lallo

Joseph R. Lallo — Thu, 06 Jan 2022 03:55:32 +0000

In reply to lynettemburrows. It's interesting how often an optimist will conjure up a dystopia, or a cynic will dream up a utopia. It's like the brain wants to fill in the gaps. And I still get emails about the line in my first sci-fi book that completely got rocket propulsion wrong.

By: Kris Maze

Kris Maze — Thu, 06 Jan 2022 01:35:33 +0000

Hi Joseph,
Glad to see you at WITS. I started listening to Six-figure Authors early last year to learn about the world of indie authorship.

My sci-fi was published in the summer of 2020. I'm currently working on a classroom accessible series based on that book to reach reluctant teen readers.

An interesting thing I discovered from your post was the description of hard versus soft science fiction. I had been labeling my work as soft sci-fi, but it is set in near-future, with familiar science constructs, and a culture that closely echoes aspects of modern America.

Thanks for the detailed post and hope to see more future posts from you here as well!

Kris