Every year in January, we love digging into the stats and sharing the posts that got the most views and shares the prior year. Often these posts surprise us, and always they delight us.
Here are the "Dynamic Dozen" for 2022
Every single one of these articles wowed us, and it was interesting to see how many were from a long time ago. We found it so interesting, we added the year in parentheses next to each post!
To get your science fiction story started, ponder the should, might, and heaven forbid, but what if it happened anyway.
Start by asking, “What if?”
The “What if” question drives the Sci-Fi genre.
Science fiction stories have an element of newness, the new thing that is grounded in reality. It’s the difference between sci-fi and fantasy.
Consider monsters. Vampires as mythological creatures are fantasy. But what if a virus makes people need to consume blood to survive? Viruses are real science, so they’re grounded in reality. The viral vamps would be dangerous, real-world creatures.
Asking a “what if” question and answering it with something new will give you a solid foundation for your plot.
Decide upon The Type of Science Fiction
Hard science fiction
Hard SF is grounded in scientific laws and understanding. Elements of natural science form a critical part of the plot.
Explore multiple sides to a story to answer the question. Do different choices lead to better outcomes? Alternate reality offers sci-fi fans play in worlds that exist parallel to ours.
Examples: Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84, David Levithan’s Every Day
Artificial intelligence
In fictional stories, A.I., a self-aware computer system capable of thinking on its own, often escapes from the control of its programmers and turns on humanity. Sometimes, while trying to help the lesser beings—us—their efforts do more harm than good.
Examples: J. Michael Straczynski and Pete Woods' Terminator Salvation, (The original author may be Sophia Stewart, who wrote Third Eye, the basics of Terminator as well as The Matrix. Court case is ongoing.), Ray Kurzweil’s The Singularity is Near
Bodily modifications
Body modifications in sci-fi vary from superficial to superhuman. They can be mechanical, organic, or both. The modifications might improve the character’s life but sometimes leaves them ruined or dependent upon their mechanical “upgrades.”
Examples: acflory’s Miira , Frank Miller’sRoboCop(Steven Grant adapted Frank Miller’s screenplay.)
Brain uploads
If your mind is scanned, mapped, and copied into another entity, will it still be you? One possible way to achieve immortality is by uploading a person’s brain into a machine. Science fiction theorizes that enough scientific advancement may lead to immortality.
Science fiction delves into human evolution and the inner workings as well as limitations of the human brain. Have we unlocked our full potential?If pushed, will people develop abilities that cannot be explained?
Robots come in various shapes and sizes; their function is to enhance people’s lives. They sometimes go above and beyond what was originally required. Sci-fi stories also portray self-aware robots, leading to a revolution where people play the weaker beings.
Space—the final frontier. These words immediately cause me to hear the theme track to the Star Trek TV series. As science fiction often uses technology that doesn’t exist in the story’s timeframe, space is a great setting for new tech.
Technospeak (or technobabble) is any mix of words that sounds like a blending of buzzwords and real science to fit the genre.
Examples: Instead of a specific book, I thought it’d be fun to have a technospeak/technobabble generator and found this cool link: https://www.scifiideas.com/technobabble-generator/. Scroll to the bottom for lots of interesting sci-fi random generator ideas like future food names, planet names, alien species …
Time
A popular time-related idea is time travel. Could we undo a past mistake or learn what our future self does? An interesting time-related theme is the time loop, where a character must repeat the day over and over until they figure out how to break the cycle.
A gripping sci-fi story might include a few major themes. Find themes that play well together.
The themes of us vs. them plus exploration can make a fantastic space odyssey book with lots of aliens. Androids and robots can tie together what it means to be human with the risks inherent in technology.
To be continued.
Do you prefer hard science fiction or soft sci-fi? If you decide to write a science fiction novel or graphic novel, what would your “What if” question be? What is your favorite science fiction book?
* * * * * *
About Ellen
Author, speaker, and former teacher, Ellen L. Buikema has written non-fiction for parents and a series of chapter books for children with stories encouraging the development of empathy—sprinkling humor wherever possible. Her Works In Progress are The Hobo Code, YA historical fiction and Crystal Memories, MG Magical Realism/ Sci-Fi.
Over the past three years, I’ve observed more and more people — friends, family, clients, and industry peers — experience significant changes in their personal and professional lives. Since much of my job as an author assistant and project manager is organizing and handling “operations” for my authors, I’ve been in the trenches dealing with logistics.
We’ve had to pivot, adapt, innovate, re-prioritize, and shift focus. We’ve had to restructure workflow and revise procedures. We’ve brought on new team members, adjusted duties, and in some cases, downsized in order to keep their businesses manageable.
As a small business owner, you need to be aware of how crisis and upheaval can impact operations—what does it mean for you, your readers, your business partners, your suppliers? How will it impact sales, production, distribution, and promotion?
I’d like to offer five strategies for managing your author business during times of disruption and uncertainty.
1. Put your oxygen mask on first.
You hear this advice from flight attendants before every flight, and with good reason. If you don’t take care of yourself, you can’t take care of others. When confronted with any crisis (big or small, global or personal), take time to assess what you need—practical, emotional, and physical. Activate your support system or deal with preparations, and then get back to business. Keep in mind this isn’t necessarily a linear process. As the situation changes, you may need to step away from work from time to time.
This strategy includes ongoing self-care. Manage stress through meditation, exercise, getting enough sleep, confiding in trusted friends, stepping away from the news and media, eating nutritious food, listening to music. It’s easy to wallow in panic and fear—taking control where you can is empowering and eases that sense of overwhelm.
2. Know your priorities.
When confronting a crisis, you may find your resources (physical, mental, time, money, energy, attention, creativity) are limited. Are you now taking care of children because schools are closed? Are you too distracted by worries and concerns to focus on writing? Have travel restrictions stranded you in a foreign country? Take time out to prioritize work tasks. What is most important and cannot be deferred? What is next is terms of value vs. effort? Can you save something for later? Knowing what needs to be done and when is helpful in managing stress and sharpening focus.
3. Adjust expectations.
When faced with a multitude of distractions, productivity is the first casualty. Your word count may be down, or you may have to step back from commitments. Engagement with readers may decrease or take on a different tone. Service providers may require an extension or more flexibility than usual. Sales might drop. A disruption in service/operations may cause problems. Most importantly, maintain your professionalism. Poor attitudes do little to improve any situation. Look for creative solutions to problems and be flexible.
4. Look for opportunities.
Crises and times of uncertainty bring both risk and opportunity. Share resources, acknowledge the struggle, lend a sympathetic ear. All of this can lead to a stronger, more authentic connection with people. Can’t focus on your current WIP? Try writing something else and sharing it with readers as a free read in your newsletter or on your blog. Temporarily discount your books so people can escape from reality without worrying about the cost. Cross-promote to share the work and the benefit.
5. Be honest and transparent.
These are challenging times for all of us, and that includes small business owners. Continue to communicate with your customers (readers, author peers, editor, agent, cover designer, publicist, etc.) and be upfront if the crisis interferes in operations. Let your readers know if a release date needs to be pushed back. If you won’t be able to meet a deadline, work with your editor to reschedule. Let service providers know as soon as possible if you need to downsize operations.
There is no playbook on how to handle our publishing business during a pandemic, war, health emergency, or other crisis, but the best time to think about these things is when we’re NOT in crisis because in order to—
safeguard our author business
avoid losing readers and income
better manage stress in a chaotic situation
preserve our credibility and maintain partnerships
and avoid having to rebuild our platform
—identifying potential liabilities and planning ahead is the key to continue writing and publishing in times of crisis and uncertainty.
What would you add to the list? Have any of these steps been challenging for you these last several years? Are there any that particularly resonated with you?
About Maria
Maria Connor is the founder and owner of My Author Concierge, which provides high-level project management support services to self-published authors. She is the author of The Self-Publishing Checklist Series, a USA Today bestselling contemporary romance author, and an international speaker on writing, editing, marketing, and publishing topics. For more than a decade, she has worked with hundreds of authors across all genres, published more than 35 titles herself, and presented more than 30 workshops regionally, nationally, and internationally.
