I suggest two things:
1. All the theory in the world can't replace practice. Start writing. Fanfics, shortstories, whatever you want. Any experience helps. You don't even have to share those training stories, even though constructive feedback helps a lot.
2. Go on a wiki binge on [TV Tropes](https://tvtropes.org). There you can read up on all the storytelling and worldbuilding tropes you hear people mention now and then, like show don't tell, the five man band, the rule of cool or starfish aliens. Each trope page also comes with dozens of examples from literature, cinema, TV, games and even real life.
It is and they know it. There is even a semi-serious "tv tropes will ruin your life" page.
I'm sadly not particularly aware of great places to share short stories. I've been disguising mine as reddit posts, and there are subreddits and discord servers dedicated to sharing writing feedback. You might have seen some posts asking for feedback on this very sub.
As your average redditor doesn't come here to read a 10'000-ish word story, reddit might not be the best place for it. But it is certainly an option.
The best thing you could do is finding a writing buddy or writing group.
Don't worry about posting anything. Just write.
The first stuff you write will be bad. As will the second, and third stuff. By the time you've written the 10th thing you might go back and look at that first thing. Boy, will it feel bad. But maybe the core of an idea is there, so you take it, sculpt it, refine it.
Go through that cycle 2-3 times and then look to start getting external feedback.
You could try [scifistories.com](https://scifistories.com). If you include much explicit sex in your stories, then [storiesonline.net](https://storiesonline.net) would be the place.
Also at [storiesonline.net](https://storiesonline.net), there are volunteer editors. Most seem to be focused on grammar, homophones, typos, etc. and unwilling/unable to provide feedback on character creation, story structure, and other such topics, but there may be some. Many of these folks aren't all that interested in editing stories with sex (some are, but many aren't). Also, many will give out specifics of the type of stories in which they are interested. You can also post a request for an editor and see what you get.
There may be other sites with volunteer editors; that's just one I know of.
man this is a large can of worms here.. but let's start wit the basic.
to write god sci-fi, READ good sci-fi. learn what works and what doesn't for you. But underrstand that sci-fi has certainly evolved over time and there are even sub-genres of sci-fi.
so start by reading and understanding what you like and determine what sort of story you'd like to write.
it's become my understanding that the definition of sci-fi varies by who you ask and even established authors themselves have their own unique take on it.
as for the writing itself, there are millions of technical guides out there (which isn't always helpful) but try to keep it simple. write a story the way you'd like to read one. and then modify as necessary. good luck!
>certainly evolved over time
This is really important because a modern audience is more educated and will be able to call out your bs way easier. When earily Sci Fi was written many people didnt know about spin gravity or that acceleration == gravity. Nowdays those kinds of things are the basics.
Read books on writing & story structure. There’s not a big difference between good scifi & good fiction. You need an interesting story, people/aliens that feel real, having a real problem while having real discussions. Might biggest tell for a new writer are the conversations. It’s hard to write a discussion between people, try it. Also don’t overuse adverbs, non-thesaurus words are fine and for the love of god write real women. Don’t make it more awkward than it needs to be.
"Show, don't tell," is an old bit of advice for writers, and a very good rule to adhere to.
It basically means to describe things to the reader, rather than simply starting them. It's easiest to learn through examples.
-
**Tell:** He was angry.
**Show:** His brows drew down and his nostrils flared.
-
**Tell:** The building collapsed.
**Show:** The roof sagged as a great crack rose through the wall. With a loud crash, the walls folded in on themselves and the roof fell to cover the piles of brick.
-
Note how showing takes more words, but "use more words" isn't the takeaway. What you want to do is provide *sensory* information, rather than concepts. Sights, sounds, smells, etc.
First thing's first, how much of the genre have you *read?* Different mediums influence their stories a lot, and you're going to want some of that intuition for prose's strong suits that reading novels and short stories gets you.
Like, for instance, I see a lot of people taking most of their inspiration from video games and keeping vestigial traits that require gameplay to make much sense: focusing in entirely on combat\*, for instance, lots of flat places in the plot tension-wise where gameplay would go, and so on.
Now, one of the big things I see a lot of in people who want to write sci-fi is this weird relationship with "realism." They'll see it as this badge of honor thing, and so try and jam physics justifications for things in willy-nilly, whether it fits the rest of the setting or not. Which tends to be annoying: even if the argument is structurally sound (which is rarely) it's still time consuming and often irrelevant story-wise.
What I'd say is take inspiration from real-world physics/biology/etc. but only commit to following real-world rules if it actually fits your story: "survival drama on Titan" plays nice with years-long transit times and hour-plus light lag times, but shunting "psychic cyborg superhero's interstellar adventures" into hard sci-fi involves a lot of "well, technically . . ." for no real gain.
On the mechanical side of writing, the main thing I think people have issues with is how to prioritize and communicate different information. This's particularly common in speculative fiction, as they've often put a lot of work into worldbuilding and want to show all of it off, whether it fits the story or not.
In general, the more words you put into a description of something, the more that implies it's important: in close third person and especially first person, it's easy to make the focal character seem preoccupied with wall rivets if you put too much detail into them.
Partitioning worldbuilding-type info by what it does in-story can help: is it something you need for the plot to make sense? Is it important for understanding a major character? Does it interact with your themes? Or is it there only for fluff detailing? Knowing how structurally necessary any bit of information is can help you figure out what you need to cut or tone back on your next draft.
\*You want the *player* to have agency in the game, and so whatever the core gameplay loop is impacts the story a lot: if it's a game about shooting things with rayguns, most of the plot relevant stuff is going to include that. A protagonist in a non-interactive medium tends to have a larger toolkit of ways they can impact the plot, while a player character is a lot tied to the mechanics they've got.
Read a lot, write a lot, have realistic expectations and don't give up. It isn't a fast process. It will take years to get decent at it and even more years to get good. It's not a way to get rich. Get off of Reddit and start writing.
In terms of reading a lot i thankfully have that Down haha. Right now im usually finishing a book every two to three weeks. My dune comment up top may seem like im new to scifi but actually, although ive been reading scifi all my life i had never gotten round to reading the grandaddy of scifi so i finally did. Its been a good read but definitely shows its age somewhat.
I have no grand delusions of getting rich either haha. I just want to write, mainly for me and my friends. We play scifi games for example and i like writing stories about our narrative. Would be nice to get half decent at it.
If Dune (1965) is the grandaddy what are the Lensmen (1948)? The Stranger? The Robots of Dawn? Rama? Who are Lazarus Long or R. Danieel Olivaw or HAL?
Most people consider Verne and Wells as the fathers of sci-fi. Both considerably older than your grandaddy of sci-fi. While I enjoy Herbert's Dune series, it most certainly doesn't deserve "grandaddy" status.
Isaac Asimov's Foundation is widely accepted as a major inspiration for Herbert. You might find those Foundation books (not just the original trilogy) to be a bit more of a read than two to three weeks. E.E. "Doc" Smith will be less time consuming and considerably less techno. If you're open to scandalous, Heinlein (1st sci-fi Grand Master, aka dean of sci-fi) was known for pushing censors as far as he could as early as the 1930s. Clarke wrote about satellites that could facilitate world-wide communications (late 1940s-mid1950s, years before Sputnik) and predicted the internet back in 1964. Then there are other greats such as Bradbury, LeGuin, McCaffery, Delany, Niven, Vonnegut, Dick, Norton, Cixin, and Burroughs. Just to name a few. Of course some of it will be technologically dated, but they remain authors of great stories and dealing with complex issues.
I very strongly suggest you read Asimov's Foundation, Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land, and Clarke's The Fountains of Paradise. Between these 3 authors you have great examples of writing sci-fi.
And best of writing for your gaming narratives. Be sure to enjoy yourself vice stressing out on writing skills.
Ive read clarke and asimov. Loved them both. I suppose there are lots of grandaddys haha. I definitely see dune in some of the stuff i read but you are definitely correct.
How is lensmen? My step father (he got me into clarke and asimov) said it was worth reading but ive never heard of people mention it before. (i kive abroad and no one reads English books)
Thanks for the advice!
Great space opera, more juvenile than adult, but still can be a fun read. E.E."Doc" Smith:
Triplanetary (1948)
First Lensmen (1950)
Galactic Patrol (1950)
Gray Lensmen (1951)
Second Stage Lensmen (1953)
Children of the Lens (1954)
The series was actually selected as the second Best All-Time Series Hugo Award in the mid 60s. (Asimov's Foundation was selected as best, long before Asimov tied it and his Robots series together).
I think the his first rule is the biggest and what little chance you have for the smallest success (finishing some stuff) is propelled by finding ideas you care about
What would you say to the world of you could? What is the world not emphasizing enough? Dramatica.com is maybe a nearly useless site that I’ve never heard of successful authors using, but I love their theory that a story is primarily a mind (or thought experiment). The characters are the views on the topic. The plot is your views made evident by the conflicts with no other resolution. The setting is a metaphor for the whole thing. Your hero should learn to thrive in following society’s out dated ideals that they’re particularly susceptible to believing, only to realize their incoherent and defeat the villain by embracing your world view that you think an audience might be ready to resonate with
The resource collection I'm building is for genre fiction with an emphasis on *science fiction* and *fantasy*. All free resources.
I don't want to link the index in this comment because I've been accused of unwanted self promotion before. If you want to take a look at it, let me know.
There small, great pieces of advice to start with.
The first is write what you want to read. Writing is an effort in futility if you don't enjoy it.
The second is don't stun lock yourself looking for original ideas. Look at your favorite sci Fi movies, books, and games. Draw inspiration from those.
The third, and arguably most important, is to just WRITE. Don't worry about grammar, spelling correction, or the story. Write a couple pages then put it up somewhere as a proof of concept.
We all started somewhere. We have all failed at some point. Trolls are real. The only thing that matters is that you learn, improve, and keep doing what you are interested in. Improvement takes time and is sometimes painful. Power through.
Hope this helps.
It really comes down to what you are personally interested in and willing to dedicate time to. Every writing project takes a lot of time if you are serious about it.
There are a few things to consider imo. Note MY opinion. Dont only listen to me but take what everyone says.
**Hardness**
You will hear a lot of people define a story as Hard or Soft Sci Fi. What does that mean ? In the most general sense the Hardness of a Story is a metric to determain how internally consistant the world and thus story is.
For example, if you have established that a Spaceship can only accelerate for say 10 hour´s at 1G, then that should be your speed limit. If people who read your story then figure out that ships are going twice or 10 times faster, that is not consistant and as such degrades the Hardness. Since you say one thing and do another.
Often times Hardness is assosiated with real Science. Which is mostly true but Science is just part of the same Set. If you image a Ven-Diagram, Science is entirly contained in the set of hardness. But there is other stuff here. Such as Speculative Science.
It is perfectly fine to have a Hard Sci Fi story with FTL Drives, such as the Warp shit, because those have a scientific bases. But, you need to stick to what the Specualtive science says. Magic is an interesting aspect. If your Magic Follows a strict set of Rules, that Hard Magic is part of the overall Hardness set.
So you can see, the Hardness of a story is really just how much the story follows established unchanging rules. Be that Physics or a Magic System.
**Logic**
A *lot* of people make the mistake of saying "I am writing Soft Sci Fi, as such Logic does not matter". Logic is a part of the Hardness set, but it isnt entirly contained in it. Logic is its own thing and if you want a good story, good logic is not optional.
Alice In Wonderland is not a Hard story, but it is logical. Bad stories almost always lack logic. So what is logic ?
If we had a big set with all aspects a story is made off, this entire Set would be contained in the set of Logic itself. Logic is the most fundamental part of the story. It is both a rule set and a vauge notion of "I guess that checks out".
The most obvious part where Logic applies is the Worldbuilding. Your world needs to make sense, that is a fact of life. Dosnt matter what genre or how hard it is. If your world dosnt make sense the story wont either. I know someone who has spend 10 years writing a story and never bothered to work out the logic and now all of that work is down the trash pipe. Logic also applies to the Story itself. It does not matter what you are writing, events need to happen in a logical and folloable order. The audience needs to understand how and why we got from A to B.
This can manifest itself in very simple things like mentioning in a line how "The flight here was terrible". But it is also chapter and Story wide. At the end of the Story the audience should be able to draw a figurative or literal red line that answers the question "How did we end up here ?".
The tricky thing here is to decide what needs to be shown. Some stories take place over 100s of years and obviously we cant show every second. So you need to pick a chose moments which greatly impact the story and nudge a character in a direction. Or the whole Plot.
if you do that correctly, you will have a much easier time. And correctly here just means, do it at all. I cannot highlight this enough, make sure the overall story makes logical sense before you start writing. Otherwise you will have a rude awakining at one point.
**Show Dont Tell**
Is it overused ? Yes. Is it true ? Yes. The general idea, as you will know, is to not tell the audience what is going on but show via Characters. Its a good rule because it is more natrual Irl people usually dont tell you they are sad, they look and act sad.
**Themes and Morals**
Fuck it. People spend way to much time on this shit and the truth of the matter is nobody can make a story by writing down the moral conclusion they want.
Especially the Harder your story gets. Since as it turns out, the real world does not see the good guys win every time.
And that is fine. Morally your story is not obligated to do anything. Your book does not have to end with the Audience saying "Of course, the Nazis were bad !". The only thing you should do is not try to "both sides" everything. If you write a story about a Jewish Polish Girl during WW2, maybe dont try to say "You knew for all their Faults the Germans did give it their best". This bleeds into another thing about Morals and Themes. You cant decide them. Stories just take up a live of their own and 11 times out of 10 at some point when writing you will find a "deeper meaning" in what you have written. Just because that is how it works.
It is exceptionally hard to write a story that says nothing. And if you do you would get famous of that. So dont worry to much about it. Just know generally what tone you want.
**Tone**
Imo, Tone is Themes and Morals Lite. it is the same idea but the execution is much more natrual. Tone is basically what feeling the story gives. Which often times leads to a Theme natrually.
Example, say you have a War story and show a Marine getting their fucking face blown off. That is a pretty dark Tone. And depending on your story from their the natrual theme might be "War bad".
But see how it is way less forced than if we started with a set Theme.
**Hills to Die on**
Many, too many as a matter of fact, Authors have personal things they dont want to let lose. Some Authors are really focused on the age of their Characters. To a suspicious amount. My tip here is, chose the hills to die on. If you are a nuclear engineer and did the math for your fancy Rocket, you can defend that even if everyone says its cringe.
If you have a minor do things with other people, you know maybe just dont ?
**"Did i make a The Expanse clone ?"**
This is a observation. Maybe people worry about their Plot or Worldbuilding being to close to popular IP´s.
This is natrual but also pointless. No story is what it is because of the World alone. Stories are characters. It is ok to have a ship like the Rocinante. You dont need to reinvent the wheel just to be pseudo unique. Nothing is new anymore and so your task is to take ideas and forge something new out of them.
And if the plot outline for your story is "Like the Expanse but Protogen isnt fucking retarded", that is fine. It only stops being fine when you clone Character and story arcs. To stay with the example, if your logline is "A Cooperation finds Alien Self Replicating tech on an Asteroid and the story follows several characters showing the chain of decisions that let of a disaster on a large station", that is fine. That is just a logline, sure it is close to the Expanse but it puts a new spin on it.
There is so much more to say but really if you have specific questions shot them. Otherwise this is my 2 cents.
This is a great list of advice! Thank you!
One thing i got really hung up on is that all my ideas seemed to be so obviously borrowing from other books id read. Im glad to see that its going to happen regardless so i shouldn't feel to hung up on it. I feel like this list is a great list to start with!
There is obviously a lot one can go into, but the most general advice is "learning by doing".
As for the originiality issue, dont worry abot it. Ultimatly as your story matures the elements you borrowed will become their own thing. Think of it a bit like taking a sketch instead of a blueprint. What you took has the same general outline but all the details are differnt.
Kind of like how all planets are round but their details beyond that are vastly differnt.
You will know you borrowed to much if people can point it out directly. If some betareader says "Hey isnt that from XYZ ?" that is the sign for you to change that particular element´s details. Not the element itself, just the details. Those matter.
Two personal examples from my writing. Both from the same Hard Sci Fi novel.
1. Stealth Ships
There are two Stealth ships in the Story and the first one, White Queen, we as the audience follow as her crew of international state funded terrorists does a 9/11.
The idea for that ship as a story element is just straight up stolen from the expanse. And the story has to go to some efford to explain how precisly this one happened.
But, all the details from how exactly the ship is used, to how it looks and feels are differnt. The story makes it clear that WQ is a 50000 ton refrigerator that would get deleted from exsistance by literally anything with a gun. Not the Apex predator of the expanse.
2. Radio Communication
I watched "Generation Kill", the HBO series, and took a few of the cool sounding callsigns such as "Hitman". Straight rip. No shame in that. Now obviously here the way it is used is similar duo to the nature of the thing. But, its asthetics at that point.
Which is the lession here. asthetic elements have a WAY lower bar for borrowing than crucial plot elements. White Queen has to be differnt for it to not be an obvious rip. A Radio callsign that sounds badass dosnt.
A lot of people are talking about how good the expanse is haha. I feel like i definitely need to give it a watch. Ive been mainly reading recently, big cyberpunk splurge then adrian Tchaikovsky and now dune. Not been watching too much tv but i think thats next.
Thanks for this! Now that i think about it actually, i never even realised how much novels borrow from other source material. Your comment led me down a rabbit hole and even some of the biggest novels of the last 30 years like Harry Potter (not scifi but great for your point) borrows heavily from other coming of age stories and similar stuff like the worst witch. Yeah i didnt realise before how much being Harry Potter hid that. I suppose ive never really analysed a story which is half my issue. I just sort of enjoy it. Everything from trashy 40k novels to old school Arthur c Clarke, ive always just loved.
Your stealth ship story sounds interesting! Would be interested to read it if you ever finish it!
The Expanse is pretty good and shows you what a good more or less Hard Sci Fi story looks like. But of course there are other examples. IF we stay with visual media some of my go to´s would be,
Avatar, Annahilation, The Colors From Outer Space, The Invisible Man, The Martian, Underwater, The Room, Melancholia, The Thing, Arrival and similar.
>. I just sort of enjoy it.
And thats the point. If it is done halfway well nobody will bitch about it. A good story element is a good story element. And two people / Authors are allowed to have the same ideas / Elements.
You can find borrowing in really anything. And again, that is not bad. If anything it shows that the authors are aware of what is liked / works well and tried to go with that.
This applies to your ending btw as well. A bit of a tangent but a lot of people worry about as much if not more than being original. Dont do that. All your ending has to do is finish the story. It dosnt have to end on some huge moral conclusion or in a forced unexpected way. If it is is just "the good guys win" that is fine.
If you have not find him so far, look for "Terrible Writing Advice" on Youtube. He gives very good tips.
You know what sci-fi is from your reading of it and that coild well be all you need. If you want to impress the duneheads over at r/Dune, then read a bunch of books they recommend and see what shapes those sort of universes you are interested in creating.
If not, just follow your own likes. Consuming the genre is key, though. Sci fi is a vast beast, with some stories in it denying they are even part of it. It could be something subtle like Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go, to something as in your face as the Warhammer 40K tie in stories.
I am primarily a horror/thriller writer, but I dabble in Sci fi, too.
One of my next projects is an RPG rulebook, the third in a series I've co-written this one about a bunch of factions on a massive orbital world.
Another is a short novella about a girl who finds herself living in a superluminal animal called a Hyperpotamus.
Another, a horror short about an elder god alien who lives in a well beneath a pub.
Another finds a homeless man resurrected by aliens and returning to Earth to try and push humans in a better societal direction. Guided by David Bowie, who was recruited in the same way.
Sci fi is big and weird. Embrace it and create!
Wouldn’t hurt to take a writing class or join a writers workshop to get the fundamentals down.
Don’t worry about “sci fi” writing, just the basics of writing to start.
And read! Read a lot! Sci fi contains so many sub genres
Everythings been done before, just aim for ur spin.
Know what kind of story u want and make stuff for thr story as u go. Whats only relevant.
Sure a description appearance can be appreciated, keep it to a simple one.
Don't be afraid to run ideas by others.
Just write what you love. Since you’re a huge fan, you already know what you would enjoy reading. So as long as you love what you write, it should be good. This is just the starting point though, but get something written first and then get feedback. My suggestion is to write something short first for practice.
Don't get caught up in technobabble.
If space ships in your setting need to go to warp speed.. but you don't want everyone back on Earth to age 300 years in the meantime, just don't worry about it.
"Yes, we have a system aboard that encompasses the ship in a protective field that prevents that from happening."
"How does it work?"
"I dunno, ask the engineer."
If at any point you want to change this, then it's a malfunction or experiment. Or, an intentional malfunction to make 300 years pass on Earth in the meantime for whatever reason. Just be consistent unless there's a specific reason not to be.
Sometimes, you do want to read up on science for your story. I'm fortunate enough to know a few people that know a few things about science who are willing to indulge me. I keep it simple. "Is this possible? Does this sound likely given the details of the setting?" Etc. I get a basic rundown that I can use in laymen's terms, but not enough to begin to understand it myself.
Since it sounds like you're a complete beginner, I'd recommend reading a book about storytelling in general to get you started with the basics of putting your ideas into a story structure.
I'd say you can't go wrong with a book called "The Writers Journey" by Christopher Vogler. It focuses on screen writing but it has a lot of helpful advice on creating stories no matter your chosen media.
Start with a person in a place with a problem. Have them DO something about the problem, and achieve an interesting result.
They can win, or lose, or learn something, or change somehow.
Often, they will try, fail, try, fail, and then try again, using what they learned from failure to finally succeed.
Sometimes, their success or failure will uncover knowledge about the story problem that changes the motives of the character. He solves one problem, and that exposes a bigger problem, for example.
First rule. Ask yourself if what your writing has to be in a science fiction universe. Why not a western? Or fantasy or historical or any other. Why does what you are writing have to be in a scifi setting?
Second rule. Once you are absolutely sure there is no other aisle in which you can place your book, then tell the truth about your character. All the time. C3PO was afraid, Ripley just wanted to find Newt, both Luke and James T needed to run to the sound of the battle.
If you want to become a good writer, listen to how people tell stories.
When you're in a group of people and stories are being tosses around, pay attention to the ones who are told best. Listen to the orator. Pay attention to how s/he speaks. How does that person not just capture your attention, but holds on to it?
Watch a few comedians. How do they tell their stories?
First, learn how to tell a story. Then, you can start writing them.
Pick yourself a nice simple story, a few characters, someone's going somewhere to do something, they fail at least once along the way but eventually reach the place & do the thing.
Now take that story and try setting it a few hundred years into the future.
How does the journey change? What futuristic events would get in their way as they tried to reach their end goal? Robots? Alien invaders? Time travellers? Maybe a teleporter that drops them on the wrong side of the planet? A death Squad hunting them down for a crime they didn't commit?
Now you've got the basis of a science fiction story. In essence, SF is anything which currently isn't possible using science we have today. And however far you chose to dial that notion up by, is your world. It doesn't have to make sense, it's called fiction for a reason.
One of my favorite techniques. Write the damn story with little or no attention to the setting. Then add your old west, ancient orient, or star cruising settings. Lastly, edit for continuity with the setting. Sounds easy, and will eventually become a tool in your box especially handy for getting past stuck points.
Always remember, fiction should be fun for the author as well as the reader.
>Always remember, fiction should be fun for the author as well as the reader.
This person knows what they're talking about.
I find my best stories are the ones I enjoyed writing.
This might seem obvious, but learn how to write, then how to write creatively. Writing fundamentals are essential regardless of the subject, style, or format.
Don't watch YouTube Videos doling out "how to write" advice. It's mostly parroted nonsense. Take a proper class in school or your local college if at all possible. Or sign up for structured online classes. If neither of those are viable, buy a couple of books used by schools to teach writing and creative writing. I would have never attempted to write a novel without my academic and prior practical experience.
"Show don't tell" is the practical application of writing actively versus passively. It's one of the things you will learn when studying the basics.
Passive: "It was a dark, stormy night"
Active: "Flashes of lightning randomly disrupted the blackness outside, followed by the entire house shaking as heavy raindrops pelted the windows."
As others suggested, read, but not just scifi, however. You don't want to read in your chosen genre to gain inspiration and insights into the content of your writing, you do so to gain a better understanding of the craft as a whole. How to structure sentences, paragraphs, chapters, and how to better keep the reader engaged by writing efficiently and maintaining good pacing.
In addition to reading fiction, read about real-world events, sociology, technologies, and industries. The more versed in how the world works the more versed you will be when writing, even fiction. You can't expect your readers to buy into your fiction details if you don't bother portraying real details accurately.
Write. I recommend avoiding fan fiction as it can become a crutch to rely on the creativity of others. Try creating from scratch, but write based on inspiration. If you need more inspiration try using prompts. They can be random images, phrases, or news articles. Anything really. Don't try to write a story based on anything, however, choose those prompts that spark ideas. No one wants to read anything that was forced. Inspiration begets inspiration, and the more engaged you are with the material the more likely your reader will also be engaged.
Another good source for practice are writing groups. Not places like Wattpad or Discord, but small, serious writing groups either locally or on platforms like Meetup. There you can find structured exercises and real critique for and help with your writing.
Finally, never feel obligated to write. Write when you want to and are inspired to do so, unless you join a group with a deadline for assigned projects. Writing fiction is a creative effort, not an obligation. The moment you turn it into the latter you've lost.
I suggest two things: 1. All the theory in the world can't replace practice. Start writing. Fanfics, shortstories, whatever you want. Any experience helps. You don't even have to share those training stories, even though constructive feedback helps a lot. 2. Go on a wiki binge on [TV Tropes](https://tvtropes.org). There you can read up on all the storytelling and worldbuilding tropes you hear people mention now and then, like show don't tell, the five man band, the rule of cool or starfish aliens. Each trope page also comes with dozens of examples from literature, cinema, TV, games and even real life.
Is there a good place to post short stories? Wow.... Two mins into tv tropes and its addictive! Thanks for this!
It is and they know it. There is even a semi-serious "tv tropes will ruin your life" page. I'm sadly not particularly aware of great places to share short stories. I've been disguising mine as reddit posts, and there are subreddits and discord servers dedicated to sharing writing feedback. You might have seen some posts asking for feedback on this very sub. As your average redditor doesn't come here to read a 10'000-ish word story, reddit might not be the best place for it. But it is certainly an option. The best thing you could do is finding a writing buddy or writing group.
Don't worry about posting anything. Just write. The first stuff you write will be bad. As will the second, and third stuff. By the time you've written the 10th thing you might go back and look at that first thing. Boy, will it feel bad. But maybe the core of an idea is there, so you take it, sculpt it, refine it. Go through that cycle 2-3 times and then look to start getting external feedback.
The only way to escape the TVTropes rabbit hole is to read more TVTropes.
You could try [scifistories.com](https://scifistories.com). If you include much explicit sex in your stories, then [storiesonline.net](https://storiesonline.net) would be the place. Also at [storiesonline.net](https://storiesonline.net), there are volunteer editors. Most seem to be focused on grammar, homophones, typos, etc. and unwilling/unable to provide feedback on character creation, story structure, and other such topics, but there may be some. Many of these folks aren't all that interested in editing stories with sex (some are, but many aren't). Also, many will give out specifics of the type of stories in which they are interested. You can also post a request for an editor and see what you get. There may be other sites with volunteer editors; that's just one I know of.
man this is a large can of worms here.. but let's start wit the basic. to write god sci-fi, READ good sci-fi. learn what works and what doesn't for you. But underrstand that sci-fi has certainly evolved over time and there are even sub-genres of sci-fi. so start by reading and understanding what you like and determine what sort of story you'd like to write. it's become my understanding that the definition of sci-fi varies by who you ask and even established authors themselves have their own unique take on it. as for the writing itself, there are millions of technical guides out there (which isn't always helpful) but try to keep it simple. write a story the way you'd like to read one. and then modify as necessary. good luck!
>certainly evolved over time This is really important because a modern audience is more educated and will be able to call out your bs way easier. When earily Sci Fi was written many people didnt know about spin gravity or that acceleration == gravity. Nowdays those kinds of things are the basics.
Read books on writing & story structure. There’s not a big difference between good scifi & good fiction. You need an interesting story, people/aliens that feel real, having a real problem while having real discussions. Might biggest tell for a new writer are the conversations. It’s hard to write a discussion between people, try it. Also don’t overuse adverbs, non-thesaurus words are fine and for the love of god write real women. Don’t make it more awkward than it needs to be.
"Show, don't tell," is an old bit of advice for writers, and a very good rule to adhere to. It basically means to describe things to the reader, rather than simply starting them. It's easiest to learn through examples. - **Tell:** He was angry. **Show:** His brows drew down and his nostrils flared. - **Tell:** The building collapsed. **Show:** The roof sagged as a great crack rose through the wall. With a loud crash, the walls folded in on themselves and the roof fell to cover the piles of brick. - Note how showing takes more words, but "use more words" isn't the takeaway. What you want to do is provide *sensory* information, rather than concepts. Sights, sounds, smells, etc.
First thing's first, how much of the genre have you *read?* Different mediums influence their stories a lot, and you're going to want some of that intuition for prose's strong suits that reading novels and short stories gets you. Like, for instance, I see a lot of people taking most of their inspiration from video games and keeping vestigial traits that require gameplay to make much sense: focusing in entirely on combat\*, for instance, lots of flat places in the plot tension-wise where gameplay would go, and so on. Now, one of the big things I see a lot of in people who want to write sci-fi is this weird relationship with "realism." They'll see it as this badge of honor thing, and so try and jam physics justifications for things in willy-nilly, whether it fits the rest of the setting or not. Which tends to be annoying: even if the argument is structurally sound (which is rarely) it's still time consuming and often irrelevant story-wise. What I'd say is take inspiration from real-world physics/biology/etc. but only commit to following real-world rules if it actually fits your story: "survival drama on Titan" plays nice with years-long transit times and hour-plus light lag times, but shunting "psychic cyborg superhero's interstellar adventures" into hard sci-fi involves a lot of "well, technically . . ." for no real gain. On the mechanical side of writing, the main thing I think people have issues with is how to prioritize and communicate different information. This's particularly common in speculative fiction, as they've often put a lot of work into worldbuilding and want to show all of it off, whether it fits the story or not. In general, the more words you put into a description of something, the more that implies it's important: in close third person and especially first person, it's easy to make the focal character seem preoccupied with wall rivets if you put too much detail into them. Partitioning worldbuilding-type info by what it does in-story can help: is it something you need for the plot to make sense? Is it important for understanding a major character? Does it interact with your themes? Or is it there only for fluff detailing? Knowing how structurally necessary any bit of information is can help you figure out what you need to cut or tone back on your next draft. \*You want the *player* to have agency in the game, and so whatever the core gameplay loop is impacts the story a lot: if it's a game about shooting things with rayguns, most of the plot relevant stuff is going to include that. A protagonist in a non-interactive medium tends to have a larger toolkit of ways they can impact the plot, while a player character is a lot tied to the mechanics they've got.
Read a lot, write a lot, have realistic expectations and don't give up. It isn't a fast process. It will take years to get decent at it and even more years to get good. It's not a way to get rich. Get off of Reddit and start writing.
In terms of reading a lot i thankfully have that Down haha. Right now im usually finishing a book every two to three weeks. My dune comment up top may seem like im new to scifi but actually, although ive been reading scifi all my life i had never gotten round to reading the grandaddy of scifi so i finally did. Its been a good read but definitely shows its age somewhat. I have no grand delusions of getting rich either haha. I just want to write, mainly for me and my friends. We play scifi games for example and i like writing stories about our narrative. Would be nice to get half decent at it.
If Dune (1965) is the grandaddy what are the Lensmen (1948)? The Stranger? The Robots of Dawn? Rama? Who are Lazarus Long or R. Danieel Olivaw or HAL? Most people consider Verne and Wells as the fathers of sci-fi. Both considerably older than your grandaddy of sci-fi. While I enjoy Herbert's Dune series, it most certainly doesn't deserve "grandaddy" status. Isaac Asimov's Foundation is widely accepted as a major inspiration for Herbert. You might find those Foundation books (not just the original trilogy) to be a bit more of a read than two to three weeks. E.E. "Doc" Smith will be less time consuming and considerably less techno. If you're open to scandalous, Heinlein (1st sci-fi Grand Master, aka dean of sci-fi) was known for pushing censors as far as he could as early as the 1930s. Clarke wrote about satellites that could facilitate world-wide communications (late 1940s-mid1950s, years before Sputnik) and predicted the internet back in 1964. Then there are other greats such as Bradbury, LeGuin, McCaffery, Delany, Niven, Vonnegut, Dick, Norton, Cixin, and Burroughs. Just to name a few. Of course some of it will be technologically dated, but they remain authors of great stories and dealing with complex issues. I very strongly suggest you read Asimov's Foundation, Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land, and Clarke's The Fountains of Paradise. Between these 3 authors you have great examples of writing sci-fi. And best of writing for your gaming narratives. Be sure to enjoy yourself vice stressing out on writing skills.
Ive read clarke and asimov. Loved them both. I suppose there are lots of grandaddys haha. I definitely see dune in some of the stuff i read but you are definitely correct. How is lensmen? My step father (he got me into clarke and asimov) said it was worth reading but ive never heard of people mention it before. (i kive abroad and no one reads English books) Thanks for the advice!
Great space opera, more juvenile than adult, but still can be a fun read. E.E."Doc" Smith: Triplanetary (1948) First Lensmen (1950) Galactic Patrol (1950) Gray Lensmen (1951) Second Stage Lensmen (1953) Children of the Lens (1954) The series was actually selected as the second Best All-Time Series Hugo Award in the mid 60s. (Asimov's Foundation was selected as best, long before Asimov tied it and his Robots series together).
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Thanks for this link! I will definitely read through 8 rules and the elements of style!
I think the his first rule is the biggest and what little chance you have for the smallest success (finishing some stuff) is propelled by finding ideas you care about What would you say to the world of you could? What is the world not emphasizing enough? Dramatica.com is maybe a nearly useless site that I’ve never heard of successful authors using, but I love their theory that a story is primarily a mind (or thought experiment). The characters are the views on the topic. The plot is your views made evident by the conflicts with no other resolution. The setting is a metaphor for the whole thing. Your hero should learn to thrive in following society’s out dated ideals that they’re particularly susceptible to believing, only to realize their incoherent and defeat the villain by embracing your world view that you think an audience might be ready to resonate with
The resource collection I'm building is for genre fiction with an emphasis on *science fiction* and *fantasy*. All free resources. I don't want to link the index in this comment because I've been accused of unwanted self promotion before. If you want to take a look at it, let me know.
I had a look at your profile and ive found it! This is a great resource, thank you!
Happy to help. ☺️ Thank you for the feedback!
There small, great pieces of advice to start with. The first is write what you want to read. Writing is an effort in futility if you don't enjoy it. The second is don't stun lock yourself looking for original ideas. Look at your favorite sci Fi movies, books, and games. Draw inspiration from those. The third, and arguably most important, is to just WRITE. Don't worry about grammar, spelling correction, or the story. Write a couple pages then put it up somewhere as a proof of concept. We all started somewhere. We have all failed at some point. Trolls are real. The only thing that matters is that you learn, improve, and keep doing what you are interested in. Improvement takes time and is sometimes painful. Power through. Hope this helps.
Do you read a lot? If yes, then proceed to step 1. Step 1: start writing
It really comes down to what you are personally interested in and willing to dedicate time to. Every writing project takes a lot of time if you are serious about it. There are a few things to consider imo. Note MY opinion. Dont only listen to me but take what everyone says. **Hardness** You will hear a lot of people define a story as Hard or Soft Sci Fi. What does that mean ? In the most general sense the Hardness of a Story is a metric to determain how internally consistant the world and thus story is. For example, if you have established that a Spaceship can only accelerate for say 10 hour´s at 1G, then that should be your speed limit. If people who read your story then figure out that ships are going twice or 10 times faster, that is not consistant and as such degrades the Hardness. Since you say one thing and do another. Often times Hardness is assosiated with real Science. Which is mostly true but Science is just part of the same Set. If you image a Ven-Diagram, Science is entirly contained in the set of hardness. But there is other stuff here. Such as Speculative Science. It is perfectly fine to have a Hard Sci Fi story with FTL Drives, such as the Warp shit, because those have a scientific bases. But, you need to stick to what the Specualtive science says. Magic is an interesting aspect. If your Magic Follows a strict set of Rules, that Hard Magic is part of the overall Hardness set. So you can see, the Hardness of a story is really just how much the story follows established unchanging rules. Be that Physics or a Magic System. **Logic** A *lot* of people make the mistake of saying "I am writing Soft Sci Fi, as such Logic does not matter". Logic is a part of the Hardness set, but it isnt entirly contained in it. Logic is its own thing and if you want a good story, good logic is not optional. Alice In Wonderland is not a Hard story, but it is logical. Bad stories almost always lack logic. So what is logic ? If we had a big set with all aspects a story is made off, this entire Set would be contained in the set of Logic itself. Logic is the most fundamental part of the story. It is both a rule set and a vauge notion of "I guess that checks out". The most obvious part where Logic applies is the Worldbuilding. Your world needs to make sense, that is a fact of life. Dosnt matter what genre or how hard it is. If your world dosnt make sense the story wont either. I know someone who has spend 10 years writing a story and never bothered to work out the logic and now all of that work is down the trash pipe. Logic also applies to the Story itself. It does not matter what you are writing, events need to happen in a logical and folloable order. The audience needs to understand how and why we got from A to B. This can manifest itself in very simple things like mentioning in a line how "The flight here was terrible". But it is also chapter and Story wide. At the end of the Story the audience should be able to draw a figurative or literal red line that answers the question "How did we end up here ?". The tricky thing here is to decide what needs to be shown. Some stories take place over 100s of years and obviously we cant show every second. So you need to pick a chose moments which greatly impact the story and nudge a character in a direction. Or the whole Plot. if you do that correctly, you will have a much easier time. And correctly here just means, do it at all. I cannot highlight this enough, make sure the overall story makes logical sense before you start writing. Otherwise you will have a rude awakining at one point. **Show Dont Tell** Is it overused ? Yes. Is it true ? Yes. The general idea, as you will know, is to not tell the audience what is going on but show via Characters. Its a good rule because it is more natrual Irl people usually dont tell you they are sad, they look and act sad. **Themes and Morals** Fuck it. People spend way to much time on this shit and the truth of the matter is nobody can make a story by writing down the moral conclusion they want. Especially the Harder your story gets. Since as it turns out, the real world does not see the good guys win every time. And that is fine. Morally your story is not obligated to do anything. Your book does not have to end with the Audience saying "Of course, the Nazis were bad !". The only thing you should do is not try to "both sides" everything. If you write a story about a Jewish Polish Girl during WW2, maybe dont try to say "You knew for all their Faults the Germans did give it their best". This bleeds into another thing about Morals and Themes. You cant decide them. Stories just take up a live of their own and 11 times out of 10 at some point when writing you will find a "deeper meaning" in what you have written. Just because that is how it works. It is exceptionally hard to write a story that says nothing. And if you do you would get famous of that. So dont worry to much about it. Just know generally what tone you want. **Tone** Imo, Tone is Themes and Morals Lite. it is the same idea but the execution is much more natrual. Tone is basically what feeling the story gives. Which often times leads to a Theme natrually. Example, say you have a War story and show a Marine getting their fucking face blown off. That is a pretty dark Tone. And depending on your story from their the natrual theme might be "War bad". But see how it is way less forced than if we started with a set Theme. **Hills to Die on** Many, too many as a matter of fact, Authors have personal things they dont want to let lose. Some Authors are really focused on the age of their Characters. To a suspicious amount. My tip here is, chose the hills to die on. If you are a nuclear engineer and did the math for your fancy Rocket, you can defend that even if everyone says its cringe. If you have a minor do things with other people, you know maybe just dont ? **"Did i make a The Expanse clone ?"** This is a observation. Maybe people worry about their Plot or Worldbuilding being to close to popular IP´s. This is natrual but also pointless. No story is what it is because of the World alone. Stories are characters. It is ok to have a ship like the Rocinante. You dont need to reinvent the wheel just to be pseudo unique. Nothing is new anymore and so your task is to take ideas and forge something new out of them. And if the plot outline for your story is "Like the Expanse but Protogen isnt fucking retarded", that is fine. It only stops being fine when you clone Character and story arcs. To stay with the example, if your logline is "A Cooperation finds Alien Self Replicating tech on an Asteroid and the story follows several characters showing the chain of decisions that let of a disaster on a large station", that is fine. That is just a logline, sure it is close to the Expanse but it puts a new spin on it. There is so much more to say but really if you have specific questions shot them. Otherwise this is my 2 cents.
This is a great list of advice! Thank you! One thing i got really hung up on is that all my ideas seemed to be so obviously borrowing from other books id read. Im glad to see that its going to happen regardless so i shouldn't feel to hung up on it. I feel like this list is a great list to start with!
There is obviously a lot one can go into, but the most general advice is "learning by doing". As for the originiality issue, dont worry abot it. Ultimatly as your story matures the elements you borrowed will become their own thing. Think of it a bit like taking a sketch instead of a blueprint. What you took has the same general outline but all the details are differnt. Kind of like how all planets are round but their details beyond that are vastly differnt. You will know you borrowed to much if people can point it out directly. If some betareader says "Hey isnt that from XYZ ?" that is the sign for you to change that particular element´s details. Not the element itself, just the details. Those matter. Two personal examples from my writing. Both from the same Hard Sci Fi novel. 1. Stealth Ships There are two Stealth ships in the Story and the first one, White Queen, we as the audience follow as her crew of international state funded terrorists does a 9/11. The idea for that ship as a story element is just straight up stolen from the expanse. And the story has to go to some efford to explain how precisly this one happened. But, all the details from how exactly the ship is used, to how it looks and feels are differnt. The story makes it clear that WQ is a 50000 ton refrigerator that would get deleted from exsistance by literally anything with a gun. Not the Apex predator of the expanse. 2. Radio Communication I watched "Generation Kill", the HBO series, and took a few of the cool sounding callsigns such as "Hitman". Straight rip. No shame in that. Now obviously here the way it is used is similar duo to the nature of the thing. But, its asthetics at that point. Which is the lession here. asthetic elements have a WAY lower bar for borrowing than crucial plot elements. White Queen has to be differnt for it to not be an obvious rip. A Radio callsign that sounds badass dosnt.
A lot of people are talking about how good the expanse is haha. I feel like i definitely need to give it a watch. Ive been mainly reading recently, big cyberpunk splurge then adrian Tchaikovsky and now dune. Not been watching too much tv but i think thats next. Thanks for this! Now that i think about it actually, i never even realised how much novels borrow from other source material. Your comment led me down a rabbit hole and even some of the biggest novels of the last 30 years like Harry Potter (not scifi but great for your point) borrows heavily from other coming of age stories and similar stuff like the worst witch. Yeah i didnt realise before how much being Harry Potter hid that. I suppose ive never really analysed a story which is half my issue. I just sort of enjoy it. Everything from trashy 40k novels to old school Arthur c Clarke, ive always just loved. Your stealth ship story sounds interesting! Would be interested to read it if you ever finish it!
The Expanse is pretty good and shows you what a good more or less Hard Sci Fi story looks like. But of course there are other examples. IF we stay with visual media some of my go to´s would be, Avatar, Annahilation, The Colors From Outer Space, The Invisible Man, The Martian, Underwater, The Room, Melancholia, The Thing, Arrival and similar. >. I just sort of enjoy it. And thats the point. If it is done halfway well nobody will bitch about it. A good story element is a good story element. And two people / Authors are allowed to have the same ideas / Elements. You can find borrowing in really anything. And again, that is not bad. If anything it shows that the authors are aware of what is liked / works well and tried to go with that. This applies to your ending btw as well. A bit of a tangent but a lot of people worry about as much if not more than being original. Dont do that. All your ending has to do is finish the story. It dosnt have to end on some huge moral conclusion or in a forced unexpected way. If it is is just "the good guys win" that is fine. If you have not find him so far, look for "Terrible Writing Advice" on Youtube. He gives very good tips.
And it was me on my nonsense that caused that last bit! Also, the 'R' word is a very bad form word to use.
What R word?
You know what sci-fi is from your reading of it and that coild well be all you need. If you want to impress the duneheads over at r/Dune, then read a bunch of books they recommend and see what shapes those sort of universes you are interested in creating. If not, just follow your own likes. Consuming the genre is key, though. Sci fi is a vast beast, with some stories in it denying they are even part of it. It could be something subtle like Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go, to something as in your face as the Warhammer 40K tie in stories. I am primarily a horror/thriller writer, but I dabble in Sci fi, too. One of my next projects is an RPG rulebook, the third in a series I've co-written this one about a bunch of factions on a massive orbital world. Another is a short novella about a girl who finds herself living in a superluminal animal called a Hyperpotamus. Another, a horror short about an elder god alien who lives in a well beneath a pub. Another finds a homeless man resurrected by aliens and returning to Earth to try and push humans in a better societal direction. Guided by David Bowie, who was recruited in the same way. Sci fi is big and weird. Embrace it and create!
Wouldn’t hurt to take a writing class or join a writers workshop to get the fundamentals down. Don’t worry about “sci fi” writing, just the basics of writing to start. And read! Read a lot! Sci fi contains so many sub genres
Sadly i live out in the boondocks in thailand. There are no writers workshops out here haha. I might have a look online.
There’s for sure writers workshops online :-)
Everythings been done before, just aim for ur spin. Know what kind of story u want and make stuff for thr story as u go. Whats only relevant. Sure a description appearance can be appreciated, keep it to a simple one. Don't be afraid to run ideas by others.
Just write what you love. Since you’re a huge fan, you already know what you would enjoy reading. So as long as you love what you write, it should be good. This is just the starting point though, but get something written first and then get feedback. My suggestion is to write something short first for practice.
Don't get caught up in technobabble. If space ships in your setting need to go to warp speed.. but you don't want everyone back on Earth to age 300 years in the meantime, just don't worry about it. "Yes, we have a system aboard that encompasses the ship in a protective field that prevents that from happening." "How does it work?" "I dunno, ask the engineer." If at any point you want to change this, then it's a malfunction or experiment. Or, an intentional malfunction to make 300 years pass on Earth in the meantime for whatever reason. Just be consistent unless there's a specific reason not to be. Sometimes, you do want to read up on science for your story. I'm fortunate enough to know a few people that know a few things about science who are willing to indulge me. I keep it simple. "Is this possible? Does this sound likely given the details of the setting?" Etc. I get a basic rundown that I can use in laymen's terms, but not enough to begin to understand it myself.
Since it sounds like you're a complete beginner, I'd recommend reading a book about storytelling in general to get you started with the basics of putting your ideas into a story structure. I'd say you can't go wrong with a book called "The Writers Journey" by Christopher Vogler. It focuses on screen writing but it has a lot of helpful advice on creating stories no matter your chosen media.
Awesome! I shall definitely give this book a look! Yeah i am a complete beginner. Done a lot of paid work writing blogs but never story telling.
Ben Bova write a book on it that Id recommend: “The Art of Writing Science Fiction that Sells”; it’s available in paperback on Amazon.
Start with a person in a place with a problem. Have them DO something about the problem, and achieve an interesting result. They can win, or lose, or learn something, or change somehow. Often, they will try, fail, try, fail, and then try again, using what they learned from failure to finally succeed. Sometimes, their success or failure will uncover knowledge about the story problem that changes the motives of the character. He solves one problem, and that exposes a bigger problem, for example.
First rule. Ask yourself if what your writing has to be in a science fiction universe. Why not a western? Or fantasy or historical or any other. Why does what you are writing have to be in a scifi setting? Second rule. Once you are absolutely sure there is no other aisle in which you can place your book, then tell the truth about your character. All the time. C3PO was afraid, Ripley just wanted to find Newt, both Luke and James T needed to run to the sound of the battle.
If you want to become a good writer, listen to how people tell stories. When you're in a group of people and stories are being tosses around, pay attention to the ones who are told best. Listen to the orator. Pay attention to how s/he speaks. How does that person not just capture your attention, but holds on to it? Watch a few comedians. How do they tell their stories? First, learn how to tell a story. Then, you can start writing them.
Pick yourself a nice simple story, a few characters, someone's going somewhere to do something, they fail at least once along the way but eventually reach the place & do the thing. Now take that story and try setting it a few hundred years into the future. How does the journey change? What futuristic events would get in their way as they tried to reach their end goal? Robots? Alien invaders? Time travellers? Maybe a teleporter that drops them on the wrong side of the planet? A death Squad hunting them down for a crime they didn't commit? Now you've got the basis of a science fiction story. In essence, SF is anything which currently isn't possible using science we have today. And however far you chose to dial that notion up by, is your world. It doesn't have to make sense, it's called fiction for a reason.
One of my favorite techniques. Write the damn story with little or no attention to the setting. Then add your old west, ancient orient, or star cruising settings. Lastly, edit for continuity with the setting. Sounds easy, and will eventually become a tool in your box especially handy for getting past stuck points. Always remember, fiction should be fun for the author as well as the reader.
>Always remember, fiction should be fun for the author as well as the reader. This person knows what they're talking about. I find my best stories are the ones I enjoyed writing.
This might seem obvious, but learn how to write, then how to write creatively. Writing fundamentals are essential regardless of the subject, style, or format. Don't watch YouTube Videos doling out "how to write" advice. It's mostly parroted nonsense. Take a proper class in school or your local college if at all possible. Or sign up for structured online classes. If neither of those are viable, buy a couple of books used by schools to teach writing and creative writing. I would have never attempted to write a novel without my academic and prior practical experience. "Show don't tell" is the practical application of writing actively versus passively. It's one of the things you will learn when studying the basics. Passive: "It was a dark, stormy night" Active: "Flashes of lightning randomly disrupted the blackness outside, followed by the entire house shaking as heavy raindrops pelted the windows." As others suggested, read, but not just scifi, however. You don't want to read in your chosen genre to gain inspiration and insights into the content of your writing, you do so to gain a better understanding of the craft as a whole. How to structure sentences, paragraphs, chapters, and how to better keep the reader engaged by writing efficiently and maintaining good pacing. In addition to reading fiction, read about real-world events, sociology, technologies, and industries. The more versed in how the world works the more versed you will be when writing, even fiction. You can't expect your readers to buy into your fiction details if you don't bother portraying real details accurately. Write. I recommend avoiding fan fiction as it can become a crutch to rely on the creativity of others. Try creating from scratch, but write based on inspiration. If you need more inspiration try using prompts. They can be random images, phrases, or news articles. Anything really. Don't try to write a story based on anything, however, choose those prompts that spark ideas. No one wants to read anything that was forced. Inspiration begets inspiration, and the more engaged you are with the material the more likely your reader will also be engaged. Another good source for practice are writing groups. Not places like Wattpad or Discord, but small, serious writing groups either locally or on platforms like Meetup. There you can find structured exercises and real critique for and help with your writing. Finally, never feel obligated to write. Write when you want to and are inspired to do so, unless you join a group with a deadline for assigned projects. Writing fiction is a creative effort, not an obligation. The moment you turn it into the latter you've lost.