An Intro To Science Fiction
Sci-fi stories take place in a speculative future or near-future world defined by advanced technology and novel scientific achievements. The genre is commonly used as a method of exploring present-day political topics through a fictional lens, emphasizing the benefits and flaws in the process. The explanation of fantastic elements through technology, exploration of time and/or space, alien cultures, and parallel universes are common themes throughout the genre, and although the use of science as a storytelling mechanic is essential to the theme, settings can vary wildly, as can the format of the adventures.Building up and writing in a science fiction universe can be incredibly rewarding, but to a new writer, the hurdle of getting started might seem insurmountable. Sci-fi worlds have a tendency to be large, detail-dense, and, if they're long-lasting enough, require a bit of bookkeeping to organize all the terms, territories, and tech. That doesn't have to be the case. While you could spend weeks or months evolving an entire multiverse of places and people to explore, you can just as soon decide to plop some characters on a spaceship and set them adrift in the interstellar medium, out of fuel and waiting for an answer to their distress beacon.
If you're itching to sink your hooks into some science fiction of your own creation but don't know where to start, this guide can get you moving in the right direction. You'll get to know some of the major subgenres of science fiction, pick your way across a build-your-own-world table, and have your pick of story prompts (some of which might even inspire something totally new and all your own). By the end, you should be able to combine all the elements you choose and begin your journey into the unknown!
Subgenres
There are more subgenres of science fiction than there are flavors of candy. To keep it simple, we picked out the six most distinctive subgenres with the most representation in the mainstream media. That doesn't mean that these settings are your only options for writing science fiction! You can (and should) mix and match them to suit your interests, and if that doesn't give you the world you want, make it your own, suggestions be damned.- Hard Science Fiction
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If you're the type who's a stickler for accuracy and detail, hard science fiction is probably the place for you. This subgenre is defined by its meticulous adherence to fact and true scientific knowledge. Stories written in this subgenre are based heavily on real-world knowledge, speculating realistically from what we know is possible today. The technology and phenomena in hard science fiction stories should be logical, credible, and accurate, and any speculation from the known should be theoretically possible.
Some examples of hard science fiction include Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea, Michael Crichton's Micro, and (arguably) the movie Interstellar. All of these stories feature plot aspects and technology built around a modern (for the time they were written) understanding of science. The conclusions they draw beyond what was proven fact were deduced by means of plausible hypothesis, which, in the case of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea and Micro, resulted in stories that fairly predicted future uses of their respective technologies.
Hard science fiction is a subgenre that will likely be difficult to write if you don't have a decently deep understanding of some area of the sciences (or the willingness to research everything you put on the page). That's not to say you can't learn to write it -- building up the knowledge to write a hard science fiction story can be incredibly rewarding and enlightening! If you're already a massive science nerd, this subgenre might just be the creative flex you've been looking for.
A hard sci-fi prompt to consider: Imagine working on a space station orbiting Mercury. The "nights" in the planet's shadow are long and cold while "days" are scorching. Advances in heat shielding and thermal insulative technology have allowed the station to operate without issue for years, but readings from the sun's surface indicate a brewing plasma storm that threatens to send a coronal mass ejection directly toward the station. What will the station crew do to prepare for the storm? If their preparations fail, how will they survive adrift in a decaying orbit in interplanetary space with no power and no protection from the radiation that bombards them through the frigid vacuum that surrounds the station? - Military Science Fiction
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For those seeking an action-packed story with high-tech gadgets and lots of combat, this subgenre will deliver. This particular facet of science fiction is defined by the use of sci-fi technology, particularly weapons, in military actions that may be occurring in space or on a different planet. The writing for this subgenre tends to focus on military tactics and the application of technology in a war effort, and it often follows a member of the military organization, exploring the greater concepts from a synecdochal perspective. Commonly, battles in these stories draw elements from real-world historical events, swapping out details to better fit the setting.
Some examples of military science fiction include H. G. Wells' War Of The Worlds, Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers, the TV series Battlestar Galactica, and Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Among these examples, Star Wars: The Clone Wars belongs to a fictional universe that spans other sci-fi subgenres, including space opera, space western, and science fantasy. It goes to show that you can easily merge multiple styles of science fiction and shouldn't feel like you need to shoehorn your story into just one subgenre. If you want to add military science fiction to a world that's predominantly something else, that's perfect!
If you're looking for a place to start, write one Terran Union soldier's account of the Europa Campaign, where guerilla troops on the ground partner with interplanetary forces to liberate the human colonies on Jupiter's moons after they were conquered and turned into prison camps for the Sedna Hegemony. You create the militaries, the details of the factions, and the weapons they use against one another. - Tech Noir
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This subgenre has a lot in common with the cyberpunk genre, though there are a few distinguishing features between the two. Tech noir is defined by stories that highlight the detriment of technology and its detrimental influences on the world. Characters in these settings deal closely with law, crime, and delving into the corruption of humanity as a result of the prevalent integration of technology into everyday life. Story structure for this subgenre pays homage to the film noir genre, which has made its home in dark urban settings littered with dark themes and glorified and/or sexualized violence.
Some examples of tech noir include James Cameron's The Terminator, Ridley Scott's Bladerunner, and the film Ghost In The Shell. As a precursor and formative template for the cyberpunk genre, tech noir elements can be found in numerous written and visual works that have cropped up since the late 2010s. If you want to write your own tech noir story, start with a city that has a problem, work out how technology makes that problem (either by facilitating its existence or making a bad situation worse), and throw in a detective or other entity of the law whose goal it is to chase down that problem, whether they ultimately solve it or not.
A starter for you: The city of New Aidoneus has a string of apparent murders. Your character, a PI working for the local police force, has a hunch that these murders are linked to something each victim has had in common -- subdermal cybernetic implants. How the two correlate and who is behind the rising body count remains a mystery, but what purpose do mysteries serve if not to be solved? - Space Western
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"Space, the final frontier…"
If these are words that inspire you to get writing, you might be looking for a space western. The appeal of space as a vast, unexplored or untamed land of unknowns, in the spirit of American Old West movies and stories, defines this subgenre. The parallels can be subtle or overt, from futuristic explorers setting out to explore strange new worlds to space cowboys riding around in their ships collecting bounties and picking up odd jobs. Characters in these stories tend to be constantly on the move, either on their own or in a roving group, weaving their way through the cosmos. This is a subgenre that lends itself well to episodic, adventure-of-the-week-style stories in addition to the classic overarching plot style that carries most stories.
Some examples of space westerns include the shows Star Trek: The Original Series, Firefly, Cowboy Bebop, and the video games Outer Worlds and the Borderlands series. Once again, Star Wars contains elements of this subgenre in stories following characters like Boba Fett, Han Solo, and Din Djarin (The Mandalorian). Beginning in the 1950s and 1960s, American writing journals often published space westerns as part of the media excitement during the Space Race. Space westerns can be one of the less serious subgenres of science fiction, making heavy use of tropes. Other space westerns, like the TV show Westworld, overtly make use of the Old West theme with a heavy science fiction overlay, dipping even into the noir category. Space westerns make for a great setting if you're interested in writing a drama, serial, or story that follows few rules and has room for a looser grasp on the "science" aspect of science fiction.
Want to write your own space western but not sure where to start? Try this on for size: The year is 2370 and Earth is a scorched ball of discarded technology and automated factories producing manufactured goods with the last of the natural resources left to be mined. Trade routes run by robots ship resources and products off-world to distribution hubs orbiting the moon. While the space highway running between the factories and the hubs is guarded, no system is perfect. Bandits run regular raids on the cargo ships, stealing goods to sell them on the black market. Your character is one of those bandits, and you've been running this route for years. This time, things don't go according to plan, and your ship gets flagged. There's a bounty on your head, and in a matter of days, every outpost across the system will know your face and your ship. Run, get caught and find a way out, or try to clear your name. What will you do? - Space Opera
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If your style of science fiction writing more closely resembles a soap opera with grand, dramatic themes, sprinkled with clichés and chivalric romance, all tied up in a saga, space operas are just the subgenre for you. The defining characteristics of a space opera are large-scale science fictional space warfare, melodrama, daring adventures within the context of the greater war, and an underlying thread of "classic" romance. Given the grand nature of stories in this subgenre, space operas also lend themselves well to episodic tales tied together by one overarching plot. Though the story, overall, may be one of epic proportions, space operas rely on following the life and times of one character or group of characters rather than jumping around from subject to subject.
Some examples of space operas include most of the Star Trek TV serials, the Star Wars trilogies, the Flash Gordon comic series, and Douglas Adams' trilogy in five parts, Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. These lengthy stories provide plenty of opportunities to explore multiple topics through the eyes of the same cast of characters. The tone of the stories you tell can also vary greatly from one adventure to the next. Star Trek features everything from adult-themed satire to commentary on race and class struggles through the lens of fiction. Space operas can be a collection of stories from a set point of view within a greater universe, which may or may not contain several other storylines.
If you want to start your own space opera, the best place to start is with a world that takes up at least a whole galaxy. From there, it can be pretty formulaic. Try this: Your character is a fighter pilot for the Army of the Andromeda Republic. For five generations, your home galaxy has been at war with the Unified Military of the Magellanic Junta. You're assigned to defend a recently-captured world on the fringes of enemy space, and your ship is shot down during a dogfight. You crash to the planet's surface and the world goes black. When you wake, you're in an unfamiliar bed, your head bandaged and your arm in a sling. You barely manage to lift your head to see a figure moving about, dressed in a tattered enemy uniform. They rescued you from your wreckage and tended your wounds... But why? How does the relationship you forge with them influence your views on the war and what each side claims to stand for? What will you do to make your mark on history because of this unexpected turn of fate? - Science Fantasy
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A counter of sorts to hard science fiction, science fantasy combines elements of science fiction with the plausible deniability and hand-wavery of the fantasy genre. This subgenre is defined by its incorporation of fantasy elements alongside science fiction technologies and/or story settings. In science fantasy, fictional means, such as magic, are sometimes used to explain the logic and reason behind certain phenomena rather than scientific advancements or reasoning. Unlike the other subgenres listed here, science fantasy is less of a backdrop for a story and more a method of story-crafting.
Some examples of science fantasy include the Star Wars universe, the video game Horizon Zero Dawn, Frank Herbert's Dune, Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle In Time, and Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl series. These stories either take place in a fantasy world moved by science fiction elements or a science fiction world moved by fantasy elements. The key to this subgenre is somehow blending the two larger genres to create something new and distinct. Aside from the incorporation of fantasy and sci-fi elements, stories in the science fantasy category can take place at just about any scale you'd like.
Getting started on a science fantasy story is fairly simple; just pick a setting and tweak it with the missing influence. Take this example and adjust the levels of fantasy and science to create a world all your own: A generational ship crash-landed on an alien world, stranding all survivors on a strange planet with no way of contacting the rest of the galaxy. You are the third generation birthed from this ship's survivors. You hunt with laser rifles, live in homes built from salvaged scraps from the ship's hull, and the small society around you has developed a simple, close-knit community that makes use of the vestiges of your ancestors' technology. One day, a scout returns to the village, winded, claiming to have found an alien city several days away. Who are they? What will you do? Will there be war?
Pick-Your-Own Science Fiction World
Now that you have a better idea of what goes on in different sci-fi subgenres, it's time to pick your playground and plug in your story elements. Go down each column and choose (or create) your own elements to build your world and the story you're going to tell in it. Remember, these are only guidelines. If you want to have a world where digital crossbows are the primary weapon or the story is set in a regressive, hunter-gatherer future with feral technology roaming the land (here's looking at you, Horizon Zero Dawn), make it happen! You can always cross other genres with science fiction to make your dreams come true. Post-apocalyptic sci-fi is a match made in heaven, and no one is going to stop you from writing that science fantasy slice-of-life story if that's what makes you happy.Setting (Pick at least one) | Scale (Pick one) | Technology Level (Pick at least one) | Big Question (Pick at least one) |
| Spaceship | Limited to starting location | Swords | What if Earth was uninhabitable and humans lived in scattered colonies? |
| Space Station | One planet | Old West | What if we were part of an interplanetary or galactic trade route? |
| Earthlike Planet | Planet and moon | 1800s | Imagine being the last of your species. |
| Isolated Planetside Habitat | Planetary system | Early 1900s | What would life be like in a pure version of x political system? |
| Asteroid | Galaxy | Late 1900s | Imagine first contact with an alien race. |
| Underwater | Universe | 2000s and near future | How do we travel from one planet or star system to another? |
| Alien Planet | Multiverse/Parallel Universes | Far future | What lies at the edge of the universe? |
Still searching for the right prompt? Here's a selection of ideas and scenarios you can try out!
Points to Ponder
- What would civilization look like if we were an aquatic race?
- Imagine living in a habitat on Mars.
- Mole people have been a joke conspiracy for decades… until one day, we find a subterranean city of them.
Points to Ponder
- Now that we've achieved faster-than-light travel, where do we go? Bonus: How does it work?
- What would life be like if all technology was plant-based?
- If you grew up in poverty on a war-stricken planet and had the opportunity to escape, where would you go? What would you do?
Prompts
You are the commander of a space station on the edge of the known frontier. The station is in a state of disrepair, though it still functions well enough to support life. Left to maintain things on your own, you scavenge for parts and make them work however you can.
Prompts
You run a massive weapons R&D company and someone has hacked into your computer systems and has been siphoning data under your nose for… weeks? Months? Now, there's a new contender in the weapons business, operating off of your stolen data. You've been supporting the planetary military for decades, but these newcomers are supporting the growing rebellion.
Prompts
The corporate slog has consumed the human race. As a result, technology has advanced at a breakneck pace, but people have had to turn to alternate means to reclaim their sense of humanity. Virtual reality lets people plug into a world and experience life at dream speed, where days in VR happen in minutes in real-time. Recently, a series of reports of individuals committing suicide in VR have sprung up, but something seems amiss. Virtual suicides shouldn't kill people in real life, and they wouldn't leave behind matching burn scars on the victims' bodies.
Prompts
Wouldn't it be nice to gain a superpower for a few hours? A new line of candy grants the consumer different powers depending on the flavors: Super intellect, self-duplication, invisibility, teleportation, and super speed, just to name a few. What they don't advertise are the side effects. You use teleportation candies to avoid the daily commute for a month, and everything seems so much easier with hours gained every day, until you wake up one morning in the middle of a field with no idea how you got there or where you are.
Be sure to check out our genre guide for a general overview of how to approach writing different genres!