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The Key Ingredients to Sci-Fi(?)

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Dresdenus Prime:
I'm working on a Science Fiction novel right now, and I'm really enjoying it. But I'm not worrying so much abut the technicalities of what to include as of right now - this is just my first draft after all. However, once it's completed, I'm going to want to go back and fill in all that stuff, whether it be warp travel or laser fire or quantum polymer infusers.

So, to anyone who has written or read a lot of sci-fi work, what advice would you give? What makes a good sci-fi story (With the exception to character development, conflict and plot)

Something to consider when answering - I don't intend on this book being a hard sci-fi novel. It's first person perspective, and the main character is something of a rogue, sort of like Han Solo I guess. And the story will be set up very much like a detective/treasure hunting book, depening on which direction I take it.

Hopefully I've made sense, Thanks again everyone!  ;D 8) :D

Shecky:
To me, good sci-fi has only one thing that separates it from a general good story: once the one truly sci-fi premise is accepted (a major writerly task in and of itself), the rest of the story must make sense together. The reader really shouldn't be asked to take too many things on faith, as that can strain the capacity for enjoyment.

the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh:
Well for one thing, there are people who will wail and gnash their teeth on the preference for the terminology SF (being the stuff with ambitions to quality) over sci-fi (being cheap cheesy B-movies with monsters in rubber suits and no thought given to logical coherence.)

I'd second Shecky's point about having your world make logical sense as a consequence of whatever SFnal idea or ideas you are throwing in, though depending on what kind of SF you are doing, I'd not say limit it to only the one SFnal interjection.  Day-after-tomorrow thriller-type SF can work with only fairly minor consequences from whatever new thing you introduce, but if you're writing something massively far future (like Dune), plausibility kind of requires a lot of unfamiliar stuff.

Also, plot is not entirely independent of world-building.  An awful lot of classic 20th-century thriller plots totally break if you try to set them in a world where by default everyone has cellphones; the subgenres of mysteries and other novels that revolve around doubts as to people's paternity, whether the Mysteriously Reappeared person is actually the heir who was lost twenty years ago and so on, do not work in a world with DNA testing.  Think about whatever your fictional technology actually does, then think what other people might apply it for and how it might effect their lives  (Lots of people thought of cellphones or functional equivalents before they existed, but most fall short of the bar of Heinlein in the 1940s accurately figuring out the teenager "accidentally" leaving a cellphone at home in order not to be bugged by parents.) Indeed, character's also not independent of world-building - medieval monks or seventeenth-century samurai didn't think like us, and not will someone on another world.

My own approach is to start with making sure the physics make sense (adding in whatever exceptions you're playing with), layer the biology on top of that, then build a history and social conditions that works given those, fwiw.

Paynesgrey:
I also suggest you rely on well developed, engaging characters, and that the main concept or premise of your conflict be not too dependent on the Science Gizmometrons.

IMOP:

Characters and a plot concept that would be engaging in any era.. tall ships or airships or spaceships, are key in making a good story.  Lois McMaster Bujold uses sci-fi elements in her world building, but the story isn't about the technology.  She could turn most of her stuff into a fantasy or historical setting with a wink of her eye and the stories would still be fantastic.

The tech is there to provide the characters tools, to provide flavor for the universe you create... I've seen too many books that had some neat tech, but sucked because I didn't give a popcorn fart about the characters, or because the plot was too contrived, too dependent on the Space Gizmos.

And keep in mind what Neuro said... remember that your tech will shape, or at least influence, culture and how people think.  Of course, different cultures will wrap their thinking around new tech in different ways...

the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh:

--- Quote from: the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh on December 03, 2012, 08:11:58 PM ---  Think about whatever your fictional technology actually does, then think what other people might apply it for and how it might effect their lives

--- End quote ---

affect their lives, even. Brain, brain, who's got the brain ? *sigh*

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