McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
Science-Fiction: How 'real' must a technology be?
Galvatron:
I agree with what Neuro is saying, to me, either writing or reading, the most intersting part of science fiction is the impact the tech has on the world/universe and the people in it, not so much how it works.
Also just because something is set in space doesnt mean it has to be super sciencey, just look at Star Wars. Most of the tech in that universe has been around for a long time, its just part of that universe. Heck you even get some magic thrown in. Its not hard or real science fiction by any means, but its awesome =)
So for your example about communication, think of what your setting would be like without FTL communication. To me it brings up images of a pre telegraph western setting, when letters had to be delivered and sending a message and getting a response could take days or weeks or even longer depending on how far that message has to travel.
That has a large effect on things like deploying military forces across a large region, tracking/catching criminals, the way planets communicate with each other.
All of those things change if you have FTL communication, its a minor detail that totaly changes the way tons of things work.
Either of them can be done well, but take some time to think of the effects of your tech choices and what kind of story you want to tell before hand.
Galvatron:
--- Quote from: Wordmaker on June 11, 2013, 03:28:45 PM ---A fair point, but I'd argue that those are really just set-dressings for the overall story.
If the story is "how do we get to our destination in time?" then if your characters travel by horse you use a different obstacle (treacherous countryside and bandits) than you would use if they can travel by rail (the next bridge has been sabotaged). The overall story and goal remains the same. The details are what changes.
--- End quote ---
Sort of, but to me its more than that. How people and goods got from A to B changed quite a bit when trains came around. In the American west, having the ability to ride a train across the country made a huge differnce from having to cross in wagons or sail around.
It had an impact on the economy, on the settlers, on the natives, it was a pretty big deal and changed the dynamics in America quite a bit.
Now I agree in a sense that it is dressing, but the dressing is going to have impact on how you build your world, and because of that, I think you should plan it out ahead of time. For example if you want pirates but you are going to use FTL commincation and FTL travel and have a big government in the area, things like pirating become much harder to do.
Also when you are traveling in the vastness of space it becomes a somewhat bigger deal to me than when you are traveling around one planet. Just my two cents
Wordmaker:
Absolutely. What I mean is that you can keep your overall story, the concept, the same, regardless of tech level.
Star Wars is about a young farmboy who joins the rebellion against an evil empire, where he discovers his hidden heritage and destiny while saving the rebels from a terrible weapon. The details that make up the story change, but you can put that concept into any setting and it'll still be worth reading.
Galvatron:
Very true, I just think its important to do a bit of planning so you dont end up making it hard to include things you wanted to do because the tech in your setting would make it silly or impossible.
Now as far as Star Wars goes, think about what it would be like if you take away the FTL ability or hyperdrives.
The amount of locations the characters can reach goes way down, infact it would become pretty darn hard for the Rebels to ever get far enough away from the forces of the Empire to be able to stage and equip an army, or even just avoid being killed. And unless you are going to use a worm hole or some other method to cover the emense distance between solar systems you wouldnt be having a Galactic Empire, you'd have a more system based govenrment like the Alliance in FireFly, or the 12 Colonies of Battlestar.
The fewer systems you have in your story the less alien speices you will end up with.
You could take the hyperdrive out of Star Wars and still tell the same story, but the setting would be entirely different, and you might not have any Wookies, and thats a pretty big change over all.
Not saying there is a right/wrong way to do it, just know what you want in your story and make sure you tech supports those things.
Wordmaker:
I agree completely. And sometimes, taking your existing idea then taking away a particular piece of technology can give you all kinds of ideas.
I mean, there's enough amazing steampunk Star Wars art out there to make me really want to see that happen!
But this is getting side-tracked from the OP.
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