That’s the core ingredient of any good story. You need a big idea.ĭon’t get me wrong: It’s also important to have interesting characters who face challenges that change and shape them. But with a sci-fi novel (and with speculative fiction in general), you need to deliver something more. In “literary” or mainstream fiction, for example, it might be enough to have interesting characters face challenges and change or grow as a result of them. In other fiction genres, the big idea is less important.
But the big idea, the novel premise that will set your work apart, has to be there from the very beginning. There’s a lot more work to be done, as we will cover in steps 2 through 10 below. That’s the seed from which the story grows. So, writing a good science fiction novel starts with the idea. Did it have a big idea or premise? I’m willing to bet it did. Think about the last book you really enjoyed. I’ve pictured ten notable works right here on this page, and that only scratches the surface. The best way to get a feel for this concept is to read lots of science fiction novels. They’ll look for it within the first chapter, in most cases. And the sci-fi genre has delivered with a steady outpouring of grand concepts.Īs a writer of science fiction, you’ll want to spend some time thinking about the thing that makes your story different and special. Identify the ‘big idea’ for your story.įor well over a hundred years, readers have turned to science fiction to find big and bold ideas brought to life. If you check all ten of the boxes above - or even most of them - you’ll be well on your way to writing a good sci-fi novel. Make the science integral to your novel.Ultimately, I boiled it all down to ten key points or steps for writing a good science fiction novel: I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to structure this article, what to include, what to leave out, etc. How to Write a Good Science Fiction Novel, in 10 Steps Just Google “how to write a good science fiction novel,” and you’ll find plenty of good advice.īut let’s tackle it anyway, shall we? Let’s look at some of the steps you can take in your quest to write a good, or even great, sci-fi novel. And many writers before me have offered their two cents. You could write a series of books on the subject. You could fill up a college semester or two answering that one. How do you write a good science fiction novel?
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