Writing Science Fiction: Balancing Stories With Questions

Science is all about questioning. We question, for example, how diseases work because we want to give ourselves the best quality of life. We question how plants and animals behave and how to take care of them because they can’t speak for themselves in the same way we can speak to one another. 

The worlds of science fiction are, mostly, fictional, usually positing a reality with different rules. Sometimes, those worlds are hopeful and fun. At other times, they’re terrifying. 

The science fiction writer has a difficult task at hand. They aren’t limited by the bounds of what’s currently possible, but they are obligated to have reasons for breaking those limits. Ultimately, in the breaking of those limits, we must then be able to challenge our perception of the world we live in.

How do we accomplish this?

Vandana Singh interviewed Ted Chiang, author of Exhalation and Stories of Your Life and Others, for The Margin. On the subject of discovery, Chiang had this to say.

“In Clute and Nicholls’ Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, there’s an entry titled ‘Conceptual Breakthrough,’ which describes the theme of paradigm shifts and discoveries that expand the characters’ view of the world…In science fiction, you have enormous freedom in creating situations in which your characters achieve a greater understanding of their universe. It’s a way of mimicking the mind-expanding experience that science offers, in fictional form.”

Science fiction cannot exist without some form of discovery, a breakthrough. Not every science fiction author has to write a Solaris, questioning the nature of humanity, or Lilith’s Brood, covering the themes of identity and genetics. These were massive, memorable undertakings that not only told good stories, but they had a point. The characters in these texts were meant to make discoveries about the world as they are living in it, expanding their minds, and we are supposed to be doing the same alongside them. 

It’s not solely the scope of your idea that will make your science fiction story resonant, it is the perspectives (the paradigms) that you can create with an idea that you find interesting, the ones that you are able to write about with confidence. 

Ted Chiang himself admits that, in order to write, he must have an idea that’s interesting enough for him to write about. His idea must be something that he can look at from several different angles, something he can brainstorm for a long period of time. Once he finds an idea that resonates with him enough, he’ll write about it. 

So, with all of these levels of complication, what are new science fiction authors supposed to do (other than read)?

1. Plan. You are writing a story, and you need a story’s elements. You need a world, characters who develop and live in that world. Events must happen in that world. Even if you are a born pantser, if you are delving into something that feels new, try to make a plan, if only to set your intentions.
   

2. Find a subject that interests you, not just in the heat of a moment, but over time. Some questions and topics are great conversation pieces, but that’s not the same as something you can devote a novel to and “create paradigms” with.
   

3. Research your question. The knowledge you have on the subject you’re writing about will show in your work. Science fiction is no exception. How have people discussed your subject before? How can you build on that, and what questions come up for you? For further inspiration, listen to this interview with scientist and science fiction author J. Dianne Dotson.
   

4. Discover. What is your end goal? Consider what your characters are supposed to discover by the end. How are their minds meant to expand, and what does it take to get to that point?
   

5. Be prepared to fail. Science fiction requires consistency, relies on asking and answering questions, and it relies on discovery. An uncomfortable or extreme discovery can work very well, but it becomes less effective if it’s only uncomfortable for the sake of being uncomfortable. Getting all of the pieces that science fiction asks for in the right place at the right time is a balancing act, and chances are, it won’t work the first time. Keep experimenting until you feel confident in what you have to say.

Science fiction writing is an admirable undertaking. If you’re a big science fiction reader, you’ll know that there are so many questions worth further exploration. You’ll know that there are truths that fiction explores that are more difficult to find in nonfiction. 

Great science fiction won’t stop at the questions you ask. Great science fiction will inspire new questions and, possibly, a need for societal or personal change.