Writing Good Fantasy/Science Fiction Plot Lines

Discussion in 'General' started by Pulp Fiction, Feb 28, 2009.

  1. Hey, i'm pretty sure this is the correct place to post this..

    Well, i have to hand in my final essay, number 5 out of 5 for my english course.
    It's a Short Story that i'm doing, so around 800 words probably, i always end up writing more anyway.

    The thing i'm struggling with is coming up with a plot. When i manage to get a plot i'm the best in my class at english, which is strange for me not being a geek, or really any good in any other class...

    So i was thinking Science Fiction.. i dunno, i've never really done that before and i thought it could be interesting and allow me to bend the rules if u like.. like make up some crazy stuff i dunno..

    any ideas? fail the class if i dont hand this in, but if i do i should be gettin a good grade.
     
  2. Start looking up historical battles and transpose the events into the future
     
  3. Well 800 words goes by pretty damn fast

    Sci Fi has no limitations which is why it's so great. Maybe since it would be such a short story write about a man cooped up in a tiny room with nothing but a cot and his possessions... the main bulk can concentrate on his narration (maybe a stream-of-conscious narrative?)...

    and then as the story comes to an end reveal that he's a passenger aboard a spaceship that is headed to Mars to set up the first colony there since Earth has been ravaged by the human race and left uninhabitable. Maybe he can look out his tiny port window and just barely make out the red gleam of Mars or something. A tiny hope of salvation of sorts.

    Just an idea though, Sci Fi has no boundaries which is why it's the great genre.
     
  4. #4 SEOH, Feb 28, 2009
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 28, 2009
    Sci-Fi isn't about the tech. It's about how we respond to the tech. It's about taking existing tech and taking it to a new level that we can't quite get to yet but is still feasible. If you've been following the news there's a new company screening embryos for traits that are desirable to the parents. So how about a Sci-Fi story about a future where parents can not only screen for hair color or genetic defects but can screen for personality. Would people choose to make their children aggressive or docile? Happy with what they have or constantly striving to attain more. How would that affect us as a people? Then take examples from our world and weave them into a lesson you're trying to tell. Pick a setting like world leaders working for a cease fire or just the last two people in a floating biosphere talking about how it all went wrong. I'd say add a twist, in true Sci-Fi fashion, but you may not have the space. Just my $.02
     

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