64
What makes a great sci-fi story? (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago by grasshopper_mouse@lemmy.world to c/sciencefiction@lemmy.world
29 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I'm curious what users feel makes a great sci-fi story. What elements do you feel "make or break" the story specifically where sci-fi is concerned? For me, I really enjoyed the Expanse series, as it feels like there's a sort of "believability" to it all. The authors make everything seem very realistic, even if some of the descriptions and physics are made up.

What is it about your favorite sci-fi books and shows that make them your favorites?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] guylacaptivite@sh.itjust.works 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Strong world building. No matter how farfetched the technology/society/species, if there is enough backstory or precedent anything is believeable. For example, Isaac Asimov's robots aren't realistic at all but he starts by laying down a set of rules (three laws of robotics)and wrote entire books worth of stories detailing their development. This not only allows readers to suspend their disbelief and accept that sentient robots exist but gives context and relatability to all of your characters/events/locations. The Expanse acheived the same by simply rooting it's fiction deeply in reality which makes it inherently relatable. The rest is normal storytelling.

this post was submitted on 31 Jul 2023
64 points (98.5% liked)

Science Fiction

13597 readers
4 users here now

Welcome to /c/ScienceFiction

December book club canceled. Short stories instead!

We are a community for discussing all things Science Fiction. We want this to be a place for members to discuss and share everything they love about Science Fiction, whether that be books, movies, TV shows and more. Please feel free to take part and help our community grow.

  1. Be civil: disagreements happen, but that doesn’t provide the right to personally insult others.
  2. Posts or comments that are homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist, ableist, or advocating violence will be removed.
  3. Spam, self promotion, trolling, and bots are not allowed
  4. Put (Spoilers) in the title of your post if you anticipate spoilers.
  5. Please use spoiler tags whenever commenting a spoiler in a non-spoiler thread.

Lemmy World Rules

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
Tenthrow@lemmy.world