I began writing a sci-fi book last week.

[Grminalac]

I began writing a sci-fi book last week. I'm a bit excited about it, but It does feel as though it might be getting over my head since I haven't written anything this extensive before.
My premise is this. Its the future, (of course) Humans have colonized much of the galaxy, and unfortunetly thay have not found any alien life.. A corporation attempts to create life in a very extensive experiment in which i will not divulge the details of at this time...
I have a lot of original ideas that differ from the typical sci-fi book. i am basing my idea on space colonization on much of what occured when the old conquistadores discovered the new world, which is they expected so much but in actuality did not find much of anything... Also the method used to overcome the largest obstacle in long distance colonization i.e. communication is very original. I know what i have told is vauge at best, i just wondered if anyone had any ideas, or suggestions. Or maybe just some info on what people like/dislike about sci-fi any comments would be appreciated.

 

[Imported]

I'm not much a writer so my suggestions are few and useless, but I'd like to know when you finish the book.

 

[TripleJ]

Give us a description of the main characters etc. Where's the new world? America's, Australasia? I think they didn't find much because they didn't look much. There was/is quite a bit of stuff they would have liked but it didn't look like what they thought it would.

The thing I've found with a good book is that the key is a lot of research or a good imagination, or both. With sci-fi, imagination is obviously the most important. What original ideas have the?

 

[WordSmith2000]

My advice is that you should spend your time writing the book instead of reading/posting in these forums.

Writers WRITE.

Bullsh!tters TALK about writing.

 

[Grminalac]

Ok heres a little bit...
The basic premise of the book is that a very powerful company builds a self contained world 5 times wider than the moon 2 times as high. They borrow the clarke idea of a revolving cylinder in which the land stick to the inside with the power source in the middle. They change the velocity of this cylinder which contains the essence of life, a primordial soup if you will. i.e. they slow it down considerably which in turn causes time to speed speed up. (at least in relative to the rest of the world) they do this by using a negatively charged area in the outer rim of a black hole. Twenty seven years later the cylinder is programmed to return. (I get somewhat technical in regards to this but for my own sake i'll keep it simple.)
The reason the company became so rich is based upon their advent of the gravitational telegraph. Which is based on the theory that information can travel at infinite speeds. i.e. you stand on the sun I stand on earth, or at distances equal (disregarding of course orbital velocities.... anyway) we hold a taut string between us... I tug on it and immediately you feel it on the other end... whereas sending a signal of light would take 13 minutes i can tug and send a message via morse code immediately... gravity works the same way and communication relays are set up to make use of gravity to pull "gravitational strings" allowing worlds light years apart to talk immediately.
this ia all i really want to discuss at this time, in fact i may have given away too much...
I suppose i need more character development, i have given it a lot of thought already, but could use more.

 

[Grminalac]

Wordsmith, you are an idiot. If in fact your theory is correct why then are you reading/posting in this forum?
Also i'm quite sure your summation of the entire writing profession, "UHHDUH writers write" which you probably got from "throw momma from the train" is correct. You have made me see the light. Henceforth I will no longer talk or read anything. I will restrict myself to writing; perhaps then I will bring myself to your level.
thank you you are a genius.
Sincerely,
Me

 

[Mucman]

That sounds pretty cool!!! I am more into fantasy than sci-fi but it is usally the setting that draws me into a book more than the plot. Do we have the next Asimov here?

 

[XMan]

The reason the company became so rich is based upon their advent of the gravitational telegraph. Which is based on the theory that information can travel at infinite speeds. i.e. you stand on the sun I stand on earth, or at distances equal (disregarding of course orbital velocities.... anyway) we hold a taut string between us... I tug on it and immediately you feel it on the other end... whereas sending a signal of light would take 13 minutes i can tug and send a message via morse code immediately... gravity works the same way and communication relays are set up to make use of gravity to pull "gravitational strings" allowing worlds light years apart to talk immediately.

Ansible communication. Card used it in "Xenocide."

Good luck. I'm editing my novel right now in preparation to send it out to a few agents. Got to add to the rejection slip collection.

Also, don't be loath to talk about your book - when you try to sell it to somebody, you need to be able to talk about it. Giving away your plot is not a big deal since everyone has different writing styles.

 

[dalnar]

Man that sounds really cool. You'll have to let us all know when you get it finished. Sounds like a great idea.

 

[Grminalac]

Not saying its going to be great, other ideas I have had seem to good, but I have a bit of tropuble plot filling i.e. getting my characters from point a to point b and making it interesting enough to keep a reader there...
I started another book about a year ago and i work on it in my spare time. its about a person who loses their hand in an auto accident... the hand gets cut off during and is not found. A year later he begins feeling it...
i.e. he feels as though he can move it he has sensations that the hand is actually in a box somewhere.
He starts to go crazy, goes and talks to some doctors who initially think he is crazy, but when they connect him to a machine it shows that he is recieving annd sending the same nerve impulses that a connected hand would...
Knowing he is not crazy he goes out in search of the hand...
Its a bit of a crazy humor/scifi plot that reminds me of douglas adams, may he rest in peace.
I think i should put some time back into it...

 

[Grminalac]

One item of note, a character of note, whioch would be viewed as a somewhat rugged, anti technologist. Is appaled that he actually has to touch and wipe his a$$, which is not something that occurs in the future. he thinks about how disgusting it is for man to have lived like barbarians.