I found a possible answer in an independent but much loved
role-playing game from Joshua A.C. Newman – Shock: Social Science Fiction.
I realized that a similar method to the one developed by Newman for creating
science fiction settings with meaning could be adjusted to world-build better
issues and characters into my SFR. Even better, it was generic enough that
Fantasy and Paranormal Romance writers could also employ it.
Step 1: Define your
“shocks”Shocks are the “key concepts” that make your setting different from the modern world; Colonies on Mars, Vampires exist, Faster-than-light travel. You don’t have to think about how these pieces work right now. Indeed, your characters might not have any idea how they work, because the shocks are inherent to the world. Like a car, or the Internet, they are omnipresent. Because of this, they are also your “Free Pass” items. You don’t have to explain them, they just work. While there’s no limit, two or three shocks work well, and more than five stretches the reader’s belief. Write your shocks down across the top of a piece of paper, making each shock a column:
Step 2: Choose your
“issues”
Here’s the part where we inject meaning into our setting.
Come up with two or three issues you want to address (directly or indirectly)
in your story. Issues are the hard questions – the things we can’t easily
answer that directly impact your characters’ stories. These can be
philosophical issues, such as ‘what makes us human?’ or they can be specific
social issues from today (just looking at the news for 60 seconds gives us ‘is
the Nobility relevant?’, ‘Are stand-your-ground laws moral?’, and ‘Is it
acceptable to reveal government secrets?’) Note that these are always worded as questions,
and while you are likely to have an opinion, they shouldn’t be something that
is easy to answer. Write your issues down the side of your piece of paper,
creating rows that intersect with the columns:
Step 3: Place your
characters
The real key to this method takes place here – pick an
intersection between an issue and a shock. Your character exists where these
two pieces interact. In the sample, I’ve put our hero, Navigator James
Wellington, at the intersection of FTL Travel and What makes us human? This
already sets up conflicts for him as a character – navigating at
faster-than-light means being modified to be more than human, but is the gift
worth what it has cost him? Other characters will view him as different from
human, either greater or lesser, and his character arc is shaped by that
interaction.
For another example,
in the film “Blade Runner” Rick Deckard exists at the intersection between
“Human replicants are nearly indistinguishable from humans” (a shock) and “what
defines us as human?” (an issue). The arc of Deckard’s story explore both sides
of the argument, contrasted between the two (other) replicant characters Roy
Batty and Rachael. Think about how the issue and the shock interact, and about
your character’s relationship to both. This gives them an underlying connection
to the world, and makes the issues meaningful to the story.
Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Paranormal Romance all deal
with worlds that are different from the ones our readers inhabit. By tying our
characters firmly into the underpinnings of our stories, we can increase the
depth of our characters and make the world we’ve created for them more real to
our readers. We increase our ability to add meaning, and give our stories the
kind of impact that brings readers back again and again.
4 comments:
Who are these nay-sayers? Geeks? Maybe, but tell them to go watch the original Star Trek TV shows. They made many false science assumptions because it was FICTION yet we got so many actual scientific goodies from their visions: computer discs, iPads, doors that open when you approach...the science followed. God Speed, JC
Nancy Lee badger
an original Trekkie
http://nancyleebadger.blogspot.com
Thanks, Nancy. Rather than make another attack article against SFR's detractors, I'll just link to Foz Meadow's beautiful takedown on Huffington Post: http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/3375184
I agree with points you and she both make--romance has always been linked to SF, and the most important advancements can only be evaluated in terms of their emotional impact on humanity. It inspires us to create the impossible.
As long as there is a species that needs to procreate, romance will have a place in science fiction.
This was a phenomenal article. I truly believe that any speculative element should be considered an extra character in a novel. And I totally agree that the best science fiction has something to say about us as humans, as a society, as a planet. (It's definitely the reason that the Twilight Zone is still relevant.)
I'm going to steal your grid immediately for my next novel. Thanks so much for such an excellent article.
Sincerely,
Aidee
Thanks, Aidee, for the kind words. Glad to hear you'll try the technique. Let me know how it works for you!
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