Spaceships are the cell phones of tomorrow by Erica Hayes

Do you know precisely how your cell phone works? Probably not – because you don’t need to. It just works.

The same applies when you’re writing futuristic tech: it’s just the stuff your characters use every day. Whether it’s a spaceship, a light saber or a pair of telepathic wave-generator goggles (see? I just made that up, and you get it) – the people of the future will have gadgets aplenty.

But how to include them in your story without bogging down in dull technical explanations?

Back in the old cyberpunk days (nostalgic sigh…) we decided we didn’t care about golden-age sci-fi exposition. We just threw the gadgets out there and moved on, a metaphor for the fast-moving, techno-sick society.

And ‘less is more’ is still a useful rule. If you’re writing futuristic romance, the story’s about the characters, not the gadgets. So give the tech the attention it deserves – it’s like living wallpaper. It’s the world-building, the same as the magical system in a fantasy or the werewolf pack hierarchy in a paranormal. It’s not the core of the story. So give a basic explanation of what it is and what it’s for, and move on.

You wouldn’t launch into a full explanation of the physics if your hero made a cell phone call. So don’t do it when he goes to warp, either. Just give the reader enough to understand what’s happening. And remember, readers are used to sci-fi movies and TV – where all they get is a bunch of visuals, without anything explained. They are smart. They’ll get it.

Unless you’re writing hard sci-fi, in which case readers want those details. Or, if you have a gadget that’s particularly important to the plot, you might need to go into a fuller explanation. But generally, if you’re genre-bending with a futuristic romance or a space fantasy, keep it simple, colourful and visual.

Tips:

Focus on what it does, rather than how it works. If your pan-galactic megaspace ion drive (or whatever it’s called) propels the ship faster than light, that’s cool. Just show it doing that, and move on. We’ll suspend disbelief and kick Einstein to the curb for a while. It’s when you try to explain too much that readers lose faith.

Keep your explanations in the character’s point of view, rather than stepping aside into infodump. For example, you could go for:

The communicator was black, and had a metal ‘press-to-talk’ button on the side, with a light that flashed when the device was out of range.

Or:

She thumbed the metal button on her communicator. “Are you there?” No response. The little red light flashed. Damn. Out of range.

A basic ‘show, don’t tell’ rule, yes? But it’s an easy trap to fall into when you have a lot of exposition to deal with. And if you absolutely must infodump? Try using dialogue, even if it takes longer. It’s far more interesting to read two characters bickering for a page about how the hyperdrive works, than a dry paragraph of explanation.

Don’t forget visuals. Like I said, readers are familiar with sci-fi movies and TV. They expect to be shown what things look like – the cooler, the better. Also, your visuals are a symptom of how things are in your futuristic world. There’s a galaxy of difference between the Starship Enterprise and the Serenity. What do you want your world to look like? Is it shiny and clean, or is everything rusty, broken and ill-maintained?

Don’t forget other senses, too. Details will bring your tech – and your world – to life. Does your heroine’s plasma gun buzz and warm up in her hand when she fires? How does it smell in the bowels of your deep space freighter? What does it feel like for the passengers and crew when the spaceship breaks the light barrier? Make your reader feel as if they’re right there.

And finally: if in doubt, leave it out. Readers are smart. They’ll get it. And don’t forget to use a good beta reader, who’ll pull you up when you’ve glossed over something important.

BIO: Erica Hayes is the author of DRAGONFLY, a kick-butt sci-fi adventure from Momentum Books, as well as the Seven Signs paranormal romance series from Berkley Sensation. To find Erica on the web, or to read an excerpt, visit http://www.ericahayes.net -- or chat with her on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ericahayes

Writing Extreme Emotions by Karen Duvall

I don't know about you, but I have not experienced first hand most of the tragedies I put my characters through. I haven't watched someone get murdered, or seen my life flash before my eyes, or been chased by demons and gargoyles. My life is a bit more subtle (aka boring). So then how does an author write about the emotions brought on by these experiences without having gone through them herself?

You could say you've watched similar things happen to actors on television or in movies and that's what inspires you. Or you could say a friend or family member had a similar experience and told you what it was like. Or maybe you read a nonfiction book or article from the point of view of someone who endured similar tragedies.

These are okay sources if they inspire you and get you to crank up your imagination. In fact, I have an awesome nonfiction book called LEAD POISONING that does a pretty darn good job of recounting the experiences of gunshot victims. I got it from Paladin Press, a terrific resource for this kind of information. http://www.paladin-press.com/

I'm sure you already know that exaggeration is key to writing believable fiction. I don't mean over-the-top plots and purple prose, but sometimes you have to push the envelope just to get the right information across to the reader, whether it be emotion, physical description or action. That being said, a little goes a long way, so everything you write must pack one hell of a punch.

Sun Storm Collage created by Karen

I'm not pushing hyperbole, but I am emphasizing the importance of making your words count. In everything. I could go on for pages about this, and I'll add to this in future blog posts, but for now let's focus on the bugaboo writers tend to pull out their hair over. Emotions.

Think about anything, and I mean anything, that has had a powerful emotional impact on you and you can use it as a launching pad for any emotion you need your character to express.

Of course you'll have to embellish it for the purpose of your scene. For example, consider the most frightening experience you've ever had. Even if it was a call from the IRS telling you you're about to be audited. Such shocking news would likely send an icy ball of fear hurtling to the pit of your stomach. You don't have to face an evil sorcerer, ax murderer or a vampire to know fear. You just have to compound what you already know with intensity. The point is to use your personal storehouse of bona fide emotions as a building block to create authentic reactions for your characters.

But here's the thing. There are different levels of feelings we derive from our emotions. The IRS phone call elicits fear related to anxiety and dread. Fear for our lives is on a whole other level associated with horror, terror, panic, and hysteria. Escalating nervousness to terror is no easy task, so you have to borrow from another emotional experience to balance the playing field.

Say what? How can a different emotion be in the same ballpark as the one you're trying to convey? When it comes to visceral reactions, there are plenty of physical similarities to draw from.

Physical pain and emotional grief are heavy hitters. Most of us have experienced these to some degree. That intensity is what you need to carry through to your characters in a way that will create a tragic experience for the reader to share. You'll have to put your imagination into overdrive, and if you build on these base feelings, you may be surprised at how effective it can be.

Everyone feels. Whether the character is a six-year-old child or a fifty-year-old hardened criminal, these individuals are human beings. And for the benefit of the reader, the characters need to emotionally react to the events around them, even if it's only expressed internally. A character who denies feeling anything is feeling it enough to think denial is the best way to handle it. That's a Catch 22, wouldn't you say?

Be prepared to venture into some dark places inside your head. If you want to create realism in your fiction, this is a sacrifice you'll need to make for your art. You can do it!

Feel free to share an intense emotional experience in a comment. It can be anything you think you could derive an emotional reaction from to enhance an experience for your character.

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BIO:  Karen Duvall lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and four incredibly spoiled pets. She's an award winning author published with Harlequin Luna and is currently working on a new contemporary fantasy series.

BLURB:  After the biggest solar flares in history nearly destroy the planet, Sarah Daggot becomes a Kinetic, endowed by her exposure to extreme radiation with the power to forecast sun storms. And she’s not the only one. Other Kinetics possess different kinetic abilities, and Sarah believes they're destined to join forces and halt the final onslaught of the sun… before the world ends.