Traveling through the universe, going back in time, fighting dangerous aliens (or allying with them to prevent our race from executing some atrocity). These are some of the stories we can find in a very recognizable genre: science fiction. Characterized by its spaceships, robots, laser guns, and many other recognizable elements, the audience that is carried away by the products of this niche is huge.
It is a genre that has also been a feature of literature (one only has to remember the Foundation saga, written by Isaac Asimov). An alternative for writers who dream of conquering space and being able to return on the leaves of the calendar and overthrow the tyranny of an evil mental being. If you are thinking of publishing a science fiction book, we turn to you today.
Do you want to publish a science fiction book? Bring out of your mind the stories that go beyond the atmosphere and the limits of current technology. We have the keys from professional paper writing service authors that help you to dazzle the public.
History of the genre
Science fiction is something other than what appeared in the 20th century. A century earlier, during the 19th century, Mary Shelley dreamed of a society where a man had outwitted death but at a very high price (Frankenstein). Also, in this historical period, we find the novels of Jules Verne, who imagined trips to the moon or explorations of the ocean’s deepest reaches.
Even in 1771, we find examples of science fiction within literature. The year 2440, by Louis S. Mercier, already transported us to a dystopia where the author wakes up in a society located 700 years in the future and sees how his society has changed and has become a much more humane environment.
However, the term “science fiction” as such was born in 1926 by the writer Hugo Gernsback. This author would use it on the cover of, in the end, one of the most famous magazines of the genre: Amazing Stories. The twentieth century could be considered the golden age of this literary theme since it is when names like Isaac Asimov or George Orwell published their works.
What is science fiction?
Much has been said about science fiction. We all recognize certain elements common to the genre. But how can we define such a broad subject matter that ranges from extraterrestrial invasions to technological dystopias or the conquest of the universe? The BNE represents this narrative genre as one that “places the action in imaginary space-time coordinates different from our own and speculates rationally about possible scientific or social advances and their impact on society.”
In short, science fiction places us in a context different from the current one, which is usually characterized by the presence of technology different from our own. Another key to this genre is that although the possibilities offered by these tools are unimaginable today, they must have some scientific basis.
A good example is found in the novels of Jules Verne, who once dreamed of space travel to the moon, which long after became real. In short, we can define the following ingredients as indispensable in the genre:
Fictional world.The setting must be alien to the reality we all live in daily. We must not think of a world in our antipodes but in environments where either advanced technology exists or where the existence of extraterrestrial life has been confirmed.
Technology that completely changes the basis of society. Either because the world faces the invasion of an alien species with a higher level of development, because cybernetics has advanced to the point of creating artificial intelligence, or simply because science has managed to slow down aging. The key to these examples is the same: there is a technology that can change society, for better or worse.
There must be a scientific basis. The basis of this technology must not be fanciful. It must be able to have a scientific rationale (even if it is not real today). Space travel that takes advantage of antimatter to reach the other end of the universe, chips that allow processing information as the human brain does… This does not mean that some fantasy elements cannot be added in other fields, as, for example, Star Wars has done with ‘The Force’.
Finally, in most science fiction novels, at the end, the reader is invited to a final reflection – debates about the limits of science and technology and self-criticism about the consequences of the expansion of humanity in certain eras. It is not that we are before a synonym of the philosophical genre, but it does contain some elements of it.
Some questions that can be thrown at the reader at the end of a science fiction novel may be: “Does humanity have a future if it continues to behave like this?” “How should we behave if we finally manage to contact an alien species?” “What would be the consequences of changing the past?
Publish it!
It seems obvious, but if you already have the ingredients and everything is ready, it only remains to give it shape to see your dream come true: publish your book.
