Comments on THE GALAXY EXPRESS: 7 Unnecessary Science Fiction Worldbuilding Detail...

Rowena, I will have to go and look up that bit fro...

2009-05-12T20:32:00.000-04:00

Rowena, I will have to go and look up that bit from the Joy book. I don't remember that specifically but it's been a while since I read it. Very nifty about the pots. Had no idea it could even be done!

Good distinction about YA, Stephen, and thanks for visiting. However I now want to read whatever book has people exploding when exposed to the vacuum of space!I remember the time I first heard about what happens in that scenario (eyeballs bugging out and whatnot), but your comment makes me wonder if I, too, had been misinformed at a young age.

Susan, excellent comparison to historical romances. I think they share a lot in common with SFR.

My favorite stories, no matter the genre, are char...

2009-05-12T15:32:00.000-04:00

My favorite stories, no matter the genre, are character driven. If the author fixes the characters clearly in my mind (and I don't mean how they wear their hair or what they're wearing), I'm hooked. My fascination is with the people, what they say, how they act, etc. I don't like too much tech in my SFR the same way I don't like descriptions of furniture in my Victorian romances. It's just plain boooriiing!

I tend to agree with the minimalist approach. More...

2009-05-12T14:54:00.000-04:00

I tend to agree with the minimalist approach. More importantly, never describe the ordinary (from the POV of the characters involved), but often describe the unexpected, even if it's ordinary.

For YA fiction, I'd tend to over-describe, as the young reader may not be aware of some interesting tidbits (such as the extremes of recycling), and (better yet) may be full of faulty concepts from years of watching bad SF on TV and in theaters. For example, people don't explode when exposed to the vacuum of space.

Dara Joy used human solid waste in Knight Of A Tri...

2009-05-12T11:15:00.000-04:00

Dara Joy used human solid waste in Knight Of A Trillion Stars for pot making. Cooking pots, I think.

On Mike Rowe's Dirty Jobs, there was a show about a farmer who takes solid waste from cows and makes flower pots (for planting). Sheer mucky brilliance!

Rowena Cherry

Cathy, that’s very innovative thinking! You should...

2009-05-11T22:09:00.000-04:00

Cathy, that’s very innovative thinking! You should copyright that or something…!

Keira, lol! Thanks for reading.

Hi, Linnea! Excellent point about execution. If an author can make such details “invisible,” all the better. Then it seems fresher when reading across different books that have similar worldbuilding details.

Sharon, thanks for the recommendation! Does anyone else find it fascinating that Sharon’s hero is named Jake Granger and the heroine is Jessica L. Hunter? Yanno, because it reminds you of debut SFR author Jess Granger? I thought that was kind of cool…. Oh, don’t mind me!

Hi, Rowena! Don’t get me wrong…I’m not rolling my eyes at such details. It’s more like, “Oh, don’t worry. I assumed the water/air was recycled. Don’t go to any trouble on my account!”

Speaking of crap, lol, I’ve read a couple books in the past year that included the issue of recycled human waste and the uses it was put to. Simultaneously gross and fascinating.

Fascinating list, Heather. Oh, fewmet! I was just...

2009-05-11T16:49:00.000-04:00

Fascinating list, Heather.

Oh, fewmet! I was just thinking of recycling an older workshop/blog in praise of various forms of swordfighting in space.

Should I not?

Light sabers are both sexy and entirely logical, yet there's ample movie precedent for blasters and other ballistic weaponry being used in the corridors of spaceships.

I can't be the only one who worries about not being futuristic enough!

For my sins, I've done the recycled water, and also the recycled yeast. It's hard to do bathroom humor in deep space without accounting for the plumbing, especially if the hero's lifestyle makes him extravagant with water.

Moreover, if he never empties his bathtub, there's got to be a reason why the water doesn't get yukky.

When I was writing Knight's Fork, I wanted to recycle crap to make clay to design and fabricate a non-alien looking aircraft. My editor felt quite strongly that my hero should give fencing lessons instead.

Just as well....

Rowena Cherry

Check out the novel, Long Journey to Rneadal. This...

2009-05-11T14:54:00.000-04:00

Check out the novel, Long Journey to Rneadal. This book is a romantic action adventure that has strong characters and a good plot. Don't think it has more than one of the items on your list.

I go by the rule of thumb (when it comes to decklo...

2009-05-11T14:31:00.000-04:00

I go by the rule of thumb (when it comes to decklocked stuff etc) that states one mentions it (in detail) only when it's not the norm or when it is involved in an opposite movement. It might be in Browne & King (Self Editing for Fiction Writers) that they bemoan "he put the hat on his head." Well duh, where else does one put a hat? So "He put on his hat" is sufficient unless it's "He put his hat on his foot" because THAT invokes the "not the norm" rule.

So I'd mention a table as being decklocked if (as said above wonderfully) I'll have a fight scene coming up where someone bounces off it. And I'll mention the issue of firing a high powered weapon on board if again, it will figure in a fight scene. IMHO it's not so much the info as how/when it's used.

The problem to me is less of info and more of INFO DUMPS: huge expository lumps floating in the middle of a scene (or more often beginning of a book) that go 'splaining when things don't need to be 'splained. Yet.

If you do feel things need 'splaining (ie: a chair is decklocked) than have the room/chair viewed through the eyes of a character unfamiliar with that. Because when it comes to SFR I don't think you can assume all readers have read lots of SF or have a science background. I still get fan mail that says "I've never read any SF but I just started reading your books..."

That contingent is stil out there. So authors have to learn ways (subtle ones) to sneak in "what's different" without making it an info dump. IMHO, IMHE and your parsecs may vary.
;-) ~Linnea

Haha! Great list. Recycled air should only come up...

2009-05-11T11:41:00.000-04:00

Haha! Great list. Recycled air should only come up in a book if it's to have someone yell at a dumb person lighting up a smoke.

I'm thinking a quick-release sort of mechanism (a ...

2009-05-11T11:11:00.000-04:00

I'm thinking a quick-release sort of mechanism (a la bike seats and tires or the rear seat of minivans) for some space ship furniture would be handy. Yanno, so you can rearrange things when you get bored or unbolt them for bar fights.

I'm not sure which is worse, though, describing too much of the obvious or pages and pages of how FTL travel works. Both can kill the buzz of an otherwise decent story.

Kimber An, yes, exactly. That's another reason. Go...

2009-05-11T10:24:00.000-04:00

Kimber An, yes, exactly. That's another reason. Good point.

Ella, that's an example of when it works to include it, because the issue of whether she can unbolt it in time adds to the scene's tension. In that case, I'd want to know about it. If a room's contents is being described, that's when I wouldn't miss it.

"paint drying scene"--ROFLMAO! Now *that's* something we haven't seen before! Forget the list, Natalie--go for it!!

Oh fudge Heather there goes my airlock scene, my p...

2009-05-11T06:00:00.000-04:00

Oh fudge Heather there goes my airlock scene, my paint drying scene and my antigrav sickness/transporter scene out the window!

OK, I confess, I've got furniture bolted to the hu...

2009-05-10T22:38:00.000-04:00

OK, I confess, I've got furniture bolted to the hull. But I think it's an interesting mention since the heroine is involved in a bar fight and she considers unbolting furniture to crash over someone's head.

Still. Interesting list to ponder.

Besides, when it comes to SFR the story is charact...

2009-05-10T22:28:00.000-04:00

Besides, when it comes to SFR the story is character driven.