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This is a continuation of my blogging here at WdC |
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This will be a blog for my writing, maybe with (too much) personal thrown in. I am hoping it will be a little more interactive, with me answering questions, helping out and whatnot. It follows on from the old one, which is now full. An index of topics from old and new can be found here: "Writing Blog No.2 Index"  Feel free to comment and interact. And to suggest topics! |
| Science Fiction (and Fantasy) Clichés To Be Avoided This comes from Brandon McNulty, an author and teacher of creative writing. 1) Scientific Info-dumps Let’s kill pacing by telling the audience the science we think they need! Introduce it organically, don’t just dump it all at once. I have mentioned this as well, so it is good to see I am not the only one. It is blatant tell versus show. It’s worse in a book like Lightlark where the infodumps are then negated by the events of the tale, as the laws of the world built are not followed! 2) Stupid Alien Weaknesses We need an alien to be conquered, so let’s give them a weakness! Yes, War Of The Worlds by Wells did this, but it makes sense – of course they neglected microscopic things. But in Signs aliens with an allergy to water invade Earth, a planet with 70% surface water and water in the air! What? 3) Ill-Thought Time Travel This is when the time travel in a story should have created some differences to a time line, even the one where the person has gone back in time, but… nope. Does not matter. Looper having the guy survive the assassination attempt by his younger self should have changed everything; a guy notices his fingers disappearing when they’re cut off, but he shouldn’t. It shatters world building. Good time travel? 12 Monkeys. 4) Rushed Romance Now, I know people do not read scifi for romance, but some authors feel they need to throw some in because demographics or shit. But it does not feel earned, natural or normal. Even the rash of romantasy books coming out recently does not do it properly, rushing the romances or adding a third wheel for a love triangle for reasons of cliché. It is just there and breaks reality. 5) Tech Ex Machina In ancient Greek dramas, the gods would appear at the end and save the heroes – the deus ex machine, “god from the workings.” Well, now we have technology instead. A piece of tech that is conveniently developed at exactly the right time the heroes need it. Like the computer virus in Independence Day. Now, this is McNulty’s list, but I agree with everything he mentioned. Of course, they are still be used, still appearing in published and best-selling books, but we are surely better than that. Aren’t we? |
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About the only thing we have in common, and it's not all that close, is my father died during the second week of my Senior Year in High School.
