this post was submitted on 31 Jul 2023
64 points (98.5% liked)

Science Fiction

13617 readers
1 users here now

Welcome to /c/ScienceFiction

December book club canceled. Short stories instead!

We are a community for discussing all things Science Fiction. We want this to be a place for members to discuss and share everything they love about Science Fiction, whether that be books, movies, TV shows and more. Please feel free to take part and help our community grow.

  1. Be civil: disagreements happen, but that doesn’t provide the right to personally insult others.
  2. Posts or comments that are homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist, ableist, or advocating violence will be removed.
  3. Spam, self promotion, trolling, and bots are not allowed
  4. Put (Spoilers) in the title of your post if you anticipate spoilers.
  5. Please use spoiler tags whenever commenting a spoiler in a non-spoiler thread.

Lemmy World Rules

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
Tenthrow@lemmy.world
64
What makes a great sci-fi story? (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago by grasshopper_mouse@lemmy.world to c/sciencefiction@lemmy.world
27 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I'm curious what users feel makes a great sci-fi story. What elements do you feel "make or break" the story specifically where sci-fi is concerned? For me, I really enjoyed the Expanse series, as it feels like there's a sort of "believability" to it all. The authors make everything seem very realistic, even if some of the descriptions and physics are made up.

What is it about your favorite sci-fi books and shows that make them your favorites?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] UziBobuzi@kbin.social 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If you liked the Expanse you might be interested in Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars series, and for the same reasons.

As for your original question, for me the important part is good writing and story telling. Some writers' styles just turn me off no matter how good or important the work is. Narrative style is what makes or breaks a book for me no matter the genre.

[–] grasshopper_mouse@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

I will add Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars series to the list then, for sure! I agree about the writing styles. I feel like sometimes authors seem to have the assumption that the reader will understand the very intricate details of the world they built without them needing to explain much, and this is a huge turn-off for me. If I can barely understand what's going on after 3-5 chapters, I lose interest.