The Great Meta Sci-fi Adventure

This is a new project of mine. I am trying to put together a broad set of instructions for writing sci-fi, and other fiction. I am doing it for myself more than for anyone else as a means of trying to focus my thought process.

Here is what I know about sci-fi/speculative fiction. There are different levels classified from "hard" to "soft," or visa versa. An example of soft sf is star wars. We call it this because the star wars trilogy is effectively a fantasy set in space. The technology, gadgets, guns, etc. have no real basis in science nor is an attempt made to scientifically explain any of them.

To be hard sci-fi a story must involve science. Though not everything has to have a scientific explanation there is a definite limit to what you can get away with, with a hard sf audience. IMO a good example of hard sf is the thirteenth floor. Though many hard sci-fi-ers would likely not consider anything that made it to the screen to be "hard" by comparison to their written counterparts.

To me the best sci-fi is that has a scientific concept, idea, or technology at the center of its conflict. For example in the thirteenth floor the conflict involved the necessity and lack of an ethical framework for dealing with simulated persons in simulated realities.

In other words when I write I do not want the science to be a backdrop or merely something encountered along the way. It should play some role in the conflict. Though there are also great psychological and speculative fiction that arises through the use of a more philosophic concept at the core of a story's conflict. These can be great tales as well. I am not opposed to that. In fact I do hope to create this sort of work one day as well.

The next issue to contemplate for me is adventure. It is not necessary to have adventure in a good scifi tale however I feel a certain nostalgia for the authors who once intentionally incorporated adventure into their work. Jules Verne and Michael Crichton come to mind. But alas adventure is not always going to be called for.

Thats all for now more on the great meta sci-fi adventure later.