When I started planning my space opera novel, I had no idea how to research for science fiction. I found some books on physics, space and futurism, read those. I found resources explicitly geared towards science fiction writers and worldbuilding enthusiasts. Some were vague, others incredibly specific with technical spreadsheets--an entire spectrum from soft to hard SF. This led me to questions like: How much science do stories need? Or rather, how hard do I want
I write near-future speculative fiction and subscribe to several newsletters from New Scientist magazine, MIT Technology Review etc. I use Google Notes to capture and label web resources, then suck specifics into Scrivener using a custom template. I think worldbuilding is often over-emphasised (and consumes excessive time) to the detriment of plot and character. Not everything needs to be explained and/or understood by a reader. It can be easier for SF writers to focus on facts rather than feelings. I dig into my process for extending technology into the future in this 3 part mini-series: https://open.substack.com/pub/reiditwrite/p/creating-fictional-tech?r=wtpo&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Thank you for this! My stuff is definitely on the softer side of sci-fi but I’ve still been looking for resources like these. What is your process like for taking notes when you do research? Just read your Obsidian piece and you mentioned Eleanor Konik, do you use a similar note taking/organising method for your research as her?
As a former theoretical physicist I’m biased, but arxiv is still the best place for up to date work in many fields https://arxiv.org/
I write near-future speculative fiction and subscribe to several newsletters from New Scientist magazine, MIT Technology Review etc. I use Google Notes to capture and label web resources, then suck specifics into Scrivener using a custom template. I think worldbuilding is often over-emphasised (and consumes excessive time) to the detriment of plot and character. Not everything needs to be explained and/or understood by a reader. It can be easier for SF writers to focus on facts rather than feelings. I dig into my process for extending technology into the future in this 3 part mini-series: https://open.substack.com/pub/reiditwrite/p/creating-fictional-tech?r=wtpo&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
What a great resouce, Vanessa!
Thank you for this! My stuff is definitely on the softer side of sci-fi but I’ve still been looking for resources like these. What is your process like for taking notes when you do research? Just read your Obsidian piece and you mentioned Eleanor Konik, do you use a similar note taking/organising method for your research as her?