Science fiction stories typically arise from a novum, a scientifically plausible concept that is a “reality” in the tale. The novum might be an mechanical device like robot servants, artificial intelligence, or faster-than-light spacecraft; it also can be a hypothetical idea such as “The Earth is a scientific experiment run by aliens to determine the meaning of life” or “The government outlaws books.” The author then asks “What if?” exploring how the world with this novum is different than ours.

Among the problems of many novice science fiction writers is instead of introducing a new novum they rely on used furniture – that is, they borrow novums from popular SF series. After all, how many novels have you read that use starships exploring the galaxy for the Earth-based Federation? Barely changing names to appear as if you are not appropriating – a starcraft seeking M-class worlds for the Earth-centered Alliance – still doesn’t cut it as original or fully using the potential that science fiction offers to examine our culture or humanity.

To help SF writers, here are some novums of potential near-future inventions from which stories could be built:

Artificial wombs
What if embryos could be brought to term in man-made devices? Infertile women might have an artificial womb transplanted; some mothers might choose to have their pregnancy done outside of their bodies.

Ads while you sleep
What if to pay for information and the cost of an intelligent infrastructure, you could watch ads in your sleep? What opportunities might this offer criminals?

Sling-sat to remove space debris
What if a satellite swung space junk into the atmosphere (where it burns up) and then uses that momentum to move to the next piece of junk? Could this satellite be used to help in a space rescue during an emergency?

Solar gravity lens
What if the sun’s gravity were used as a magnifying lens to image exoworlds? What will we discover if this technique works?

Space debris cleanup
What if to get rid of space junk in low Earth orbit we used electrodynamic tethers that slow the debris’ speed? A lower speed will cause it to fall closer to Earth to eventually burn up in the atmosphere.

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My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past 15 years, I’ve helped more than 400 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the Storytelling 101 writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.

Check out some of my writing guidebooks:

When writing action scenes, avoiding rear-view mirror descriptions typically is a good idea. In such a description, an object is described only after it’s been part of the action. For example, He slid into the cave hole that his foot had just felt. This type of writing allows the reader to see the setting only after the character has interacted with it – in short, it’s like looking at a landscape through a rear-view mirror.

Such writing diminishes the reader’s ability to feel the story’s dramatic tension and to sense the character’s urgency. It strains the story’s verisimilitude because the character appears to be extremely lucky as he is able to get out of any jam thanks to the author’s good blessings.

This type of description is a common error of novice writers, so not surprisingly this term often is most heard is writing workshops. In fact, it was coined at the Cambridge Science Fiction workshop.

To avoid rear-mirror descriptions, lay out in advance the setting, including all objects with which the characters later will interact. In addition, reverse the order of sentences or phrasing within them so that the object appears before it is acted upon. The above example of a rear-view mirror description could be rewritten as: His foot slipped into an opening in the dark rock. It felt just large enough to accommodate him. “This must be the cave entrance,” he thought. He slid into the hole.

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My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past 15 years, I’ve helped more than 400 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the Storytelling 101 writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.

Check out some of my writing guidebooks:

Your name will appear all over your book – the cover, the title pages, the preface, the author’s bio, probably on a at least half of the book’s main text. So before you actually start putting the book together, you might want consider taking up a pen name.

There are several advantages and disadvantages of having a pen name.

Among the advantages are:
• Cooler, catchier name than your own – If your name is difficult to remember or spell or if it sounds silly or obscene, then a pen name might be right for you.
• Your name already is in use – Perhaps someone famous already has the same name (or a similar sounding one) as you. To create your own identity, you’ll want to come up with your own name.
• Allows you to write books you wouldn’t normally be associated with – For example, romance books sell better if written by a female, and the same is true of westerns written by men. That doesn’t mean a man can’t write a good romance or that a woman can’t pen a great western, but there does seem to be a bias among readers.
• Branding – If you plan to write a series of books about outdoors activities and also publish mystery novels, selecting a pen name for one of the series will help create a more unique sense of who you are as a writer.
• Conceal your identity for business purposes – Say you’ve created your own publishing company but also are an author (er, the only author?) that this company publishes. This can make getting publicity difficult.
• Privacy – You may simply have no desire for people to know who you are as you despise being bothered by the press and nosy family members who think you’re now rich that you’ve published a book.

Likewise, there are several disadvantages to a pen name:
• Nobody knows you are – You wanted to be famous author, right? Most people at your high school class reunion won’t realize that you’ve succeeded if you’re using a pen name (I know, this is vanity).
• No credit for what you’ve written – Readers and critics alike typically won’t recognize you for the breadth of your talent if you publish some of your books under a pen name.

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My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past decade, I’ve helped more than 300 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the 7 Minutes a Day… writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.

Check out some of my self-publishing guidebooks:

“Why shouldn’t truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense.” – Mark Twain

“The good ended happily, the bad unhappily. That is what fiction means.” – Oscar Wilde

“Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Fiction is the truth inside the lie.” – Stephen King

“Fiction is not a dream. Nor is it guess work. It is imagining based on facts, and the facts must be accurate or the work of imagining will not stand up.” – Margaret Culkin Banning

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My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past 15 years, I’ve helped more than 400 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the Storytelling 101 writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.

Check out some of my writing guidebooks:

Another way to promote your book is through a public appearance at a writing conference. Writing organizations, colleges and other groups offer a wide variety of such programs. Typically, they help writers develop their skills, learn the industry, and make connections.

There are number of ways you could make a public appearance at a writing conference:
• Workshop program – During the day, some conferences give attendees the opportunity to attend sessions about different elements of writing, from the craft itself to the business side of the industry. Find a niche that relates to what you’ve written and offer a session.
• Panelist – Sometimes conferences offer discussion programs on various writing topics for attendees. Perhaps you have a unique perspective on a topic that would fit panel discussions being offered.
• Keynote speaker – If well-known enough, you could be a speaker at the conference’s luncheon or dinner. Following the meal, you would present a speech to those attending.

You’ll have to pitch yourself to a conference organizers to become one of these speakers. A number of websites offer lists of upcoming conferences with contact information. Personally, I find the Writers’ Conferences & Centers website useful.

Likewise, if you’ve written a nonfiction book, consider speaking at trade conferences related to the subject matter you wrote about. After all, now that you’ve written a book about it, you’re a de facto expert on the subject.

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My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past 15 years, I’ve helped more than 350 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the 7 Minutes a Day… writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.

Check out some of my book marketing guidebooks:

All too often self-publishing gets a bad rap as a last resort of authors whose writing wasn’t good enough to be accepted by one of the Big Five publishers. Never mind the long explanation of how big corporate publishing actually is something new, a product of the past century that worked then because the economics of creating and distributing a book ensured its success and that new technology now makes big publishing an anomaly (and passing era) in the history of books.

Instead, let’s take the argument head-on by showing there are a lot of famous, successful authors who self-published because corporate publishing couldn’t recognize the book’s value…or just as bad, their business model for profits didn’t allow for quality books to be printed and distributed.

Here’s a list of famous authors and books that were self-published (and often later picked up by a corporate publisher):
• Alan Lawrence’s “The Hoopster”
• Ben Kaplan’s “How to Go College Almost for Free”
• Christopher Polini’s “Eragon”
• Henry Martyn Robert’s “Robert’s Rules of Order”
• Ken Blanchard’s “The One Minute Manager”
• Lisa Genova’s “Still Alice”
• James Joyce’s “Ulysses”
• James Redfield’s “The Celestine Prophecy”
• John Bartlett’s “Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations”
• John Muir’s “How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive”
• J. Patrick Wright’s “On a Clear Day You Can See General Motors”
• Michael Stradther’s “A Treasure’s Trove”
• Nancy Tillman’s “On the Night You Were Born”
• Peter McWilliams’ “How to Survive the Loss of a Love”
• Richard Nelson Bolles’ “What Color is Yor Parachute?”
• Richard Paul Evans’ “The Christmas Box”
• Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon L. Lechter’s “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”
• Spencer Johnson’s “Who Moved My Cheese?”
• Vicki Lansky’s “Feed Me! I’m Yours”
• Wess Roberts’ “Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun”
• William C. Byham’s Zapp! The Lightning of Empowerment”
• William Strunk, Jr.’s “The Elements of Style”
• Zane Grey’s “Betty Zane”

You’ve probably heard of at least most of the above titles. They (and there are many more) all went on to hit the bestseller’s list, sell hundreds of thousands (and sometimes even millions) of copies, and often after the book’s success the author was offered a major publishing deal.

Bottom line: Self-publishing isn’t a last resort. It’s a way to prove yourself when others doubt you.

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My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past 15 years, I’ve helped more than 400 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the Storytelling 101 writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.

Check out some of my self-publishing guidebooks: