TVWriter™’s favorite science fiction critic/aficionado/writer schools us…brilliantly:
by Charlie Jane Anders
Every story begins with an idea. What’s amazing about science fiction stories is, they often start with a cool idea. Like a spin on space travel or robots that nobody’s ever thought of before. But how do you turn an idea into a story, with memorable characters and powerful moments? That’s often the hard part.
Just the same way there are no rules for good storytelling (other than “tell a good story”), there’s no right or wrong way to get an idea for a story. You might start out with a character or a cool scene, and build a whole story and concept around that. You could start with a world, and dream up the whole history of that world, before you figure out when/how your story starts and what the notion is. Or whatever.
by Susan K. Perry