WRITING SCIENCE FICTION

Whether you're new to Science Fiction or have already worked in the genre, this workshop will inspire new thoughts and work.

In some ways Science Fiction is more a 'modifier' than a genre: which can inform many kinds of story.

A major reason for its popularity is because there's something inherently cinematic about it.

Why is SF Cinematic?

In Science Fiction, the writer needs to create an entire world to support their basic "what if..?" proposition. For this reason, Science Fiction opens up stories. It also makes them more visual. Many of the clues about the "new world" will be things we see, not things we hear.

I wrote a short blog piece which develops these ideas, using Spike Jonze's film HER (2013) as an example: you can read it here.

A Modifier of Genres

Science Fiction can act as a "modifier", putting a fresh, interesting spin on tired genres and giving them a new lease of life.

The workshop will be fun, challenging and collaborative. We will:

Examine the ideas behind SF's diverse topics and suggest how these can be refreshed.

Explain how we can build a fictional world that works, and is coherent, believable and surprising.

We'll also look into such important issues as:

Extrapolation. Science Fiction often takes an element of current reality and extends it so far that a new world results.

Blending Genres. We’ll see how to use other genres to create novel and intriguing Science Fiction narratives.

Practical exercises will give you the solid building-blocks for your own story in this ever-popular genre.

We'll watch a selection of carefully-chosen and entertaining clips, and examine the ideas that animate them - where they come from, and where we should look for new variations. You'll finish the day with plenty of notes towards your own original Science fiction stories.
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Slideshow above: contributions to the genre from Jean-Luc Godard, Alain Resnais, Stanley Kubrick, Andrei Tarkovsky, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Fritz Lang, Chris Marker, René Laloux, Nicolas Roeg, Alex Garland, and more...