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What is life and death? Is life "living" or "locomotion"? Is there death as we know it? What happens at death? The old movie "Soylent Green" is worth a viewing for some thoughts on this topic.
2. Does love exist here? In what way? Are relationships legal? The movies "Blade Runner" and "Gattaca" are worth a browse, offering some unusual twists on the concept of love and other relationships as we know them.

3. Is there a form of religious or spiritual belief system here? How does it impact on society? If you are unsure on how to tackle this, Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451" and Canadian Margaret Atwood's "A Handmaid's Tale" offer some invaluable, inspiring insights.

And finally, the ultimate magnet for your science fiction project should be that intangible magic "something" that makes your writing memorably different. What is new in your world? Is it something small and insignificant in our current world that becomes a major, priceless commodity in your science fiction world? Is common dust in our world, holding the key to some medical miracle cure? Shock the reader into hanging onto your every possible word! Run with the possibilities and be passionate about your argument! Leave the reader with an unnerving potential reality to ponder!

Now, with a whole bank of ideas waiting to be drawn, how are you going to begin writing?
1. An elusive comment that leads to a series of flashbacks?
2. A fragment of dialogue?
3. A critical event?
But importantly, don't explain everything. Tantalise the reader to long to know more!

In some respects, writing a science fiction novel is like writing any novel. There should be some enticing introduction and a well-paced narrative process, hinged with themes, that leads to some outcome. The whole experience should have a purpose, or the book is closed in no time. What makes a science fiction novel so different is its unnerving, alternative surreal version of historic, present or future realities. A successful science fiction writer must unload the reader of conditioned concepts, and offer enigmatic new ones.

Learn more about this author, Gemma Wiseman.
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