I’m failed. I’m sorry

[Friv]

Hey, Maximum. Glad to hear that you're going to keep trying.

If you're looking for a framework, here's my suggestion.

Go over to this website, see what anthologies are looking for short stories, write a short story for that anthology, and submit it to them. If they don't like it, no problem. Pick another anthology and do it again. Just keep doing it. As you go, you'll learn what works for you and what doesn't.

Don't start with trying to build the perfect novel. Start with the little stories, and go from there.

[Alent]

Perhaps I misunderstood the person I quoted, because I don't disagree with you at all. Exploratory exercises are great. If you think you can teach yourself something about writing by reading/writing romance novels, go for it. There's a difference, though, between manuscripts you write as experiments to hone your craft, and the book of your heart that you want to actually sell and put out into the world, and this is what I was referring to. I don't recommend trying to make a career out of writing romance if you don't like the genre for multiple reasons, the simplest of which that even if you're successful you'll probably be miserable.

Yeah, Gallowglass got and clarified what I was trying to impart with it. I don't expect the OP to publish an "I hate this genre but this is how I made it likable to me" book, but rather, I hope he can strengthen his creativity by attempting to build something he's not that familiar with. What I expected was something like "I hate YA Highschool Romcoms... so I guess I'll start there", but for some reason it felt wrong to actually say that in the first post.

For me personally, I wasn't very fond of slice of life stuff until I sat down to study what it was. Actually stopping to study it made me realize I just didn't like the first few badly written slice of life stories I was exposed to, and I was able to better understand the character development process in motion by the end of my study. All those same character development techniques are universal, they don't just apply to slice of life, just look at how Sci-fi like Firefly, TNG, and DS9 use them.

I suspect that once the OP develops the missing parts of his creative arsenal he'll be able to write Sci-fi again and it will be better than the pieces he looks back on as his "Best work".

(note: probably won't work for erotic harem fantasy litRPG because that's just garbage, so, so much hot garbage.)

In all seriousness on the subject of exploratory craft I think there's something to learn even from this darkest of corners of the fantasy market. Folks who sneer at fantasy, especially those with a more "literary" bend, dismiss it as "power fantasy." And while fantasy does have elements of it, any fan of the genre knows there's a lot more to it than that. [*snip*] At the very least, studying litRPG willl give you a finer appreciation for what makes the great works of fantasy truly great, and perhaps how to avoid drawing from the poisoned well these works bathe in in your own fiction.

When did Isekai become litRPG? I've suddenly started seeing litRPG all over the place and all I can figure is some anime hater got addicted to Isekai and was too embarrassed to admit it.

[Friv]

When did Isekai become litRPG? I've suddenly started seeing litRPG all over the place and all I can figure is some anime hater got addicted to Isekai and was too embarrassed to admit it.

Technically, Isekai is just a branch of litRPG, since it encompasses any literary fiction in which the world behaves like an RPG ruleset and the characters are generally aware of this fact (and occasionally that they are in a game world.) So it includes things like Harry Potter and the Natural 20 or even the new Jumanji movie.

According to Wikipedia, litRPG as a term was coined back in 2012, by a Russian magazine that wanted to do more of it, rather than as a derisive smackdown.

[Alent]

Technically, Isekai is just a branch of litRPG, since it encompasses any literary fiction in which the world behaves like an RPG ruleset and the characters are generally aware of this fact (and occasionally that they are in a game world.) So it includes things like Harry Potter and the Natural 20 or even the new Jumanji movie.

According to Wikipedia, litRPG as a term was coined back in 2012, by a Russian magazine that wanted to do more of it, rather than as a derisive smackdown.

Huh, weird. I guess I just didn't notice since the fan translation communities I follow don't use the term. Heard it for the first time a few weeks back.

[Craft (Cheese)]

Hey, Maximum. Glad to hear that you're going to keep trying.

If you're looking for a framework, here's my suggestion.

Go over to this website, see what anthologies are looking for short stories, write a short story for that anthology, and submit it to them. If they don't like it, no problem. Pick another anthology and do it again. Just keep doing it. As you go, you'll learn what works for you and what doesn't.

Don't start with trying to build the perfect novel. Start with the little stories, and go from there.

If you wanna write short stories, excellent. Have at it. But if your real goal is to write novels then short stories are not a substitute, and are in some ways counterproductive. A good short story is not a novel compressed into 1% of its intended length, nor is it an excerpt from a larger novel.

(And vice-versa, you can't chain multiple short stories together to get a novel that works, nor can you get a good novel by taking a short story that works and padding it out until it's 100x as long.)

It's a fundamentally different beast altogether. That's not to say you won't learn anything by giving short stories a go, you'll learn how to discipline yourself to get words onto paper and, perhaps the most important skill of all, how to believe enough in what you're writing to see it to the end and put it out there for folks to read and criticize. And perhaps, a short story's brevity makes it much easier to practice those two skills for long enough to actually get your name in a real published thing, since you can finish it in weeks rather than years.

[Anymage]

It's a fundamentally different beast altogether. That's not to say you won't learn anything by giving short stories a go, you'll learn how to discipline yourself to get words onto paper and, perhaps the most important skill of all, how to believe enough in what you're writing to see it to the end and put it out there for folks to read and criticize. And perhaps, a short story's brevity makes it much easier to practice those two skills for long enough to actually get your name in a real published thing, since you can finish it in weeks rather than years.

That's the point. Writing is the key component of being a writer. Even if it sucks early on (and it will suck early on), even if it doesn't match what you have in your head, putting words on paper is essential if you ever want to make any headway.

[Melayl]

Yes! My best writing was as a child I was MUCH more creative back then.

It's not that we're more creative when we're children, it's that we're less afriad of what people might think about our creations. When we were kids, we thought all of our ideas were great, even when they were terrible. But we didn't care. We just enjoyed creating. Try to look for that joy again, regardless of your perception of the quality of the idea.

Good luck, and try to just have fun with it.

[warty goblin]

It's not that we're more creative when we're children, it's that we're less afriad of what people might think about our creations. When we were kids, we thought all of our ideas were great, even when they were terrible. But we didn't care. We just enjoyed creating. Try to look for that joy again, regardless of your perception of the quality of the idea.

Good luck, and try to just have fun with it.

Also, our primary audience was very often our parents, who are generally positively disposed towards their offspring. Or other ten year olds, who, while possessing enormous capacity for cruelty are also a fairly credulous sort of audience.

[The Unborne]

I skimmed most of the posts here, and agree with much of the following:

• Write every day.
• Get feedback.
• Progress can be slow.

To add to the first point, try to find a place and time to write every day. You gotta force yourself. There is no such thing as writer's block. Make it your job to put words on that screen. Good or bad. Revision will solve that stuff.

Second point, you need to identify your own errors. The key is feedback not only from people you know, teachers, critics, rando's online. It can also be from yourself, look at your old writing tear it down, identify weaknesses, and then practice, practice, practice.

Final point, as long as you are writing every day, finding your flaws (and strengths), reflect and keep progressing. Might take years, but if you want to write you're in it for the long haul.

-----

As for discussion on short stories vs novels. Sure, they are different beasts, but the transfer is pretty obvious. Figure out your flaws, then isolate and practice. If you're weakness is endings, write short stories, write 'em and finish 'em. Problem with new novelists is they don't get that time and practice to actually arrive at conclusions enough.

If your problem is getting stuck in the middle of a novel, then it might work better to keep writing novels to get over that major hump that is the middle. The main thing is, find objective, specific, and isolated areas to improve if you want to practice your skills. Otherwise, just keep writing to get used to producing words consistently without stop.

[Maximum77]

Thanks for all your encouragement. I think I could probably make something in the Star Trek universe. I think that’s a better environment for sci fi science writing.

In todays society, we speculate about Faster than light travel, time travel, and teleportation. In Star Trek; these things are completely commonplace. They can easily replicate anything or create a simulated reality. Wormholes, parallel universes and super-sophisticated A.I. would be considered emerging technology. What would be a good science or technology that a scientist could study only in theory in the Star Trek universe. We study the theory of the Alcubierre Drive in 2019 but we are far from creating a warp drive. What would a scientist be studying in Star Trek that is far from being realized?

[Brother Oni]

What would a scientist be studying in Star Trek that is far from being realized?

Here we go again.

The exact mechanics of the transporter Heisenberg Compensators.

[Anymage]

#1: Anybody doing cutting edge theoretical research is unlikely to spend their time on the Enterprise, for the same reason that cutting edge theoretical physicists in our world don't spend most of their time on aircraft carriers. You might have a biologist or an anthropologist (or whatever the alien equivalent is) tag along, but a physicist doing research on a planetbound university is going to be a trickier story to write.

#2: More importantly, remember how everybody was saying to just pick a topic and start writing instead of paralyzing yourself before you've put any words down?

Your topic is that a new ship doctor is being assigned. The old one might be retiring, they may just want to take some extended personal time, it doesn't matter. Your new character just has to get to know the crew, and you have to make up a bit of medical technobabble as they learn which crew members need what regular treatments. As an idea it's simple, short, and self-contained. Which is a lot better that writing a short story's worth of words telling everyone why their ideas aren't sparking any inspiration in you while never making any progress.

[jayem]

#1: Anybody doing cutting edge theoretical research is unlikely to spend their time on the Enterprise, for the same reason that cutting edge theoretical physicists in our world don't spend most of their time on aircraft carriers. You might have a biologist or an anthropologist (or whatever the alien equivalent is) tag along, but a physicist doing research on a planetbound university is going to be a trickier story to write.

#2: More importantly, remember how everybody was saying to just pick a topic and start writing instead of paralyzing yourself before you've put any words down?

Your topic is that a new ship doctor is being assigned. The old one might be retiring, they may just want to take some extended personal time, it doesn't matter. Your new character just has to get to know the crew, and you have to make up a bit of medical technobabble as they learn which crew members need what regular treatments. As an idea it's simple, short, and self-contained. Which is a lot better that writing a short story's worth of words telling everyone why their ideas aren't sparking any inspiration in you while never making any progress.

Sounds good to me.
In addition (if needed):
The new Doctor comes from a bigger/smaller/civilian/military vessel. He and the crew aren't entirely sure how he'll cope with the differences (or indeed what they all are).
The new Doctor himself suffered from Thingipellia (a vaguely described disease that is moderately severe)
Due to the Thingi-incident (which everyone knows about, except the Doctor and they aren't going to burden him with too many details at once) the old Doctor had to improvise a little. / The old Doctors records were a bit informal (he had it in his head) / One of the treatments is a little 'irregular'.

[factotum]

#1: Anybody doing cutting edge theoretical research is unlikely to spend their time on the Enterprise, for the same reason that cutting edge theoretical physicists in our world don't spend most of their time on aircraft carriers.

There was that one episode that had Picard visit a science lab where a scientist was doing some sort of experiment that needed the lights to be off, and I remember wondering at the time--what's the point of shipping aboard Starfleet's newest exploration ship and spending your time in a darkened lab? You can do that just as easily on Earth! What scientists on the Enterprise should be studying is the phenomena they come across--heck, the ship seems to run into a previously unknown entity or energy field every other week, so their hands should be quite full with that sort of work.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

There was that one episode that had Picard visit a science lab where a scientist was doing some sort of experiment that needed the lights to be off, and I remember wondering at the time--what's the point of shipping aboard Starfleet's newest exploration ship and spending your time in a darkened lab?

They're comparing the base metabolic rates of archived light-sensitive and/or photosynthetic microbes and fresh specimens? Measuring UV-laser refraction rates in a region of particularly warped space-time? Getting a localized base measurement for spontaneous non-collision related anti-photon collapse to compare to measurements of a black hole they came across?

[The Glyphstone]

Considering how often the Enterprise breaks free of negative space wedgies by bouncing the graviton particle beam off their primary deflector dish, they're probably a mobile gold mine of theoretical astrophysics research papers, if not actual usable technical advances. But no one is there to take notes on the one-off weirdness they encounter and the equally one-off solutions they devise.

[Blackhawk748]

Thanks for all your encouragement. I think I could probably make something in the Star Trek universe. I think that’s a better environment for sci fi science writing.

In todays society, we speculate about Faster than light travel, time travel, and teleportation. In Star Trek; these things are completely commonplace. They can easily replicate anything or create a simulated reality. Wormholes, parallel universes and super-sophisticated A.I. would be considered emerging technology. What would be a good science or technology that a scientist could study only in theory in the Star Trek universe. We study the theory of the Alcubierre Drive in 2019 but we are far from creating a warp drive. What would a scientist be studying in Star Trek that is far from being realized?

Going faster than Warp 9.9. Its been explored in the main series already so it isn't a fully new, but its a fun idea to work with and it's vague enough that you can make as much technobabble as you want.

[Anymage]

Considering how often the Enterprise breaks free of negative space wedgies by bouncing the graviton particle beam off their primary deflector dish, they're probably a mobile gold mine of theoretical astrophysics research papers, if not actual usable technical advances. But no one is there to take notes on the one-off weirdness they encounter and the equally one-off solutions they devise.

While technically true, OP's whole shtick is getting so hung up on the science related stuff that he can't start the actual writing part. "Hi, I'm doctor Borstein and I'll be your new medic" is a more sciencey inclined character who is still more focused on basic engagement with the crew and getting to know the ship (much easier things for a writing newbie to get their feet wet with) instead of thinking that he needs a hard science core to build the whole story around.

Basically, treating this as a writing pointers thread instead of a hard science thread or a trek lore thread.

[Maximum77]

I really like Level 2 Expert’s idea with the anti-photons but I was listening to what you guys said and I finally got it through my thick skull that it doesn’t matter what my scientist is researching. I can just do something mundane for him to be studying on the side. I need to focus on the story. The story is the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy is rapidly expanding and the scientist needs to stop it. He then creates a device that he launches into the maw of the black hole that expands a massive amount of photonic energy and then “stabilizes” the black hole; sort of acting like a giant wine stopper. I’ve been trying to think of a cool name for this device. I was thinking supraumbral something stabilizer but when I google supraumbral a lot of Spanish-writing comes up. That’s not what I’m going for. I need a cool name that isn’t a bunch of baloney and hasn’t been done before. Then I can start writing.

[Honest Tiefling]

Question as to the name of the device: Who is coming up with it, and what would they choose? Maybe that'll shake things up enough to come up with names.

[The Glyphstone]

It's a Photonic Energy Stabilizer. Its name is what it does, short and to the point.

[Peelee]

What would a scientist be studying in Star Trek that is far from being realized?

I hate to say this, but it sounds like you're asking exactly the same question, with exactly the same inherent problems, and you're just substituting Star Trek for Star Wars. And I'm afraid I think you're still missing the forest for the trees. The concept doesn't need to be interesting, what you do with it needs to be interesting. Take the episode Measure of a Man. It's in the latter half of the second season. Data is a well-known character at this point. A scientist dealing in artificial intelligence would, I'm guessing here, be something you'd absolutely not want to do, considering how commonplace AI is in Star Trek to this point. But it's a great episode, because they don't focus on robotics or the science, they ask "what makes a person a person?" That's what makes that episode good, that's what people are interested in, that's the story I want to hear. The fact that Data is a robot is window dressing, it only matters inasmuch as that's what allows us to ask the question. You could have the exact same episode with an alien, or a New Yorker in Alabama, or a super-intelligent chimpanzee that gets his knowledge from a tiny hat but is eventually embarrassed by his parents pooping in the punchbowl and sits on the hat reducing his intelligence and so he goes to business school and eventually becomes president of Fox network.

The point is, the question you want the answer to is wholly irrelevant. It was when you asked it about Star Wars. It is now that you're asking it about Star Trek. It will be in the future if you ask it about Galaxy Quest (also I vote for you doing a Galaxy Quest fanfic, that universe is ripe for more material). What matters is the story itself, and I really want you to be able to write that instead of getting hung up on the details.

negative space wedgies

Forget everything I just said, this is the answer. Negative space wedgies. All Star Trek episodes that don't deal with negative space wedgies will now be instantly terrible in my mind when they could have been good and had negative space wedgies.

ETA: blarg, that's what I get for starting to reply, having dinner, and then finishing the reply without checking for updates. You already took that to heart. I'm proud of you! I know it must not have been easy, but from what I've been able to piece together, that was a huge step for you, and you should feel proud of yourself for getting over it! Go you, Maximum!

[Xyril]

I need a cool name that isn’t a bunch of baloney and hasn’t been done before. Then I can start writing.

I've never been to any sort of addiction support group, but I imagine that this is the point where they force you to return your one week chip.

When you constrain yourself to specific language groups (i.e., European languages that use some variation of the Latin alphabet), you're going to have a finite number of phonemes to work with. This means that it shouldn't be too surprising if a word you randomly make up happens to have a homophone or near homophone somewhere out there, particularly if you're searching through every language that's out there. If your "made up" word is actually a concatenation of roots from other language (i.e., your use of "supra" and "umbra", which are Latin root words), you really shouldn't be surprised that someone is already using some variation of your word (Spanish is a Romance language, as in Rome, as in descended from Latin.) This doesn't mean that the idea you assigned that name to isn't original, and as others have pointed out, it would be perfectly acceptable even if it were unoriginal.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

I need a cool name that isn’t a bunch of baloney and hasn’t been done before. Then I can start writing.

It's a Photonic Energy Stabilizer. Its name is what it does, short and to the point.

Use that one.

If you come across a cooler one later, Word has a find and replace function.

[Knaight]

For the last 2 years I’ve been pestering people on this forum to generate ideas for my science fiction. I apologize. I thought I was a good writer back in my childhood but I really have no talent. I can’t write anything innovative or compelling; so I can’t be a sci fi writer. I can even write a lousy Star Wars fan fic!

Here's the thing - what got people annoyed wasn't the part where you were having trouble with writing. That's just being new, it happens to everyone, and your assumption that sci fi writers are all geniuses is just a clear sign that you haven't met many sci-fi writers. It's not nearly as selective as you're making it seem.

No, it was the "pestering people on this forum" bit which got on our collective nerves, and asking about Star Trek technology instead of Star Wars technology is just more pestering people on this forum. Come up with your own stuff, write it, and don't throw thread after thread up looking for inspiration. Several of these prior threads included extensive advice on doing your own research, take some of it. Get some cheap out of date science textbooks, read them, seek inspiration there. Find science/business books about product development and read those (e.g. The Shark's Paintbrush, which is full of examples). This forum shouldn't be your primary source, and using it as your primary source is exactly why you're in this position of apologizing now.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

I don't know untill i have used it.

Ctrl+H, it's always there for you.

Also, I'm most likely replying to a spambot, but I already had the image shopped and the link stuck in my head before I figured that out. (Yes, I reported it.)

[Grey_Wolf_c]

This is why spaces are important. I kept reading that as "make the mall dead (-inator)", and wondered what you had against malls.

Ctrl+H, it's always there for you.

I don't know anyone that'd burn their breakfast when they're two hours late for work, because I don't know anyone that'd cook their breakfast when they're two hours late for work.

Grey Wolf

[Peelee]

This is why spaces are important. I kept reading that as "make the mall dead (-inator)", and wondered what you had against malls.

That's what I read at first too. Almost immediately realized the real reading, and then chose to read the malls interpretation anyway, because it amused me.

I don't know anyone that'd burn their breakfast when they're two hours late for work, because I don't know anyone that'd cook their breakfast when they're two hours late for work.

Grey Wolf

That was three minutes well spent. Thanks!

[Grey_Wolf_c]

That was three minutes well spent. Thanks!

If you enjoyed that, you may also enjoy his more famous Pachelbel Rant.

Grey Wolf

[Worrkim]

I guess I could give it a try. thanks.

It reminds me of the saying "failure is the mother of success".