To be honest, most novels or short stories have something in them that is "done to death", or, at least, very common. The chosen one, aliens, space-wars, saving the world, whatever. It's pretty hard to come up with a completely original novel or short story. Besides, War in Space is "done to death" because it's an exciting theme that works. People like wars in space. I think the best thing to do is not worry about it being overdone, go ahead with a war in space and, if you really feel like being different, try to use something different that hasn't been done a lot in such stories.
Of course, loads of works have been already completed in this very field, but you still have chances to make your storues unique and unforgettable ones. You just need more efforts to apply, so that nobody can compare your creations with some other pieces.
It probably has been done to death. However, that's pretty much what I'm doing right now myself, and I couldn't care less how many times it's been done before. I'd always rather be entertaining than groundbreaking. My advice? Go ahead and write your stories.
Not at all. One of the best selling science fiction series is David Weber's Honor Harrington books, which are based off space combat. It's become such a large thing that it's branched off in three different directions and still going along okay. As many have said before, it's how you write it that matters. As long as your style is entertaining and the characters are strong, then don't worry about 'whether it's been done before' provided you're not commiting plagiarism of another work.
The only thing that isdone to death is dull, uninspired writing. The story idea isn't the problem. It's poor execution.
If you think something has been done to death or has become a cliche, do the opposite. That's pretty much how every character was conceived for GRRM's ASOIAF. What you expect is never what happens. Robb Stark is the best example. The good-looking young moral hero would be the main character in any other fantasy story, but GRRM doesn't even make him a viewpoint character. Dany is another great example. When in doubt, do the opposite. Or at the very least, confront the issue directly. This will keep the reader on their toes after seeing how you openly address the cliche, and keep them wondering how you choose to resolve it. Planetary rings, on the other hand...
I have a number of others as well. FTL travel that doesn't account for time dilation. Lazer fire that instantaneously travels interplanetary distances. Bad medical science: You're a nurse, [MENTION=53143]GingerCoffee[/MENTION]. Talk to me about the massive rejection/allergic combo reaction of having a creature from an alien line of evolution growing in your chest. Violation of conservation of mass. Chest burster to human sized creature in one day. One day. Hasn't even eaten anyone yet. Yeah. And my most unfavorite of all is forehead appliance aliens. And what you do with the setting of this giganto space war. If all it is is war and war and more war and there's just war and nothing but war, I'm sure there is someone out there who will think it's the bee's knees, but not me.
I agree with Cogito - there's no such thing as a subject matter or story line that has been done to death. A great writer can write a great story, regardless.
OK, I'll tell you, and in return tell me how to do this "mention" thing without me having to look it up. Yes, the immune system would reject foreign proteins, but the alien just needs some kind of immunosuppressant. Let's see, then you have the issue, how could the alien develop said ability with no experience with the human organism? Not impossible to solve, said alien needs the ability to mimic the proteins of the organism it invades and create a wall around itself made of said mimicked proteins. Problem solved.
Don't doubt yourself, Simmy. Bring a story worthy of a war in space, and people will gobble it up. Compelling characters, interesting events, wonderful tone, perhaps a moral or two to go along with it. All of these elements, spun correctly, can make any space opera interesting.
Violation of conservation of mass. Chest burster to human sized creature in one day. One day. Hasn't even eaten anyone yet. Yeah. Could have been eating things in the ship. It was massive, and since it was likely built as a weapon, it probably metabolizes what it needs from the environment.
A 'Mention', as I seem to have figured out, is done by adding an '@' symbol before the username: [MENTION=53143]GingerCoffee[/MENTION] However, it doesn't seem to show up in the preview, only once posted.
Like anything, there are insanely derivative and unoriginal war in space stories. And then there are people who find an entire new slant on it that makes their war in space story fresh and original.
This one's harder to justify. Rapid creature growth is typically beyond the reality of physics in sci-fi. And developing within the human body without killing the person, also hard to justify. There is only so much room for one's lungs to expand, and one problem in pregnancy is the fetus pushing on major blood vessels in the abdomen, as the baby grows one often can't lie on one's back because of it.
You would be surprised how long you can live without intact internal organs. Assuming you don't bleed to death and your gut doesn't leak into the rest of you, it would take a few days before you dehydrate (rule of threes). An alien parasite could eat your internal organs like spaghetti and secrete something that stops the bleeding very quickly. Add in a pain killer and you wouldn't know it was happening other than the fact that you'd be ravenous all the time. I want to tally how many people vomit after reading that! (What!? No evil smiley face?)
All else considered, it's just a setting. It is exactly the same as writing a scene set in a meadow. It too has been 'done to death.' It simply is the back drop to the characters. As long as those are strong and the story solid, don't worry about it. Just write.
You should read a lot of the space war fiction already out there, so you recognize the flaws and cliches and can avoid them. One of the most important things in any fiction is characters and even a dull premise can turn out great if you write believable characters and make the readers really care about them. I have sometimes thought about a more realistic space war fiction. In most stories war in space is like dogfights with aeroplanes, but I think submarine warfare would be a better analogy. It's highly unlikely that in reality two spaceships would fly within a few kilometres of each other. In space there is no way to hide your presence and the enemy could see your engines from tens of thousands of kilometres away. Just like submarines can be heard from a long distance. So space warfare would be slow: spaceships cruising in space without their engines running to avoid getting noticed, scanning for signs of enemy ships. Battles would be done with missiles(unless you want to include energy weapons). Not so good for action sequences, but better for suspense. For inspiration, I'd suggest reading about real-life applications for space warfare. Realism isn't necessarily the way to go, but it could still give you ideas.
Mass Effect covered how you could mask a ship in space. Only a few klicks away and you wouldn't be physically capable of seeing the ship, so masking heat signatures and using materials that absorb radar or whatever we're using in the interstellar age would make a fine stealth craft. There's also mass driver weaponry when you're dealing with large, unwieldy ships, not just missiles and energy weapons. If we take the aircraft carrier into the space age (a significant possibility), mass driver weapons will be the weapon of choice for small craft. A 20 kg slug dropped on a planet can hit with the force of Little Boy.
No story is done to death. Just look at vampire "romance" and mindless zombies overrunning the earth (somehow). Many follow the same already bland plot. It is the characters that draw people in. Otherwise why would we care who is banging what vampire/werewolf or who is getting eaten by zombies. Change the channel or pick up another book. If you want to write a war in space story, go for it. Just ask yourself what about that particular genre drew you to it and focus on building up those aspects. Is it the political intrique or the awesome technology that lets suns explode? Do you want a large-scale focus depicting the fate of nations, or the effects of war on a tight-knit crew of a freighter or warship? Then go write it. Just don't let George Lucas direct the movie when you sell out. Go with Michael Bay. More explosions.
