I want to write a sci-fi set in not so distant future (2100s), a true hero's journey, very down and focused on the protagonist sort of story. It'll be about an augmented super soldier that leads a team of 4 on some secret missions. Big parts of the plot will be the unravelling of a conspiracy while the MC is off duty. However, I never ever wrote sci-fi. Can you help me through the ropes? How do I avoid the most common pitfalls? Genre rules? I need some guidance.
Here is how I might get started: Read a bunch of science fiction novels Get a subscription to some tech and science magazines like Wired, Scientific American, and Popular Mechanics Start reading some tech blogs PBS "Space Time" on YouTube is a good physics primer. "Terrible Writing Advice" on YouTube will give you some ideas. www.writingexcuses.com has many good pod casts on Science Fiction Go on YouTube and search "Worst Tropes Genre (YA, Science Fiction) as well as stuff like, "What went wrong with Star Wars," and "Video Essay Mad Max" Go on T.V. Tropes and read about "Discredited Tropes," and then look up your favorite epic science fiction books and read all the tropes associated with it. If you don't have first hand knowledge that will let you get the true voice of military characters, you will need to find beta readers who were in the military, set up some interviews, watch documentaries, amateur war footage, soldier vlogs and so on and on. If you base the voice of military characters on second hand accounts from other media, you risk it sounding canned.
Can you recommend me some material to get to know the military stuff better? Documentaries or something.
Not really. I'm not that interested in it as far as writing goes, so when I watch this stuff I'm not taking notes. The only one I've watched recently that comes to mind is Korengal, which is a really good doc and worth watching.
You can check out this blog for military science fiction ideas and analysis: Future War Stories You might also be interested in reading Atomic Rockets - they go into extreme depth about the science and worldbuilding writers can aspire to. I know it helped me. I hope it does for you.
Since there are many ways to write epic sci-fi, best is to start by choosing which type of story you'd like to write. For that you might want to spend a while reading a few books and deciding which you like most. It could be a story where the characters come first, or it can be a story where technology comes first. A story about secret missions and conspiracy can be a thriller, or a mystery, or even full of political drama. Pick some favourites amongst those, choose your themes and tell us a bit more about your preferences so we could narrow it down. Otherwise it's going to be one EPIC thread about everything and I really would like to take some time to cook dinner today
