5 Sci-Fi Tropes to Avoid (Or Embrace) In Your Writing

Like most genres, science fiction comes with its set of tropes--some loved, others less. Though there are dozens and dozens of tropes in this genre, let's talk about five, and why they might lead to more interesting, or less compelling writing, and what to consider when using these tropes in your work!

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TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 - Intro
0:44 - Aliens...who are humans?
1:49 - Homogeneous aliens
2:44 - Time travel
4:00 - Unique aliens
5:46 - The limits of technology

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[promcheg]

Limits of technology are spot on, with the words of Jack Campbell (paraphrased): It's not the abilities that make the story, but limitations, things you can't do, they force you to be creative.

[glenstone]

I really enjoy your videos, Shaelin. Lots of useful information presented in an intelligent yet easily understood style. You not only express yourself well, but your passion for writing and its associated industry makes your presentations even more watchable.

[Fromtheforgottengardens]

I am currently writing a Sci-Fi / romance. These tips are so helpful, thanks

[Skinniest_Kween]

Shaelin has been quite the busy bee this week.❤️

[powercore]

I'm gonna these like the sci fi sets of vids, Personal bias, and good material for my stories!

[clintcarpentier]

About the humanoid alien trope. Even scientist have argued long an hard about this. Alien lifeforms are one thing, but sentience leading to the advancement to be "equals" to humanity, will require certain physiological characteristics, leading quite often to a humanoid shape.

Homogeneous aliens. How big a book you wanna read? Do you read documentaries? Do you pick up books titled "The Complete History of Earth" and say "yeah baby, let's get this on!"

I have three distinct human cultures in the series that I'm writing. I've completed one book 78k words. I think maybe 8k of it specifically deals with the cultures. 8k words, and it says nothing compared to what it actually entails.

I remember listing to a radio interview with some Nigerian author, she was talking about always being asked about africa. Her point (which says a lot about our current race culture) is that she was raised rather well off in a country that happens to be part of africa; what she had to say about africa, would be akin to her reading American Psycho and thinking that's America.

Ya, we get to see "alien homogeneity" because that's the portion that was advanced enough to meet with. If you - as a star ship captain - happened upon a planet where half the planet lived in slums, and the other half owned all the satellites, which one would you make contact with? Remember, it is a planet, and time is finite, and you don't even know your own damn planet.

8k words... eight, with three zeros. All it says is, "you wanna know MOAR!!!" 8, 000! That's like 2-3 chapters of nothing. I have a wikid pad bible that's something like 40k words, still says nothing other than

[raphlvlogs]

aliens cannot be too alien they can only be not alien enough

[vampiricdust]

Always one of my favorite people to listen to for advice on writing. You rock.

[RolandOnnaRiver]

Great advice. One caveat to the "make your aliens alien" principle is if you're writing for a multimedia form like film or video games, or even if you just think there's a chance your work could be adapted to such someday if it becomes popular, you might want to think a little bit about what the production process would be before comitting to a design.

Black squids floating in fog that speak using simple particle effects are a lot easier to design and implement than... say... 5-D fractal monsters that fold themselves into a tiny speck to hide, and fill the sky when paying close attention to 3D creatures, and speak by growing and dissolving their individual facial features.

[akiko-sanmiwa]

Thank you this is actually really cool and it taught me a lot, because I am trying to become an author even though I am only 10 years old in elementary school still but I cannot wait. It is just way too cool. I have a talent, but coupled with your advise I feel awesome. Please make more videos soon!

[glenn_r_frank_author]

One sci-fi trope that Star Trek uses... and Battlestar Galactica... and a myriad of other older shows... is that the explanation of why all the alien races look basically human-like is that we are all related. The trope explanation is that we were seeded by an ancient race that spread human DNA around the universe. Of course there are some serious issues with this since we can trace DNA and biology back and know that we pretty much are related to all the creatures on Earth. We are not "aliens" among the other Earth creatures. If we were distant DNA relatives of another alien species you would also think that they and we would have taken different evolutionary paths over the millions and billions of years and would still be totally different when we met again.

[powercore]

A sci fi trope that does get tiresome to me is the rogue ai, when a generic ai deviates from its programing and wants to kill humanity.

It's tiresome because ususaly it's based an antiquated view of ai, and isn't representative of any of our modern understanding or implementation of it. A lot of stories handle so clumsily it can come off as technological fear mongering, rather than an ethical or technical exploration of the topic.

[Gaia_Gaistar]

I have a soft spot for green and blue humanoid aliens and the like.

[brycesonflowers]

My favorite sci-fi trope is the possibility of redeeming a memory of the dreams you had during a seizure!

[rodholseth]

Arrival is one of my all time favorite science fiction. Just had to say that.

[darthnaylor]

I think one of my favorite and least favorite tropes is what I'll call "found tech", or technology discovered before the discoverers could reasonably have developed it. It can be a fascinating window into how a massive shift in norms impacts a society if the idea is implemented well, or it can be an I win button that leaves readers unsatisfied

[marvinkirkland]

Thank you so much for making me smile. Your content was great and your enthusiasm is refreshing.

[icedriver]

Least favorite tropes: Primitive weapons that always seem to be able to defeat technology. When high tech civilizations are forced to use primitive weapons and engage in melee combat. Star Wars did the first one and Star Trek did the second one alot.

[steverobbins]

Here's an idea I've been playing with. I'd appreciate constructive comments.
1. It's a future where almost everyone is on the autism spectrum because of man-made chemicals in the environment that caused epigenetic changes. The effects of these changes skipped a generation, so by the time they were detected, the problem was global.
2. Civilization is able to function because everyone has a Minder, which is a personal AI that resides in the glasses they wear. The Minder uses augmented reality to guide it's client through daily life by turning everything into a game. For example, when you get up and brush your teeth, you get points. Get dressed and eat breakfast and you get more points.
3. The lead character is homicide detective Jim Watson. His Minder is the narrator, and refers to itself as "Holmes", but of coarse Watson doesn't get the joke. Watson is prone to action, like chasing people, fighting, etc. Holmes is more like "hey, let's think about this for a moment, Jim."

4. When there is a murder, the human cops don't know what to do. The kind of 'crimes' they normally deal with are things like "that guy stole my pudding cup".
There's a lot more, but this is already getting too long.

[manymusings]

Regarding time travel....I think Diana Gabaldon did a fantastic job in her Outlander series but there weren't logistics involved.