On Writing Thrillers - Science Fiction Or Science Faction? [sciencetechnology-center.blogspot.com]
From the Producer of Alice in Wonderland comes a special Extended Edition of the visionary movie that turned a legendary tale into an action-adventure epic. The evil Queen Ravenna (Academy Award-winner Charlize Theron) will rule forever if she can take the life of Snow White (Kristen Stewart), so she dispatches the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) to track her down. But the wicked ruler never imagined that the Huntsman would train the girl to become a brave warrior, skilled in the art of war. Filled with intense battles and spectacular visual effects that "shouldn't be missed" -- Shawn Edwards, Fox-TV, Snow White & the Huntsman Extended Edition includes more thrilling action not seen in theaters.
Here I'm not going to discuss mainstream literary work such as that of JD Salinger or F Scott Fitzgerald - thrillers is the topic, specifically techno-thrillers.
Now, you might think immediately of Tom Clancy, or maybe Craig Thomas, but Patricia Cornwell is also, to me, a techno-thriller author. Reading Cornwell's work, I believe almost all the technical detail - she was an ME and knows corpses and death thoroughly. What about Clancy or Thomas though? Certainly their work is plausible, even when Thomas invented a new Russian plane, in Firefox, it was still credible to me.
To what degree do you suspend belief when you read techno-thrillers, and as a writer, what would you expect of your readers? My academic background is physics and oceanography, and I did find some of Clancy's writing hard to credit when I read it first, but it hardly affected my enjoyment. When he is developing his franchise with co-authors in his later books, the story-lines, to me, becom e less credible. There's another discussion there about a writer perhaps running out of ideas (or making the most of his market), but let's leave that for another time.
Now, there are techno-thriller writers, very successful ones, whose work I do not enjoy. Usually that's down to content, but occasionally, style. The work may not be plausible to me and grounds my enjoyment, even when the storyline is all action and racing along. When techno-thrillers are set well into the future, they become science fiction.
To me, science fiction invents new technologies - for example 'Beam me up Scotty'. I contend that in between techno-thrillers and science fiction, there is a genre which we could call science-faction. This genre projects today's technology (or technology that is on the bleeding edge), into the near future. It is on the edge of credibility. Of course, that depends on the reader too. It is in this genre where I would pitch some of Arthur C Clarke's work. With h is prediction of earth-orbiting satellites, he was just ahead of the curve, but still original.
So, when I write - and I classify my work as science faction - I looked a little ahead into the future, projecting existing technologies. I don't want my readers to say - "that's incredible" (literally) and maybe have their enjoyment curtailed. To that extent I like to include a bibliography of research resources - so that readers can see a solid basis for my faction.
I do love science fiction though, and as I get older, more of it seems to become credible. Science fiction in itself has a range of sub-genres - from extreme technical content, through all action adventure, to societal science fiction, concerned with how alternative societies on alternative worlds might be structured and behave. Frank Herbert's 'Dune' is an example of this.
Whichever one you go with, there is plenty of room for creative writers, and plenty of material for readers - whether they can suspend belief or not. In a way, I guess it's just a matter of timescale - as we progress technically, science fiction becomes science faction becomes reality. It may also be a matter of the reader's perception, based on their individual levels of scientific knowledge. Now that a writer cannot address!
Find More On Writing Thrillers - Science Fiction Or Science Faction? IssuesQuestion by RocKKerChicKK: What are good colleges for Photography and forensics science? Ok I'm a junior and my mom told me that I need to look at colleges so by next year I'll be filling out applications hopefully. I want to major in Forensics science and minor in photography. So help me please? Thank you Best answer for What are good colleges for Photography and forensics science?:
Answer by ownpool
Start by looking at your state university, which is thousand of dollars less expensive than going out of state or to a private university. Forensic sciences is an unusual major. Instead major in biochemistry or another science that can be used forensically.
Answer by blakelylaw
I don't know about the photography, but I do know that East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma, offers a forensic science major. The State's police academy, just recently built, is in the same town, so the equipment available is top-notch. I don't know where you are, but ECU's program is pretty well known in this part of the country.
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