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Science Fiction: The Middle Distance
by Raymond M. Coulombe

Science Fiction most often deals with the future, but how far should a writer go? The near future is pretty easy. The formula is to take the present, make one scientific breakthrough, and you are on your way. The far future is pretty easy too. Assume the future technology is too advanced for us primitives to understand and just describe how it works in a superficial yet plausible way. The other route to far future tech is to bury the reader in technical details, but that's just mean to today's reader.

Ah . . . but the middle distance . . . not so close that the writer is tied down to the current world, yet close enough to the present so readers can recognize major parts of it. A writer can play with major technological, societal, and even geological changes, yet still flesh out the story with recognizable features. A successful middle distance story balances the familiar and the strange. The reader should be able to see how that particular future would could grow out of the present.

It takes a good writer to pull it off. A good technological background is essential. I'm amazed at how few people have even a basic understanding of how our current technological society functions. Basic knowledge about how the world works is just a start. While it's not necessary to be able to do all the math, it sure helps to know what's going on in the scientific world. Read magazines that popularize science. Surf the science web sites. I know of one QM writer who took sciences courses in college just so he could write better science fiction. Not too shabby for an English major.

Good science fictions writers don't do this sort of reading because they are ambitious. No, they do it because they are lazy. Those publications are great places for story ideas. A writer might read a story about a prototype flying boat that travels just above the ocean's surface to take advantage of ground effect. The writer imagines a world with fleets of such high speed craft. The writer might see an article about viruses being constructed from scratch, and imagine one getting loose on a world population without resistance. Ok, so that's been done to death. Back to the journals.

There are all kinds of things out there begging to be turned into stories: RFID chip tracking technology, the dawn of peak oil, (the end of cheap oil, the very foundation of our technological society.) Transportation breakthroughs, privatization of space, political changes, societal changes, even Stephen Hawking's flip flop on black hole theory is fertile ground.

Here's a recipe: Take half a dozen cutting edge technologies and expand them further. Add one significant breakthrough that's at least possible. Throw in some cool future fashion, body art, or completely new art form, just for style. Simmer and stir gently. Look at the really cool world you've created, ripe with possibilities. You've just set the stage, put up the props, got the lighting effects working, and did a sound check. Your actors have been through the costume and makeup department. The show is ready for action. Don't fall down at this point. You still need to tell a story. Don't get lost in the special effects. It's not about the stage, but the actors. I reject a lot of stories set in great science fiction worlds. The writer forgot to tell a story. They got dazzled by the world they created and thought the reader should be happy just to see the scenery.

The writer must insert some interesting people in the mix. Science fiction is about science, sure, but like all good literature, it's really about people. How will man adapt? We are essentially the same people who hunted with spears, knapped stone tools, and painted bisons on cave walls. What will the future bring? Can we deal with it?

The middle distance. Just over the horizon. A great place for a writer to live.

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