A book of my own

Any suggestions for a person who is about to write their own book? Theme will be sci-fi, because I feel that every other theme has been covered by another writer already.

Won't be anything like things that already exist like Star Wars. I'm planning on writing something completely new, something that people will find interesting to read.

I've never written a book before though. Are there things that I should look out for? Applications that help out in writing a book, or should I just bring out the good old Microsoft Word?

You going mainstream? Like HP and LOTR?

>>2
Yes I am. The book will be written for the widest range of people. I want young people to be able to read it and enjoy it as well.

You know how fucking hard writing a book is? Are you seriously planning on doing this? No chickening out due to writer's block? No drama and no bullshit? Do you REALLY want to motherfucking write a book? How old are you?

>>4
I'm 20 at the moment. Some might say that I am too young to be writing something as major as a book, in the hopes of it becoming mainstream and being read by millions. However, I don't feel like that at all. I am Dutch, but will be writing the book in English. I know I can do this, and I will.

My advice: don't. Check out the george rr martin podcast. There's an episode of advice for aspiring writers. This blog post has a link to the rss feed: grrmdb.blogspot.com/2006/11/grrm-podcasts.html

>>1

Stick it in my cunt and call me a good boy.

>>1
That's a pretty big task. I've gotta say, though, you're pretty sure of yourself, if you think that SF isn't covered very well. Try out some Hubbard or Heinlein or Martin or Gibson, and tell me there's not good Sci-Fi.

If you really think the genre hasn't been covered well enough, you may want to do some more research on the genre / reading in the genre before you try to tackle something as groundbreaking as you think it's going to be.

I'm not trying to say you can't, but if that's really your view on the subject, I'd say you aren't ready to tackle this yet.

>>8
The thing is, I want something that is sci-fi, but still fun enough for most people to read it. I want the kind of book that gets international publication and fame.

>>9
Starship Troopers (arguably Heinlein's most popular) has been translated into 11 languages and spawned 2 (albeit bad) movies.  That's pretty international. He's also pretty famous.

I mean, it seems to me like you think whatever book you get out there will do it for you. What I'm saying is, without a better understanding of the genre you're trying to revolutionize, you're not going to get anywhere.

Get yourself rooted in current Sci-Fi and figure out what about it doesn't appeal to wider audiences and fix it.  The only way you're going to produce something new that's worthwhile is to understand and know what came before you.

if you need to come up with ideas, you have no way to make anything decent. it will be derivative shit. writers, artists in general, worry about getting their ideas and visions into their medium intact, the things themselves come to them naturally.

"Sci-fi" isn't a theme, bro. And keep in mind that "other themes" are a big part of any science fiction novel. You're not going to go mass-market without mass-market appeal. You've got to write both a mind-blowing vision and a real human drama, hopefully consequent on one another.

You'd better consider starting with short stories too, if you're a new writer. Books don't just happen. Better to hone your craft for a while so you don't end up with a long manuscript whose quality of writing changes drastically throughout its length.

And like these guys said, you'd better learn your current science fiction better. Have you read your Charlie Stross, your Neal Stephenson, your Peter Watts, your David Marusek, your Paul Melko, maybe some guys like Eric Flint, Alan Dean Foster, Tobias Buckell, and plenty of classics (Cordwainer Smith, Niven, Heinlein, Asimov, Cherryh, Clarke, and so on)? I mean, if Star Wars is your best example of science fiction, you're probably not especially familiar with the genre. Your final product may not depend on your familiarity with science fiction, but some more experience will certainly inform the process.

Also, how about people post the best new science fiction authors, for OPs benefit and for the benefit of others in this thread?

>>12
i recognized only like five of the names there, you read way too much goddamn science fiction

wait one of them wrote a novel based on Halo?? ahahaahaha

>>13
Which one wrote a novel based on Halo? I'm not familiar with it.

Anyway that's not a lot of names. It's like, 14.

>>14
Also I work in a library. It's easy to read when you've got a constant stream of new books.

>>14
http://www.amazon.com/Cole-Protocol-Halo-Tobias-Buckell/dp/076531570X/ref=pd_bbs_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1235472556&sr=8-3

>>12
Wait wait, how is sci-fi not a theme? Sure, most people call it genre, but a theme is a fucking theme.

When you write it, start with history. Write yourself an outline, and determine where exactly the major evolutions of technology occur. Almost all successful sci-fi stories have a signature item. Dune has Holtzman generators, Foundation has psychohistory, Star Wars has lightsabers.

>>16
That's pretty cool I guess. For a minute I thought you were making a really bad Ringworld joke. I guess there's a reason he was on my "maybe" list (fun fact: Quofum was entirely responsible for moving Alan Dean Foster to that list).

>>17
How is it a theme?

>>17

Citing Wikipedia, but eh...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genre
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theme_(literature)

Sci-Fi is a genre, i.e. it is a loosely defined category consisting of several criteria (potentially including space, technology, etc, etc).

A theme is more specific. It's basically the ideas about life, the human condition, the tl;dr, if you will, that the work seeks to convey.

Sci-Fi is the /genre/ Science Fiction isn't a way of life or a human condition. It's the overarching piece that drives what themes are present in the work. 

Seriously. You want to write a book, but you don't even know what a genre or a theme is?

just write

all the time

and then when youre ready start writing

Reading also helps.

>>10
acctaly it's 3 movies and a cg cartoon series, and a 6 episode anime
just to correct ya on the starship troopers thing