[Q] How acurate are Science Fiction Authors?

[Theory5]

Hey, I am trying to write a book to see if I can, and I found that I know nothing about the planets, solar systems, and stuff outside of Sol. So I am wondering, do authors just use the real names of the Arms and make up everything else?

Edited August 15, 2010 by Theory5

[Knothead]

Hey, fiction is fiction. I don't think you should feel constrained to be any more true to reality than your story demands.

I can't speak for anybody that can actually write, but I've read a bit, and I sometimes enjoy a good fantasy as much as I enjoy a realistic journey into the imagination's future.

Be true to your story.

[Theory5]

Hey, fiction is fiction. I don't think you should feel constrained to be any more true to reality than your story demands.

I can't speak for anybody that can actually write, but I've read a bit, and I sometimes enjoy a good fantasy as much as I enjoy a realistic journey into the imagination's future.

Be true to your story.

 

Thanks. I want to make it as realistic as possible, with the usual semi-improbabilities, such as hyperspace and extremely powerful sub-light engines.

For a short while I was considering using the Star wars galaxy map, but decided to opt for a more realistic thing.

[CraigD]

Stars and extra-solar planets are identified in various star catalogs, and may be listed in different catalogs, with cross-references to their various IDs. Various naming conventions are used, such as a catalog name or acyronym and a number, an ancient star or constellation name and a number for star within or near it, or the name of the Earth or space-based observatory and a number. By convention, planets of stars are given lower-case letter beginning with “b” in the order they’re discovered. For example, Gliese 581 d is the 3rd planet discovered around a star identified by entry 581 in the Gliese star catalog, 47 Ursae Majoris d is the 3rd one discovered around a star in the Great Bear constellation, COROT-9b was discovered by the CoRoT satellite, etc.

 

Such name are pretty un-poetic, so most SF writers I’ve read assume they’ll be given new names in the future by those who explore and/or colonize them, perhaps the name of the leader of the project, something capturing the religion or philosophy of the explorer’s/colonists, a historic or mythological figure name, the name of a sweetheart or family member, or something whimsical: “Jones’s Word”, “New Eden”, “Harmony”, “Gandhi”, “Hyperion”, “Miranda”, “James”, “Dandelion”, etc.

 

As long as you, the writer, can provide a back story for how your worlds were named, or leave a plausible opening for a back story without spelling it out, it’ll likely work for you. I once wrote a story about a solar system of the star George, with planets Elroy, Judy, Jane, Spacely, Cogsworth, with large moons Astro and Rosie – characters from the 1960s cartoon The Jetsons, leaving how this came to pass up to readers’ imaginations.

[Eclogite]

Beyond what has already been said it is important that you not include things that are simply wrong. You can't say Venus is the closest planet to the sun, for example. (Unless in your story Mercury was blow up three years earlier.) You can't have you characters landing on the surface of Jupiter, walking around without spacesuits, since Jupitet doesn't have a surface, the atmosphere is posinous to humans and the radiation would kill them. (Unless you have aliens creat an artificail environment within Jupiter.) I think you get the idea. Good luck with the writing,

[C1ay]

100% When you're making it up how can it be wrong?

[Qfwfq]

Well, if you want it to be taking place around this solar system you need to be reasonably accurate about known astronomy, otherwise have it in another galaxy.

 

It's also a good idea to have it fit in with currrent knowledge of physics, even when imagining things like hyper-whatnot or ultra-jazz. The usual famous authors of the last few decades had a good knowledge of the topics they touched on and sometimes came up with good ideas. Did you know the first to think of a geostationary satellite was Arthur C. Clarke? He just used the idea for a book and it caught on, not much later it was used for meteo and telecom purposes.

[Eclogite]

100% When you're making it up how can it be wrong?

Successful fiction requires the willing suspension of disbelief. If you include nonsense in a science fiction work that disbelief will not be suspended.

[belovelife]

Try for space travel, a crystal encased mini pulsar that radiates a hologram the looks like a mushroom

 

( see Taurus constelation, crab nebula, pulsar )

[belovelife]

Constellation

[Moontanman]

I'm not sure how accurate you have to be, to me the story is far more important than accuracy, read Heinlein's "Between Planets" Very little accuracy but a great story, even if it is mostly geared toward teenagers. Set your story some place far away and you can get by with quite a bit, no one knows anything about the nearby Alpha Centauri system, two stars just far enough apart for both to have Earth like planets and far enough away from Earth that you can suppose almost anything going on there. Imagine interplanetary conquest and warfare! If you must have technology that violates what we know as the laws of the universe try to violate as few as possible to make your story happen. Ultimately you can be totally accurate and still put your readers to sleep but as Fred Saberhagan has shown total BS can still be entertaining....

[Hill]

Hey, I am trying to write a book to see if I can, and I found that I know nothing about the planets, solar systems, and stuff outside of Sol. So I am wondering, do authors just use the real names of the Arms and make up everything else?

There are many genres of science fiction. See this Wikipedia article.. All science fiction demands some suspension of the known laws of physics. "Hard" science fiction, like that written by Arthur C Clarke or Larry Niven, tries to keep most science real while dealing with some "what if" possibilities.

[Qfwfq]

Constillation

Try again man, it's got an 'e' in it, but using the edit feature is even better for correcting a mistake in a post. :)

[Ken]

I'm not sure how accurate you have to be, to me the story is far more important than accuracy, read Heinlein's "Between Planets" Very little accuracy but a great story, even if it is mostly geared toward teenagers. Set your story some place far away and you can get by with quite a bit, no one knows anything about the nearby Alpha Centauri system, two stars just far enough apart for both to have Earth like planets and far enough away from Earth that you can suppose almost anything going on there. Imagine interplanetary conquest and warfare! If you must have technology that violates what we know as the laws of the universe try to violate as few as possible to make your story happen. Ultimately you can be totally accurate and still put your readers to sleep but as Fred Saberhagan has shown total BS can still be entertaining....

 

 

When I was around 10 years old I read a story about a space ship that had stopped in space because it's rocket had stopped (error 1) and the quandary was that once they had it fixed they couldn't get started again BECAUSE they had no planet for the rocket to push against!!!!

 

As a 4th or 5th grader I still thought that sounded wrong. :D :D

 

On the other hand I never stopped to think about the improbability of life on planets like Eddore or Ploor. And even now when I re-read "doc" Smith's stories I have no problem suspending disbelief. B)