tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26974492.post115497564304880620..comments2024-03-28T18:54:13.800-04:00Comments on alien romances: It's Not Just Ships That Shoot...Rowena Cherryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11839386556697211986noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26974492.post-1155050630998256462006-08-08T11:23:00.000-04:002006-08-08T11:23:00.000-04:00I think that's why I wrote my freshman effort at S...I think that's why I wrote my freshman effort at SFR in first person. You still get a feel for the world but in a different way, and it's heavily filtered by what the character actually -knows- about the universe.Ann Aguirrehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09076423626210129278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26974492.post-1154997057616441812006-08-07T20:30:00.000-04:002006-08-07T20:30:00.000-04:00I don't know if I can answer this after being call...I don't know if I can answer this after being called "venerable" -- boy that gives one pause! <BR/><BR/>But I'd have to answer your friend that worldbuilding has been studied and developed to an artform by generations of SF writers, Hal Clement and Poul Anderson being two of the best.<BR/><BR/>Now the basic principle you use to generate those characters who must and cannot is derived from the study of modern science, Earth Science. <BR/><BR/>As you learned how Earth formed, cooled, and evolved life that evolved into us, you must reprise that sequence in your mind starting with a different planet -- different chemical composition, different star, different temperatures, different and variations on differences, all through the evolutionary tree -- branching and re-branching in ways different from our own.<BR/><BR/>Start in your imagination with the gaseous nebula and end with the inevitable differences in sexuality and other life functions (all 5) that your new species will have. <BR/><BR/>From those differences in the 5 signatures of Life, you then generate a whole bunch of different philosophies.<BR/><BR/>Remember these very different people will be looking at the same universe we do (maybe -- well, there are probably 11 alternate universes) and drawing conclusions and philosophical and religious premises based on how their own sexuality and reproductive proclivities interact with our universe. <BR/><BR/>Once you've gotten that far, introduce this alien to a human and it's guaranteed that sparks will fly. <BR/><BR/>That's Hal Clement's method.<BR/><BR/>Now, Poul Anderson's shortcut is one I find most useful and that produces books I like to read.<BR/><BR/>Study today's plants and animals, and especially how reproduction is practiced among them (and the physical reasons why it works that way). <BR/><BR/>Take one of Earth's animals and give it intelligence, and watch its instincts and its philosophy conflict until it produces a civilization.<BR/><BR/>Imagine for example intelligent snails. Ever seen snails mate? <BR/><BR/>Civilization is really all about making a safe home where reproduction and child rearing can happen in peace and plenty. That's the objective of every mortal civilization we've ever known -- reproduce and if you're lucky become immortal (by religion or reputation or other means).<BR/><BR/>If our basic reproductive biology were otherwise, what would be our differences. <BR/><BR/>Jacqueline Lichtenberg<BR/>http://www.simegen.com/jl/Jacqueline Lichtenberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01613040740264804278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26974492.post-1154994746100358652006-08-07T19:52:00.000-04:002006-08-07T19:52:00.000-04:00I've said that speculative romance requires the au...I've said that speculative romance requires the author to ask "what if" twice<BR/><BR/>Science fiction asks "what if humans break the light speed barrier and encounter interstellar aliens."<BR/><BR/>SFR must ask "what if humans break the light speed barrier and encounter interstellar aliens, AND what if the human captain and the alien captain fall in love."Joyce Ellen Armondhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07765556689124541390noreply@blogger.com