What is a "Story?" (SF or otherwise.)

A character with a problem.

Every story is about a character trying to deal with some sort of difficulty. Characters who have happy lives, who are content withtheir lot, and who have achieved their goals are not good fodder forfiction. The people we read about are people in trouble.

The central problem.

Most genre stories can be thought of as revolving around somecentral problem, or problems. The central problem(s) can beconsidered to be, in some sense, what the story is "about." Will themystery be solved? Will the protagonist survive? Will the rebellionsucceed?

Begin with a crisis...

Whatever the length you're dealing with, short story or novel, you want to begin with a character in crisis. The reader should findcharacters in difficulty within the first chapter, the first page, andideally, the first paragraph. Structurally, it may not be possible tohave the story's main problem begin on the first page, but everystory should begin with some problem, often with the first line.

...end with a resolution.

If the story is organized around a single central problem, it endsnaturally when you've resolved that problem. If the story deals witha series or complex of problems, it ends when the last problem isdealt with, or when all the problems identified as most important — 1 —

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On Plot

are solved. A story can persist as long as there are problems todeal with.

What makes a Story SF?

The central problem and its context.

A story is SF when the central problem dealt with by thecharacters is a science-fictional idea, or when the central problemis resolved by science-fictional means. This means that if the SFelements are removed from the story, either the central problem, orits resolution, will cease to exist, causing the story to collapse.

"If it's a western, it ain't SF."

It is by no means a consensus, but there is a large body of thoughtthat says that a story has to have more than an SF setting to beSF. In other words, if the characters and plot can be successfullytransplanted to a non-SF setting, it isn't really SF. If all you'redoing is setting a western in a post-apocalyptic setting, you'reprobably better of simply writing a western.

What is Plot?

Cause and effect. Stimulus and response.

Plot is the structure of events within a story and the causalrelationship between them. There is no plot without causality."Captain Stronghead piloted his spacecraft to Proxima Centauri," isan event with no plot. "Captain Stronghead piloted his spacecraftto Proxima Centauri in order to escape the despotic regime onEarth," has the beginning of a plot.

The causal chain.

The plot of a story is a chain of events, each event the result of some prior events, and the cause of some subsequent events. Theplot of a story will extend beyond the bounds of the story itself.

How does Plot develop?

Things get worse.

Up until the resolution of the story's central problem (or up untilthe resolution of the most dire of the story's problems) thesituation should steadily get worse— or more difficult— for theprotagonist. Even if the protagonist's situation objectivelyimproves, which happens in many "rags to riches" stories, theforces arrayed against the character should grow comparably inmagnitude. If the protagonist picks up a bat, the antagonist should — 2 —

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On Plot

pick up a knife. If the protagonist picks up a knife, the antagonistshould pick up a gun.

The active protagonist.

Not only should the difficulties increase steadily until the climaticmoment when the central problem(s) are resolved, but thedifficulties should be increased as a result of positive action by theprotagonist. Your characters should not sit by and watch the worldfall apart, doing nothing. The characters in your story should havean active part in destroying the world around them. Every attemptto solve a problem should make the problem worse, or create anew, more tenacious, problem. Problems can worsen withoutinterference by the characters, but the characters should alwaysbe doing something about the problem(s), and what the charactersdo should worsen— or at the very least, change— the problem(s)they are trying to solve.

Complicate, Complicate, Complicate

Things getting worse is not a matter of simply increasing themagnitude of the problem. (Discovery of the fact that the asteroidabout to hit Earth is 1500km across rather than 500km across.) Things getting worse in a story sense means a proliferation of newproblems rippling from the old. (The realization that the technicalfailures in the escape spacecraft are the result of sabotage.)Complication means that the problem the characters were trying tosolve is not quite the same as the problem they actually face.

Character as Plot.

Motivations, desires, goals.

Since plot is not just event, but the casual relationships betweenevents, plot can not be isolated from character. Characters dothings for reasons, and those reasons form an indispensableelement of plot. Every character in a story desires things to varyingdegrees, and has personal goals in mind, some of which may nothave anything to do with the central problems of a story. Whateverthese desires and goals are, they form the basis for yourcharacter's motivation to act. You want the characters within yourstory to be acting from these desires and goals, and not from theexternal demands of the plot.

Conflict with others.

A great source of difficulty for your characters is when theirpersonal drives are at odds with the central problem in the story. Aman whose highest ambition in life is to live a quiet life and raise a — 3 —