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5 Sci-FI Writing Prompts Based on Novums

Science fiction stories typically arise from a novum, a scientifically plausible concept that is a “reality” in the tale. The novum might be an mechanical device like robot servants, artificial intelligence, or faster-than-light spacecraft; it also can be a hypothetical idea such as “The Earth is a scientific experiment run by aliens to determine the meaning of life” or “The government outlaws books.” The author then asks “What if?” exploring how the world with this novum is different than ours.

Among the problems of many novice science fiction writers is instead of introducing a new novum they rely on used furniture – that is, they borrow novums from popular SF series. After all, how many novels have you read that use starships exploring the galaxy for the Earth-based Federation? Barely changing names to appear as if you are not appropriating – a starcraft seeking M-class worlds for the Earth-centered Alliance – still doesn’t cut it as original or fully using the potential that science fiction offers to examine our culture or humanity.

To help SF writers, here are some novums of potential near-future inventions from which stories could be built:

Biotic arches
What if cities built 30-story skyscrapers, consisting of four curved vertical sections that joined at the top and consisted primarily of botanical gardens, to absorb local carbon emissions? How many of these would have to be built to make a dent in global warming?

Epsilon Indi A colonization
What if interstellar travelers set up a colony on a planet orbiting this nearby K-type star? Because the star system is quite young – less than a billion years old – there’s no oxygen on any planet in the habitable zone. http://ourstellarneighborhood.blogspot.com/2007/07/epsilon-indi-abc.html

Tachyon communication
What if, to shorten the distance that signals must travel is space, communications were sent on beams of tachyon particles that can travel faster than the speed of light? How does such a communication system revolutionize settlement of the solar system?

Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket
What if we actually are able to develop this revolutionary space propulsion system, which would reduce trips to Mars to 39 days in the best-case scenario? How does this alter our ability to colonize the solar system?

Zettaflop computing
What if a computer is finally able to have the processing power of a zettaflop (1021 floating point operations per second)? On-chip photonic communication and memristor memory techniques may be required for this breakthrough.

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.

Write Out There: 5 SciFi Writing Prompts

Science fiction stories typically arise from a novum, a scientifically plausible concept that is a “reality” in the tale. The novum might be an mechanical device like robot servants, artificial intelligence, or faster-than-light spacecraft; it also can be a hypothetical idea such as “The Earth is a scientific experiment run by aliens to determine the meaning of life” or “The government outlaws books.” The author then asks “What if?” exploring how the world with this novum is different than ours.

Among the problems of many novice science fiction writers is instead of introducing a new novum they rely on used furniture – that is, they borrow novums from popular SF series. After all, how many novels have you read that use starships exploring the galaxy for the Earth-based Federation? Barely changing names to appear as if you are not appropriating – a starcraft seeking M-class worlds for the Earth-centered Alliance – still doesn’t cut it as original or fully using the potential that science fiction offers to examine our culture or humanity.

To help SF writers, here are some novums of potential near-future inventions from which stories could be built:

Artificial pancreas
What if a device, via algorithms and dietary input, could program hormone treatments to ensure personalized care for those who need a new pancreas? Will this be an intermediary solution until pancreases can be grown from stem cells or cloned as replacements?

Plasma-based aircraft
What if plasma-based tech were used to improve aircraft efficiency by reducing drag and heating? Plasma shot out in front of the aircraft literally would punch a hole in the atmosphere as it flew at supersonic speeds.

Quantum probes
What if hundreds of millions of marble-sized probes, capable of repairing and reconfiguring themselves, were sent into interstellar space to explore for us, due to the limitations that the many light speed barrier places on our bodies and large spacecraft? Will the probes’ evolving purpose remain the same as the human creators’ reason for launching them?

61 Cygni AB colonization
What if a habitable planet were found around each star of this binary star system and settled by interstellar colonists? What relationship would evolve between these two planets and how does it parallel a current interconnection on Earth?

Skyscraper airports
With the advent of carbon nanofibers, what if airports could be elevated on platforms 15 stories above ground with the terminals, offices and other airport facilities on floors below the top where airplanes land and take off? What would be the advantages of a raised airport?

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.

5 Fantastic Science Fiction Novums

Science fiction stories typically arise from a novum, a scientifically plausible concept that is a “reality” in the tale. The novum might be an mechanical device like robot servants, artificial intelligence, or faster-than-light spacecraft; it also can be a hypothetical idea such as “The Earth is a scientific experiment run by aliens to determine the meaning of life” or “The government outlaws books.” The author then asks “What if?” exploring how the world with this novum is different than ours.

Among the problems of many novice science fiction writers is instead of introducing a new novum they rely on used furniture – that is, they borrow novums from popular SF series. After all, how many novels have you read that use starships exploring the galaxy for the Earth-based Federation? Barely changing names to appear as if you are not appropriating – a starcraft seeking M-class worlds for the Earth-centered Alliance – still doesn’t cut it as original or fully using the potential that science fiction offers to examine our culture or humanity.

To help SF writers, here are some novums of potential near-future inventions from which stories could be built:

Drone hives
What if drones, which are ubiquitous is so many aspects of our lives – taxis, security patrols, ambulances, weather/pollution monitoring, and more – could dock on the side of a skyscraper called a hive, where robots maintain and program them for their various missions? How would this hive affect the lives of people in a city?

Epsilon Eridani colonization
What if a future interstellar expedition settled the asteroids of the inner dust ring orbiting this nearby star? What challenges would the colonists face in a system with no planets boasting an oxygen atmosphere and a star that is slightly dimmer than ours? http://ourstellarneighborhood.blogspot.com/2007/07/epsilon-eridani.html

Iron seeding
What if to reduce global warming, the oceans were seeded with iron to stimulate plankton growth, as these organisms remove carbon dioxide (the main cause of global warming) from our atmosphere? How will the resulting increased acidity of the oceans affect ecosystems?

Quantum cloud
What if all of the information for our Internet was stored and manipulated on the quantum substrate of space itself? How does this change the way we access and interact with information?

UV exposure monitor
What if you could wear a patch that changes color to tell when you’ve been exposed to too much sunlight on the beach or whenever outside? Under what scenario would this become a necessity in our population?

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.

5 Great Science Fiction Novum Writing Prompts

Science fiction stories typically arise from a novum, a scientifically plausible concept that is a “reality” in the tale. The novum might be an mechanical device like robot servants, artificial intelligence, or faster-than-light spacecraft; it also can be a hypothetical idea such as “The Earth is a scientific experiment run by aliens to determine the meaning of life” or “The government outlaws books.” The author then asks “What if?” exploring how the world with this novum is different than ours.

Among the problems of many novice science fiction writers is instead of introducing a new novum they rely on used furniture – that is, they borrow novums from popular SF series. After all, how many novels have you read that use starships exploring the galaxy for the Earth-based Federation? Barely changing names to appear as if you are not appropriating – a starcraft seeking M-class worlds for the Earth-centered Alliance – still doesn’t cut it as original or fully using the potential that science fiction offers to examine our culture or humanity.

To help SF writers, here are some novums of potential near-future inventions from which stories could be built:

Artificial flesh
Rather than eat meat from actual animals, what if it was “grown” in large cell cultures at factories? Will this increase consumption of meat or further decrease its intake over the years?

Canada, Global Superpower
What if climate change leads to massive migration northward, propelling Canada with its borders on three oceans and free trade with the United States, to global superpower status by 2100? How does this alter the world geopolitical situation?

Infrasynthesis
What if devices could capture infrared radiation, which then converts carbon dioxide in our atmosphere into graphite, as part of an effort to fight global warming? How does the invention and possession of such devices shift the geopolitical balance?

Ocean wind farms
What if Western Europe and several other island and coastal countries receive the majority of their electrical power from wind turbines placed in offshore in the various seas or oceans near their borders? What affect does this have on the ecosystem and how does it make these countries vulnerable to attack?

Printed food
What if kitchens were equipped with a 3D printer that could make food like bread, pretzels or even pizzas? How does this alter people’s diets and health (à la the microwave oven of the 1970s)?

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.

5 Novum Science Fiction Writing Prompts

Science fiction stories typically arise from a novum, a scientifically plausible concept that is a “reality” in the tale. The novum might be an mechanical device like robot servants, artificial intelligence, or faster-than-light spacecraft; it also can be a hypothetical idea such as “The Earth is a scientific experiment run by aliens to determine the meaning of life” or “The government outlaws books.” The author then asks “What if?” exploring how the world with this novum is different than ours.

Among the problems of many novice science fiction writers is instead of introducing a new novum they rely on used furniture – that is, they borrow novums from popular SF series. After all, how many novels have you read that use starships exploring the galaxy for the Earth-based Federation? Barely changing names to appear as if you are not appropriating – a starcraft seeking M-class worlds for the Earth-centered Alliance – still doesn’t cut it as original or fully using the potential that science fiction offers to examine our culture or humanity.

To help SF writers, here are some novums of potential near-future inventions from which stories could be built:

Machine-favored communication
What happens to our social systems when most communication is human-to-machines rather than human-to-human? How do individual perspectives of other human beings change when we rarely have to interact with one another?

Ocean mining
What if the technology were developed to make mining of the sea floor feasible? Silver, gold, copper, manganese, cobalt, and zinc all exist at the bottom of ocean in larger concentrations than on land.

Reincarnated facsimiles
What if through artificial intelligence and DNA sampling we could “reincarnate” people, that is create facsimiles of people who are now dead? What would be the rights of such people in a society?

Robot insect swarms
What if flying, insect-sized robots could work in coordinated swarms to conduct searches for missing children, to destroy real insects attacking crops, to identify gas leaks, and more? How does this affect people’s views that man has “dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth” (Genesis 1:26-28)?

Ugly cloaks
What if metamaterials with light and sound bending materials advance to the point that we use them to hide large, unsightly areas such as construction sites, open pit mines, landfills, and so on? How does this blurring of the real and the digital alter perceptions of various social and political issues?

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.

Five Writing Prompts for Science Fiction

Science fiction stories typically arise from a novum, a scientifically plausible concept that is a “reality” in the tale. The novum might be an mechanical device like robot servants, artificial intelligence, or faster-than-light spacecraft; it also can be a hypothetical idea such as “The Earth is a scientific experiment run by aliens to determine the meaning of life” or “The government outlaws books.” The author then asks “What if?” exploring how the world with this novum is different than ours.

Among the problems of many novice science fiction writers is instead of introducing a new novum they rely on used furniture – that is, they borrow novums from popular SF series. After all, how many novels have you read that use starships exploring the galaxy for the Earth-based Federation? Barely changing names to appear as if you are not appropriating – a starcraft seeking M-class worlds for the Earth-centered Alliance – still doesn’t cut it as original or fully using the potential that science fiction offers to examine our culture or humanity.

To help SF writers, here are some novums of potential near-future inventions from which stories could be built:

Artificial antibiotics
What is we engineered artificial microorganisms to serve as antibiotics? Would such microorganisms be better or worse than using nanites to fight disease?

Barnard’s Star colonization
What if Barnard’s Star, an old red dwarf that in 9000 years will be closer to the Sun than Alpha Centauri, had a habitable planet that humans can colonize? The planet would be tidally locked and orbit its star every 5-22 days. 

Emotion sharing
What if while viewing a photo, through direct brain stimulation, you also could experience the emotion that the photo-taker intended? How does society balance the bonding and creative potential of such sharing with the potential for mind control and manipulation by politicians and marketers?

Problem-solving games
What if video games become collaborative efforts to solve problems – breaking genomes of new pathogens, locating natural resources, dancing on a pad to generate energy – rather than competitive in nature (that is, human vs. human)? When world problems become “fun,” how does this change the dynamic of human and cultural relationships?

Senses upgrade
What if humans could receive implants that allows their brains to safely detect electromagnetic radiation outside of their senses, such as radio waves, infrared, ultraviolet, and X-rays? What laws would have to be passed to prevent people from committing crimes against people with upgraded senses?

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.

5 Science Fiction Prompts, Storystarters

Science fiction stories typically arise from a novum, a scientifically plausible concept that is a “reality” in the tale. The novum might be an mechanical device like robot servants, artificial intelligence, or faster-than-light spacecraft; it also can be a hypothetical idea such as “The Earth is a scientific experiment run by aliens to determine the meaning of life” or “The government outlaws books.” The author then asks “What if?” exploring how the world with this novum is different than ours.

Among the problems of many novice science fiction writers is instead of introducing a new novum they rely on used furniture – that is, they borrow novums from popular SF series. After all, how many novels have you read that use starships exploring the galaxy for the Earth-based Federation? Barely changing names to appear as if you are not appropriating – a starcraft seeking M-class worlds for the Earth-centered Alliance – still doesn’t cut it as original or fully using the potential that science fiction offers to examine our culture or humanity.

To help SF writers, here are some novums of potential near-future inventions from which stories could be built:

Artificial blood
What if there was no need for donors as blood could be created artificially for transfusions? How does this change medical care and the lives of those who regularly donate blood for profit?

Hypersonic missiles
What if modern missile systems deployed by the world’s powers largely were hypersonic, meaning they can travel faster than 6000 miles per hour? How does this threat change the balance of power?

Injectable brain implants
What if doctors could alter neurons, via injectable brain implants, to treat mental disorders and brain damage? How does this affect the discussion about what is “normal”?

Mini Ice Age
Solar activity could decrease by about 1 percent in the 2030s, ushering in a mini Ice Age, similar to what gripped Europe during 1645–1715. How does this affect people’s daily lives as geopolitical power shifts?

Robotic sex partners
What if robots were sold as sexual partners? How would this affect male-female relationships?

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.

5 Fantastic Sci-Fi Writing Prompts

Science fiction stories typically arise from a novum, a scientifically plausible concept that is a “reality” in the tale. The novum might be an mechanical device like robot servants, artificial intelligence, or faster-than-light spacecraft; it also can be a hypothetical idea such as “The Earth is a scientific experiment run by aliens to determine the meaning of life” or “The government outlaws books.” The author then asks “What if?” exploring how the world with this novum is different than ours.

Among the problems of many novice science fiction writers is instead of introducing a new novum they rely on used furniture – that is, they borrow novums from popular SF series. After all, how many novels have you read that use starships exploring the galaxy for the Earth-based Federation? Barely changing names to appear as if you are not appropriating – a starcraft seeking M-class worlds for the Earth-centered Alliance – still doesn’t cut it as original or fully using the potential that science fiction offers to examine our culture or humanity.

To help SF writers, here are some novums of potential near-future inventions from which stories could be built:

Alpha Centauri colonized
What if humanity colonized an Earth-like planet orbiting Alpha Centauri B? A planet could exist in a habitable zone just slightly farther than Venus is from the Sun.

Green walls
What if to fight land degradation nations planted wide lines of drought-resistant trees to form a green wall hundreds of miles long? What would have to be done to make this a reality in desert countries of Africa or in China?

Laser harp
What if 16 laser beams in a 4-yard square grid hooked to a computer could be played as a musical instrument when the player interacts with the beams? Different sounds are made as the voltage varies.

Male contraceptive pills
What if men also could take pills to prevent pregnancy? How does this change sexual mores?

Near-infrared goggles
What if this device were developed to help surgeons view cancer cells and see tumors as small as 1 mm? What other applications could there be for this technology?

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.

5 SF Novum-Oriented Writing Prompts

Science fiction stories typically arise from a novum, a scientifically plausible concept that is a “reality” in the tale. The novum might be an mechanical device like robot servants, artificial intelligence, or faster-than-light spacecraft; it also can be a hypothetical idea such as “The Earth is a scientific experiment run by aliens to determine the meaning of life” or “The government outlaws books.” The author then asks “What if?” exploring how the world with this novum is different than ours.

Among the problems of many novice science fiction writers is instead of introducing a new novum they rely on used furniture – that is, they borrow novums from popular SF series. After all, how many novels have you read that use starships exploring the galaxy for the Earth-based Federation? Barely changing names to appear as if you are not appropriating – a starcraft seeking M-class worlds for the Earth-centered Alliance – still doesn’t cut it as original or fully using the potential that science fiction offers to examine our culture or humanity.

To help SF writers, here are some novums of potential near-future inventions from which stories could be built:

Diamond nanothread
Tetrahedrally-bonded carbon crystalline nanomaterial – similar in structure to diamonds but only a few atoms wide – will revolutionize construction and architecture, being far stronger than concrete or steel. What other applications might this material have?

Instant checkout
What if instead of scanning every object one by one, simply pushing a cart through a scan beam would automatically ring up all items? How else might this technology be applied?

Mega-skyscrapers
With carbon nanotubes and diamond nanothreads, skyscrapers will soar far higher than today’s structures. They’ll also be able to go far deeper into the earth – up to 25 stories below ground.

RFID truant officers
What if attendance at school were taken by Radio Frequency Identification technology? How would some clever students get around the use of such tags and even profit from their knowledge?

Tissue nanotransfection
What if a coin-sized silicon chip could deliver genetic code to skin cells, transforming it into cells needed to treat a condition or illness? How would this change medical care and first-aid kits? What if the chip malfunctioned?

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.

5 Novums for Science Fiction Writing Prompts

Science fiction stories typically arise from a novum, a scientifically plausible concept that is a “reality” in the tale. The novum might be an mechanical device like robot servants, artificial intelligence, or faster-than-light spacecraft; it also can be a hypothetical idea such as “The Earth is a scientific experiment run by aliens to determine the meaning of life” or “The government outlaws books.” The author then asks “What if?” exploring how the world with this novum is different than ours.

Among the problems of many novice science fiction writers is instead of introducing a new novum they rely on used furniture – that is, they borrow novums from popular SF series. After all, how many novels have you read that use starships exploring the galaxy for the Earth-based Federation? Barely changing names to appear as if you are not appropriating – a starcraft seeking M-class worlds for the Earth-centered Alliance – still doesn’t cut it as original or fully using the potential that science fiction offers to examine our culture or humanity.

To help SF writers, here are some novums of potential near-future inventions from which stories could be built:

Helium-3 mining
What if Helium-3 were mined on the moon to power nuclear fusion reactors on Earth? How would this operation function?

Hypersonic vactrains
What if maglev trains and pneumatic tubes were combined to create a fast, new transportation system that connected major cities? The fastest train could reach speeds of 4000 mph, compared to 300 mph for maglev trains.

Picotechnology
What if picotechnology – technology on the scale of trillionths of a meter (far smaller than nanotechnology) becomes practical and everyday? How will manipulation of the structure of atoms themselves change our lives?

Three languages left
What if globalization leaves the world with only three languages – English, Mandarin and Spanish? How does this affect political systems and culture?

Tropical cyclones in the Mediterranean
With global warming, by the 2060s tropical cyclones become common in the Mediterranean, wreaking havoc among coastal communities and major population centers. What steps will those cities and nations take to deal with the problem?

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.