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  • Charlie Strosscstross@wandering.shop
    Oct 17, 2026, 9:14 AM

    #WritersCoffeeClub 17th Oct ~ What are the defining traits of your niche in your genre?

    I try to occupy several niches simultaneously! But what my SF/F has in common is, it proposes certain changes to how the universe works, asks "what are the second-order consequences?" then bounces the characters off them to see what happens next. Usually 2-5 significant changes per setting, too, not just one thing.

    Shorter version: exploring ideas and their consequences.

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Replies

  • Wojciech Pisarskiwpisarski@fosstodon.org
    Oct 17, 2026, 9:47 AM

    @cstross I wish we had more specific language for that. Labeling something just "S-F" or any variation of it term means very little. You may get "<genre>, but in space" (which is valid and completely fine thing to write and read!) or you can get "ideas and consequences", but it is much more rare.

    I was disappointed so many times before I learned the difference and how to spot the latter.

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  • WellsiteGeoWellsiteGeo@masto.ai
    Oct 17, 2026, 10:41 AM

    @cstross
    I know you don't like him, but Larry Niven proposed a firm (not absolute) limit of 6 changes to the universe, before injecting characters to the new pinball table of "reality".

    (Boosterspice ; hyperdrive ; invulnerable(-ish) hulls ; gravity control ; pocket fusion / big batteries. I think that's the Known Space list.)

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  • Charlie Strosscstross@wandering.shop
    Oct 17, 2026, 10:51 AM

    @WellsiteGeo Niven added a bunch more stuff that made it less than realistic, but didn’t make his radar because he habitually underestimated the difficulty of life sciences: his organ transplant tech is frankly ludicrous, "autodocs" likewise (it’s an sAI-complete problem), and then we get into his aliens. (Never mind his overuse of ramscoops.)

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  • WellsiteGeoWellsiteGeo@masto.ai
    Oct 17, 2026, 11:22 AM

    @cstross True on the autodocs.
    The ramscoop idea is wildly optimistic on the density of the ISM, but only "bends" the laws of physics.
    (I've felt bones bend under such strains, and been really glad to not meet the cave rescue that afternoon.)
    OK, it's pretty ludicrous on the magnetic fields too. It might work on plasmas, but if they condense to a neutral cloud ... Which the Pak war in the second half of Protector suggests he understood. But he already had hyperdrive in-universe by then.

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  • Blue Catdarthcat@mastodon.social
    Oct 18, 2026, 8:16 PM

    @cstross is there any author you like (and would recommend) doing similar things? I really like your style (and books).

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