: Re: Writing a novel largely composed of question-answer sessions I am a novice writer, just starting on a mini novel in the Science Fiction genre. The crux of the novel is about 4 or 5 discussions

@Kristi637

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Plato's Dialogues are the paradigmatic example of philosophical arguments in the form of fictionalized conversations, but no one reads them for the plot. More recently, Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World is a famous attempt to dramatize a general introduction to philosophy in the form of a novel (although opinions are mixed as to how well it succeeds in either goal).

For my own personal list of favorite books where weighty philosophical topics are integrated into the action (more or less successfully), I'd try the following:

Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The Brothers Karamazov: One of the most justly famous philosophical novels of all time --it combines a soap opera plotline with long intense theological arguments.

Neal Stephenson - Ananthem: The majority of the book manages to be compelling while following a cloister of philosophically inclined monks and their arguments. The book moves towards a more action-oriented narrative at the end, a move I personally found to be unfortunate.

David Zindell - Neverness: The book dramatizes a number of abstract mathematical and theological concepts. In my opinion, one of the more successful integrations of philosophy with plot.

Samuel Delaney - Dhalgren: A lurid and surreal exploration of topics around race, sexuality, identity, reality, sanity and aesthetics. Brilliant, but notoriously difficult to read and understand.

Lewis Carroll - Sylvie & Bruno: A dizzying postmodern mashup of philosophy, romance, fairy tale and whimsy, less integrated than simply chopped together.

Russell Hoban - The Mouse and His Child: A deceptively deep meditation on the existential push towards self actualization, in the presence of fate and the infinite, all as presented in the form of a children's fairy tale.

Walker Percy's - The Moviegoer: The integration of several core themes from proto-existentialist philosopher Kierkegaard into a single unified dramatic narrative plotline.

Finally, not novels, but Waking Life and My Dinner With Andre are well-known movies that revolve almost entirely around philosophical monologues.

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