: Re: How can I dig conflict out of an optimistic SF-nal premise? I frequently have ideas for what could be called "optimistic" science-fiction premises - imaginary technological or social changes which

So, here's the deal: all fiction, even speculative SF, is at its root about character. It's not abnormal to not see any good conflict before you populate a world. So... I say populate it. Create a protagonist, make up a cool backstory for them, think of someone who might be diametrically opposed to this person and create them, and you might just be on your way from there.

That being said, there is a large subgenre of SF which deals with dystopic futures (side note: I never liked that phrase, as the original Utopia as in the book by Thomas More is itself a dystopia) which are based largely on taking a current cultural meme - let's say, software piracy - and taking it to its logical conclusion. In that kind of writing the conflict seems to just emanate from the milieu. If that's what you're interested in creating, then yeah, there is probably a deeper issue with your world.

If this is your issue, one thing you might try is picking up a copy of Shock and playing it against yourself. It's sort of "made" to be a 3 player game but with a little creativity you can take on all 3 player characters yourself. Using a story-game as an idea-making exercise is kind of starting to become a thing.

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: Re: How can I dig conflict out of an optimistic SF-nal premise? I frequently have ideas for what could be called "optimistic" science-fiction premises - imaginary technological or social changes which

More posts by @Smith147

: Describing common hand gestures While writing stories how do I describe the action of common hand gestures, for instance the "come on" signal. Is there any reference? I found a list of hand

: Is it necessary to make clear "when" an event occur in a flashback? Few examples: Saki first became aware of her sixth finger at the age of five. Her aunt had come to visit the house

: Writing an effective summary for a story I just published my first short story at Amazon. Although many people downloaded it while in its free promotion days, no one has purchased it yet. People

: Making a female character sound more boyish/masculine There are two characters in the following dialogue. One of them (Yuki) is a tomboy. She has short hair, dresses like a man, and likes girls.

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