Soft sci-fi...?

Question

First short question:
If you are trying to come up with ideas for a soft sci-fi book but are not a scientist or professor like you see questions about often, is it a sensible idea to write down what events you would like major science in and then research briefly to get an idea?

Second question:
Once you have come up with events that you would like to happen (I want a war or I want this type of ship etc) and reasons for why this character is doing what and why this has to be resolved etc, should you start typing straight away without any major structure to get one big bulge of ideas down in a short story, then fill in the gaps once you are clear about every detail for your plot, which will in the end turn out as the novel you wanted? Or plan, plan, plan, then type, type, type?

Hope people can help - also, feel free to add any other ideas, tips etc as well as answering a question; will be appreciated.

Answer 1

Try to come up with a main character for your story. Write down a description - science field, male, female, eye color, etc. etc.

Then take this character and imagine then in some odd place or scientific scenario – anything goes! Write down ideas on what would have to happen to your character or how they would react to the scenario you placed them in.

You can do this for multiple characters if you like.

This may seem futile, but it will help you flesh out some characters and give you insight into what you may want to happen to this type of character in a potential story. You may even come up with multiple story lines!

Strong well crafted main characters can inspire readers to love your story as well as drive you to write a great story for these imagined beings to be in! :-)

Answer 2

I think a outline (that is what you described) is very important for *any* writing that one attempts to do.

It is a list of events, things, happenings that you want to take place in the storyline. Many scenes (descriptions) between the major events forms the plot of the story.