Need some inspiration for your next science fiction short story? Check out these resources.
Science fiction is a remarkable genre of literature. It allows both writers and readers to consider profound aspects of the human condition in relation to emerging technologies, the fragility of our continued existence, and the nature of our place within the vast universe. Of course, science fiction can just as easily serve as the foundation for a delightful bout of escapism in a fun and futuristic world. However you like your science fiction served up—space opera, robotic, apocalyptic, military, or even humorous—a science fiction short story demands a technological element.
While many of the best science fiction writers come from backgrounds rooted in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields, this is not always the case. And it certainly does not mean that someone outside of those realms cannot try their hand at crafting a science fiction short story. Of course, whatever you do, you should always strive to make the science and technology aspects of your fiction plausible, or at least in line with current conventions of data-derived facts and accepted scientific principles. This will require research on your part, especially if you aim to describe scenarios otherwise unfamiliar to you.
Science fiction is inherently tied to the unknown and the unambiguous. For writers, it can even be an exercise in predicting the future. So from a creativity standpoint, it can sometimes be difficult for a writer to find a spark of inspiration for developing their story. With that in mind, here are three websites that I frequent, primarily because I enjoy browsing through articles related to emerging technologies and scientific theory. But I’ve found that they’re also great sources of inspiration for crafting a science fiction short story. Check them out below, and hopefully you can discover some inspiration.
ScienceMag.org
ScienceMag.org is the online home of the journals produced by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. These include the flagship journal, Science, as well as others that focus on topics like Robotics, Immunology, and others. You can sign up to become a member and order individual issues of the various journals. But the organization generously provides a lot of content for free online. Here’s a fascinating article on a group of researchers utilizing “sentinel trees” to warn of potential threats from invading insect species to native ecosystems.
PNAS.org
This is the home of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. The quality of their articles, reports, and papers are second-to-none. There’s a subscription service available in both print and digital formats. But for those who want to take a test drive of what PNAS has to offer, you can access nearly all of the organization’s content that’s older than six months at no cost. For example, here’s an article about NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft investigating a primordial Kuiper Belt Object (KBO).
Engadget (Tomorrow)
Engadget’s bread-and-butter content is its reviews of consumer gadgets and personal tech. But it also features one section that’s worth checking out for news coming out of the scientific community in an easily digestible format. The ‘Tomorrow’ section features several short news stories per day, with topics ranging from the advancement of personal communication devices to breakthroughs in medical technology.
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