I keep trying to write romantic sf rather than a sf romance. I think it's a consequence of knowing too many astrophysicists. I've stopped watching sf action flicks with them because they invariably get shushed every five minutes for outbursts about the lousy science, or they just howl with laughter the whole way through.
So although I'd never let said physicists within a ten-meter radius of my writing, I feel the need to make the science at least plausible. Else I can hear that laughter in my head. And there are so many dominos once you decide some piece of technology is available: other fields of tech which should be on par, societal changes, and, of course, the plot.
I spent days figuring out some of the futuristic aspects of one story, only to realize that I'd neglected the poor hero and heroine's relationship. As much as I've complained about books where the first glance between the two sets mercury a-risin' and pulses a-racin' having all the subtlety of safes a-fallin' on heads, this approach provides momentum for the characters. Once they've had a whiff of that kind of attraction, they're not going to calmly go through the rest of the story saving the world; they'll need to go rip each other's clothes off at some point. But if I let things happen more gradually, then apparently I am quite capable of letting any chemistry fade away in the urgency of external conflicts. Both require pacing.
So I'll just go rachet up the heat a bit, shall I?
Leave a comment