Sci-Fi Origins
This book is credited as the first true science fiction novel, focusing on scientific creation and its consequences.
What is Frankenstein by Mary Shelley?
This genre of story usually combines science and technology with critiques on human society.
What is science fiction?
This term refers to the main character in a story.
What is the protagonist?
This term refers to the physical environment where a story takes place.
What is the setting?
What is the future?
Science Fiction is closely related to these other two genres.
What are fantasy and horror?
This literary device involves hints or clues about what will happen later in the story.
What is foreshadowing?
This term refers to the main character in a story.
What is the antagonist?
In a dystopian setting, society is usually characterized by these two qualities.
What are oppression and fear?
This trope involves traveling to the past or future, often in a machine or portal.
What is time travel?
These two subgenres for Sci-Fi emphasize different things: one focuses on scientific accuracy and the other focuses on social sciences.
What are hard and soft science fiction?
The emotional high point or turning point of a story, often leading to the resolution.
What is the climax?
This term refers to a character that undergoes significant development.
What is a dynamic character?
This type of Sci-Fi story is often set in vast, expansive universes with interstellar travel, space battles, and complex political or military conflicts.
What is a space opera?
This trope refers to humans merging with technology, often resulting in cybernetic enhancements.
What is genetic modification or cyborgs?
This 1965 novel by Frank Herbert, which takes place on the desert planet Arrakis, is one of the best-selling sci-fi novels of all time.
What is Dune?
In storytelling, this is the term for events that disrupt the normal world and begin the main plot.
What is the inciting incident?
This is a character whose qualities contrast with another character, often highlighting particular traits.
What is a foil?
This type of Sci-Fi setting depicts an idealized, advanced society where technology has eliminated poverty, crime, and suffering - though often with underlying conflicts or ethical dilemmas.
What is a utopian future?
This is a plot device that is commonly used to allow characters to travel across galaxies easily and without aging.
What is faster-than-light travel?
While many ancient stories contain science fiction elements, the modern Sci-Fi genre only developed following this time period that describes a series of major discoveries in astronomy, physics, and mathematics from 1543 to 1687.
What is the scientific revolution?
This term refers to an unexpected, improbable twist that suddenly solves all the story's conflicts.
What is deus ex machina?
What are backstory, personality traits, goals and motivations, character flaws, appearance, and relationships?
This term refers to consistent rules and limitations within a fictional world’s magical or technological systems.
What is internal logic?
This trope refers to the idea that intelligent life existed a long time ago.
What is ancient advanced civilizations?