Posts Tagged ‘ Draft

How to Write and Publish Science Fiction Books in 5 Simple and Easy Steps

Writing and publishing science fiction is no doubt a challenging task. Here are some helpful guidelines that will help you write an award winning science fiction story and publish it successfully.

Step 1: First draft and structure

A science fiction book should be structured in three portions: the opening, the middle and the climax. Once you develop your story idea, you need to back it up with any necessary research. Thereafter, you just have to draft your ideas on paper. High doses of imagination are the chief imperative for a triumphant science fiction book.

Make an attempt at uplifting your readers from the prosaic insipidity of mundane routine life with your book. Try to maintain suspense in each chapter of the book to make the story line gripping. Leave the reader to indulge in speculations over imponderable tension situations. Sketch each character of the story clearly tracing his past, his present and his eventual destiny.

Keep in mind that good science fiction has plausible elements. Science fiction takes existing technology and expands upon it. If your ideas are too far-reaching or beyond average comprehension, your work will not resonate with readers.

Step 2: Evaluation by peers

Your initial draft needs to be reviewed by several of your peers. They will serve not just as proof readers, but will help you identify fragment story lines, situations that are not plausible, plots that don’t make sense, and characters that are too unrealistic. Science fiction is based on the suspension of disbelief, but that disbelief can only be stretched so far.

Online workshops like Critters.org provide useful advice and evaluation. You can also join your local library critique workshop. Workshops allow you to get the book draft read by multiple persons resulting in more comprehensive feedback. By supplying you the opportunity to critique other’s books they help you hone your writing mettle.

Step 3: The final draft

After evaluation by your peers, you need to edit your draft to tie up loose ends and do away with the fallacies pointed out by your evaluators. Eliminate the imperceptible details and abridge the final version to provide a taut narrative. In case you face a creativity block it would be prudent to stash the book in a shelf for a few days and engage yourself with something else. Once you are revivified you can complete your blurb with renewed zeal. If major changes have been made to the work, it should be reevaluated by your peers.

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A Fun Homeschool Science Experiment in Aerodynamics – Hot Air Balloon

If you have ever noticed a bird flying, you will see how it uses its inherent ability to rightly use the aerodynamic forces to fly high in the sky as well as glide through the clouds tirelessly and effortlessly. I use these principles in a myriad of exciting homeschool science experiments, some of which I will share below.

These 4 aerodynamic forces are thrust (the force that makes a bird move forward), drag (the force of resistance which the bird has to minimize), lift (the force that makes the bird rise high) and gravity (the force that pulls the bird down). A slight imbalance in the above- and the flight would not be as graceful.

It is important to note that the force of lift and thrust is generated when the birds flap their wings. They also create a lift while gliding against a current of wind by tilting the front edges of the wings to create a difference in air pressure. Drag is minimized by the aerodynamic shape of the bird’s body. Also, birds have hollow bones, making them lighter and reducing the effects of gravity. I will share some of my favorite homeschool science experiments below to demonstrate how objects rise in the air and why flying objects must be light in weight.

Airplanes and rockets are designed with these principles in mind. One or more of the above mentioned forces are dominant depending on the function of the flying object. Even if you and I had wings, we wouldn’t be able to fly since our bodies are not aerodynamically shaped and we are heavy.

Now that you have learned something about aerodynamics, let’s have fun with a hot air balloon experiment. If you’ve ever been in a hot air balloon, you will notice that the pilot adjusts the burner in order to make the balloon go upwards and downwards. He also uses the winds, caused by a difference in air pressure, to move from place to place. Let’s make our own hot air balloon using a garbage bag.

Hot Air Balloon Experiment: Open up a garbage bag and make the mouth very narrow using duct tape. Make sure to leave a small hole to fill-in hot air. Now run a hair dryer for a few seconds till it blows hot air and then fill the bag with hot air. Now switch off the hair dryer and let go of the bag. The bag begins to rise towards the ceiling, where it stays for some time.

Hot air has less density. This means that there are fewer air particles inside the hot air balloon as compared to the outside atmosphere. Therefore there is less air pressure inside the hot air balloon as compared to the outside air. This makes the balloon rise.

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