I'm surprised I haven't seen this topic yet, as I'd really like to see everyone's responses to this.
Is your story directly inspired by another sci-fi tale you've seen or read? What sci-fi story first got you inspired to write the genre? What would you recommend to others as your absolute favorite piece of sci-fi?
Among my own influences for this year's novel is Bungie's game series Halo (I feel like such a tool for even saying it!), the machinima series Red vs. Blue that was based off of the game (specifically the series "Reconstruction"), and the short story by Harlan Ellison "I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream" (Wiki article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Have_No_Mouth_And_I_Must_Scream).
As for some of my other favorite pieces, the Dune series by Frank Herbert is a favorite just because of the author's worldbuilding skills, I adore The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams for its humor value, Kurt Vonnegut's The Sirens of Titan has a place in my heart just for creating the concept of the Universal Will to Become as an energy source, and of course Firefly.
So, how about everyone else?
----------
46,821 / 50,000
Okt 12, 2009 - 06 18
Mine is based on video games. For this year's entry, it is influenced by Mega Man Battle Network and Mega Man Star Force.
----------http://murazrai.xanga.com and http://cyber-murazrai.xanga.com
Chaos Fighters...the fantasy of scientific magic.
NaNoWriMo 2009: Chaos Fighters II-Cyberion Strike
Read the novel (starting November 1) at:
http://murazrai-for-nanowrimo.xanga.com
39,018 / 50,000
Okt 12, 2009 - 06 18
You're not the only one to be inspired by computer games. The main seed of my idea came from the game Fallout 3 but it's grown into something else now but I've choosen to do a divergent storyline. One day I hope to write the original incident and how everything happened. Another influence was Bioshock, I love the political, ethical and psychological theories behind that game and that it's a bloomin brilliant story and everyone should play it! It's so darn beautiful as well, very inspirational when it comes to describing a city, and with Rapture being an underwater 1940s style dystopia, goddamn it's gorgeous.
The structure of Pulp Fiction (jumping about in the timeline to make a whole story) also inspired the way I'm going to write as it will follow several characters.
Book wise, I'm a lover of Hitchhikers though it won't have much direct influence. Philip K. Dick will have some influence as I'm going dystopian :) I'm also a fan of I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream, have you seen or played the game version? Harlen Ellison wrote it and gave his voice to AM. There's a guy called Necroscope86 on Youtube who's done a LP of it if you've not seen it.
The history behind my book has been heavily inspired by Noam Chomsky on globalisation, something I won't bore this thread with but it explains why drug production is increasing in the world and I've taken it further into the future and given it a apocalytic end!
31,490 / 50,000
Okt 12, 2009 - 06 27
My nano project is a YA science fiction story and nothing like either of these but as influences go;
My favourite Sci-Fi author is Elizabeth Moon. Her Serrano series and Vatta's War series are brilliant.
My other favourite Sci-Fi author is Nathan Lowell - he has no print books published yet but the audio versions of his Solar Clipper series; Quarter Share, Half Share, Full Share, Double Share, Captain's Share and South Coast break all the science fiction conventions but they are amazing. There are no aliens, no real future tech, not a lot of conflict to speak of but they are hypnotically wonderous and you can't put them down once you start listening.
----------Jeffery E Doherty
http://jefferyedoherty.googlepages.com
http://jefferyedoherty.blogspot.com
Write tight and power to your keyboard
50,008 / 50,000
Okt 12, 2009 - 06 53
Star Trek :)
----------And Philip K dick- but mostly Star Trek
10,019 / 50,000
Okt 12, 2009 - 06 59
And Philip K dick- but mostly Star Trek
That's an interesting combination.
Also, Dick for me, too.
45,066 / 50,000
Okt 12, 2009 - 07 17
Um. Lesse. In one segment, I'm going for an Alien sort of feel. One of my characters (not sure how much he's going to actually appear) is loosely based off the Space Marines of Warhammer 40k. Actually, I think WH40K has a fair bit of influence overall, although the setting is somewhat less grim and brutal. :P
5,019 / 50,000
Okt 12, 2009 - 07 22
Hehe - well, my idea came about when I was thinking of a ship crew kind of like in Firefly - except, secretly, they're not smugglers, they're military on a mission to assassinate a war criminal - and when I tried to come up with backstory for them, my mind kind of thought 'Hmm, what if it were kind of like Firefly but set during the war years, with a society kind of like that from Fullmetal Alchemist, and a government that wasn't actually evil? Maybe with some inspiration from D.Gray-Man, Final Fantasy, Samurai Champloo, and The 4400 thrown in for good measure?'
Of course, it changed, and now it's its own story, but I still draw a lot of inspiration from those series.
----------Nano 07: The Spook and the Wormhole - ~12K
Nano 08: The Diary of a Redshirt - ~3K
Nano 09: All the Tears of Prague - ??K
45,740 / 50,000
Okt 12, 2009 - 07 33
This years story is influenced by Battlestar Galactica, Terminator and Star Trek. I took a little bit of each
Sometimes my insperation can come from a new event, a scene on a TV show, a character or even a phrase of song.
----------2009 - Voyage To Earth (We shall see)
2008 - The Cimalian Revolution (Winner)
2007 - The Cimalian Twin (Winner)
2006- The Cimalian Invasion (Winner)
46,223 / 50,000
Okt 12, 2009 - 07 41
My story this year is mostly influenced by the original Star Trek series. It's also somewhat influenced by the American-centered world view of much sci-fi (which is logical, since much sci-fi is created in America), which is to say that it parodies this. Also, Ursula LeGuin's work is an inspiration for me and what I'm writing this year is exactly the kind of thing where such an influence may be noticed.
Star Trek (TOS, TNG and DS9) is definitely the biggest sci-fi influence on me, though I've read and watched much more. I especially love sci-fi dealing with artificial intelligence, so Isaac Asimov is a BIG favorite of mine. I'm not over the moon about THG2TG. I do find the original insanely funny, but the other four books are... much less interesting, in my opinion.
----------“Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off the goal.”
- Henry Ford
25,845 / 50,000
Okt 12, 2009 - 09 00
I quite honestly haven't read all that much SF... My current story was actually inspired by a what-if that came into my head while watching a documentary. (What if a colony somehow lost their technology and forgot where they were from in the first place, and then got "discovered" by humanity again?)
What I have read is mainly Frank Herbert and Ursula K. Le Guin. Up until recently I've mainly read fantasy, and some of that will probably influence my SF. Lately I've been into Scott Lynch (but his next book needs to get released! It's been delayed for like a year!) and Jaqueline Carey... If those influences both pop up my novel should be obscene, sensual and hilarious. But I think I might be a little repressed to write like that XD
Oh, and I think I read everything Anne McCaffery had ever written when I was about 12... that's *technically* SF...
40,210 / 50,000
Okt 12, 2009 - 09 04
My Stray Kingdom series has elements of James Patterson's Maximum Ride, Erin Hunter's Warriors, Richard Adams' animal epics (all pretty mild scifi/fantasy), and some harder stuff like Heroes.
The genetic engineering I got from Patterson, the animal POV I got from Adams, some aspects of the animals' society I got from Hunter, and the super-power concept I got from Heroes.
----------2008 Winner - Stray Kingdom
2009 - Stray Kingdom 2
10,473 / 50,000
Okt 12, 2009 - 09 05
Old SF from the 40's, 50's, and early 60's when the genre strode boldly into the future with the clear assurance that mankind was a force for good in the universe and that there were no challenges too big to deal with if you had courage, ingenuity, and determination.
Asimov, Heinlein, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Andre Norton, ...
Also, because there is very little difference between colonizing a frontier and colonizing a new planet, I'll give a nod to The Swiss Family Robinson, Robinson Crusoe, Little House in the Big Woods, and other such stories of people carving a place for themselves in a dangerous wilderness.
----------3KBs
2009 -- Onward to New Caanan
The Swiss Family Robinson in space? Little House on a New Planet? Why not?
16,722 / 50,000
Okt 12, 2009 - 09 39
My influences tend to vary from story to story, but I would say some major influences on my project for this November would be Isaac Asimov, Mike Resnick, and Julia Child.
------------Ryan
TW FB LJ
50,030 / 50,000
Okt 12, 2009 - 11 29
Like others in this thread, I've been influenced by Philip K. Dick and Douglas Adams. I also really like Ray Bradbury and Ursula K. Leguin - they had/have a grasp of storytelling that stretched far beyond their conceptual ideas. There needs to be more Jules Verne/H.G. Wells love here too, since they helped popularize non-futuristic sci-fi.
11,715 / 50,000
Okt 12, 2009 - 12 39
I’m partial to Ray Bradbury mainly because I grew up with Star Trek and Twilight Zone playing in a constant loop at home. However, I do love Frank Herbert, Jules Verne, & Timothy Zann.
Oddly though, lately I’ve been inspired by shows like Fringe – great Sci-Fi is great Sci-Fi! I’m always telling people that my novel will be a mesh of Fringe, American Psycho, and Wizard of Oz. ;) I will make it work!
----------2005 - Warning: Life Teaches Lessons
2008 - Human Invasion
JEANNIE HART
writing, fine art, & graphic design
LinkedIn
http://www.linkedin.com/in/jeanniehart
45,938 / 50,000
Okt 12, 2009 - 13 50
I've been reading science fiction and fantasy since I was a teenager. I don't know what first got me into it. And this novel is not influenced by anything I've read lately.
Harlan Ellison's short fiction is brilliant. Ursula K. LeGuin's novels are extraordinary. Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle is an amazing novel that I want to read again. Most recently, I've read things by Orson Scott Card and Greg Keyes. While I'd like to do a historical science fiction novel, that's not what I'm doing this year. I read Card's Alvin the Maker series and Keyes' Age of Unreason series. They have definitely gotten the juices flowing and have been inspiring to me. I'm currently reading The Motion of Light in Water, a memoir by Samuel R. Delany.
----------Only when men are connected to larger, universal goals are they really happy - and one result of their happiness is a rush of creative activity. - Joyce Carol Oates
51,905 / 50,000
Okt 12, 2009 - 13 50
If you except the old-school masters, your Asimov, Clarke, Dick, van Voght, etc, then I mainly draw on the new wave of British writers.
Iain M. Banks' Culture books, Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space series, Stephen Baxter's Xeelee Sequence, Peter F. Hamilton's Night's Dawn and Commonwealth series, Charles Stross and his take on transhumanist themes, etc etc etc.
The only American SF writer I really follow these days is Dan Simmons, thanks to his excellent Hyperion series (and even the more recent Illium/Olympos duology, despite some of the oddness of the latter book). He seems to be the exception these days among the US writers.
I like the big, epic stuff.
----------2009: The Kings of Distant Stars
If you write space-based fiction and have questions, read the Atomic Rockets page.
0 / 50,000
Okt 12, 2009 - 15 51
In literature, Orson Scott Card's been one of my biggest influences by far (explains my love of social sci-fi) - I've read other authors but few others really inspire me to write like his stuff does. In other media, both the anime Ghost in the Shell and Cowboy Bebop have fed a lot into my current project (and my concept of sci-fi as a whole), and the composer who worked on both of those series, Yoko Kanno, has defined for me what sci-fi should sound like.
16,339 / 50,000
Okt 12, 2009 - 16 38
It's inspiring to see so many people with the guts to write the Big Stories, the societal epics and such. Wow. I love reading that stuff -- Joan Slonczewski, Maureen F. McHugh, Octavia Butler, Elizabeth A. Lynn, Samuel R. Delany, Ursula Le Guin, etc. -- but I don't have the confidence to write it.
I'm sticking to smaller thriller sci-fi, influenced perhaps by the nerve-wracking tension built up in stories like Frank M. Robinson's The Dark Beyond the Stars. This is my first time writing sci-fi in long form, so I just want a small, tight story that hinges on science but gets your heart pumping like a good abandoned-warehouse-fight-scene movie.
As for my absolute favorite piece of sci-fi, it would have to be Carolyn Ives Gilman's Halfway Human. It's the only novel she's ever written, but it tore me apart and then put me back together again like the best of Maureen F. McHugh's work, except somehow she reached a deeper place in doing it. I'd be eternally humbled if I could write with just a shadow of that kind of force.
42,517 / 50,000
Okt 13, 2009 - 03 55
I'm a fan of Doctor Who and Douglas Adams' works (mainly the tv and the audio version of Hitchhikkers, although I do like the books too) I thought of the series that I'm working on one day, because I wanted a book series that would be similar to a tele serial or audio series, that's quick to get through and has a similar light, conversational tone to it - lots of action :D
----------So far as written sci-fi, i also love the Doctor Who novels, as well as Asimov's works, and a few others that I don't remember the author's names, mainly that I've found in stalls at markets...
I also like Joss Whedon's series, Firefly/Serenity, of course, but also Buffy/Angel.
2008 NaNo: Ganymede (Won!)
2009 Screnzy: Carpe Noctem (Won!)
2009 NaNo: Neon Paradise (?/50,000)
15,744 / 50,000
Okt 13, 2009 - 04 38
My NaNovel is almost entirely influenced by Doctor Who. Classic Who, too. Gosh I love Doctor Who. But there are no rubber-suited aliens in mine. WELL, there's an alien in a spacesuit, but does that count?
Anyway, other loves and influences are Firefly and Star Trek: TOS (old scifi is the best scifi!), and though I haven't read much of it, old literature is fantastic too, whenever I can get my paws on it. I've also read some Orson Scott Card, and one of my most-used books is his How to Write Science-Fiction and Fantasy. Oh, and Douglas Adams of course, what list would be complete without him? And I'm on the SciFi (excuse me, SyFy) channel whenever I can manage it, mostly to watch the bad scifi movies they have on there—sometimes you get a gem out of all the garbage (High Plains Invaders, anyone?).
(but mostly Doctor Who)
----------41,875 / 50,000
Okt 13, 2009 - 09 34
Influences? Well, as far as who I'd like to emulate:
Arthur Clarke for the science
----------Isaac Asimov for the plot twists
Frank Herbert for the worldbuilding
Dan Simmons for the storytelling
Mike Resnick for the myth-making
Ursula LeGuin for the characterization
Anne McCaffrey for the soap-opera
Douglas Adams for the wit
Glen Cook for the sheer bloody-mindedness
Orson Scott Card for the moral dilemmas
Michael Moorcock for the weirdness
Grant Morrison for the crazy
2007: Majadan by Night (won)
2008: Daughters of Majadan (won)
2009: Waking the Sky (coming soon)
7,224 / 50,000
Okt 13, 2009 - 09 48
Oddly, I have to say Firefly. It's odd because I've only seen half the series. I already had my MC and her sister, and I knew they had a story, but I didn't know what, when, or where it was. I was watching Firefly when I realized, "They're on a spaceship! In the future!"
Other influences are Stargate and David Weber's Honor Harrington books, mainly because I only got into Stargate about a year ago and discovered David Weber this summer, so I've been awash in both series for months and can't help being influenced by them. Indiana Jones has also been an influence (and the format of the title is a slightly tongue-in-cheek homage to that.)
There are probably many more authors that have shaped my writing on a fundamental level and I just can't pick them out as individual influences.
ETA: I thought of one more. Speaking of "small crew on a spaceship has adventures"-type stories, I owe as much, and probably more, to Gene Rodenberry's Andromeda as I do to Firefly.
----------NaNo '07: The Syntax of Things--Failed
NaNo '09: Billy Nolan and the Bane of Olympus--?
50,650 / 50,000
Okt 13, 2009 - 10 54
My first influence for my story was the song "The Downeaster Alexa" by Billy Joel. Except I was going to write about a cop who had to leave his family to catch a bad guy and not a fisherman who had to leave his family to make a living. I decided that by the end of the novel there would be a core group of friends, which would make it somewhat like Firefly. And I was totally taking off on Firefly for awhile. But, when it came down to it, things changed. Now, it's a combination of CSI(very non-SF), Gunslinger Girl, and Dark Angel. And my plot's almost done, so those are definitely my inspirations now. And while my core group of characters are friends by the end, they're not as close as the Firefly group. Perhaps if I have a sequel though, there definitely could be a Firefly-like group. It's entirely still possible.
-------------
Queen Anna
Queen of EdMo
www.nanoedmo.net
Boston co-ML with Travis
56,410 / 50,000
Okt 13, 2009 - 11 33
Too many influences to list them all, but here goes:
James P Hogan for the SCIENCE
Andre Norton for the FICTION
Harry Harrison/Douglas Adams for the Humor
Robert Jordan for the epic storyline
CS Lewis for the moral aspects
And, of course, a huge list of scifi and fantasy authors for their contribution in making me love those genres.
As for the story line? Of course, it's totally and completely original.
----------Yeah, right. Whenever you think something is original, you're going to find it's 'been done before', not once but perhaps 5 times...
I guess Madeline L'Engle with a taste of Arthur and the Invisibles or The Series of Unfortunate Events.
ADHD Programmer Dad
YA Fantasy/SciFi Author
My Writing Blog/Twitter/My Music
3,825 / 50,000
Okt 13, 2009 - 11 36
Um...was there a whole lot of futuristic scifi before Verne and Wells? I mean, there was More, and...um...
Does The Clouds count as scifi?
33,016 / 50,000
Okt 13, 2009 - 12 09
Don't feel like a tool. Do you have any idea how many story ideas I've gotten from playing Final Fantasy? :-D
Not this one, though. This one came from a combination of Star Trek (TOS, TNG, and Voyager) and EVE...which I played for all of seven days, but the character creation was AWESOME.
I'm a little worried, though, because while I want this story to be more of a space adventure, I don't want it to completely crap all over the laws of the universe. So I'm currently turning story ideas and stuff over and over in my mind, trying to figure out where it's okay to fudge and where I need to adhere a little more closely to the laws of physics and such.
/Have not even though about physical science in about 10 years...that is bad for writing about spaceships, yes? ;-)
----------NaNo 2006 - The Sorcerer's Blade (win)
NaNo 2008 - Sorceress Knight (win)
NaNo 2009 - Secrets of the Black Moon (working title)
61,200 / 50,000
Okt 13, 2009 - 13 38
Bah! Never let the facts get in the way of a good story. December is for figuring out that "Oops! Stars get way hotter then what I thought when they explode... having my spaceship that distance away would still render it akin to something left in the KFC deep-friers waaayyy too long."
----------Indecision May Or May Not Be My Problem.
2005 - "Thieves At Heart" -Lost - WIP
2006 - lost
2007 - "The Dytek Enterprises Field Agent Handbook" - Win! - WIP
2008 - "Rendor Paxon (working title) Win! WIP
2009 - "Hunt Starfire's Phantom Phliers" Win! WI
20,467 / 50,000
Okt 13, 2009 - 14 37
I actually kinda-sorta got this year's idea from Stargate: Universe. At least, the stranded parsecs from home in hostile/uncharted space part. Other than that, it's completely independent. (Larry Niven inspired me to expand my universe, though)
58,521 / 50,000
Okt 13, 2009 - 19 48
My favorite SF authors are Karin Lowachee, Philip K. Dick, Susan R. Matthews, and Alastair Reynolds, but I don't think my idea bears an overt resemblance to any one of them. And they're all quite different in their styles. Dick and Reynolds are more story/plot-driven, but Dick was concerned with the nature of humanity and reality, while Reynolds is interested in the universe as we currently understand it. Lowachee and Matthews are more character-driven in their work, and both very dark in their interpretations of the future, but while Lowachee gives us a tapestry of her universe from the narratives of several characters, Matthews provides a narrower view through the perspective of one man in a horrible profession. What stands out to me in all these authors is their uncompromising vision: they saw a future clearly, and painted it warts and all. They gave us very dark, very human characters, and their stories manage to resonate emotionally despite being so utterly fantastic.
----------2004: A Memory Not Mine (55K)
2005: Double Edged (76K)
2008: Empire Farms (64K)
2009: No Asylum (goal: 100K)