# Thoughts during my science fiction novel discussion group.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-during-my-science-fiction-novel-discussion-group/106414>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [April 30, 2002, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-during-my-science-fiction-novel-discussion-group/106414 "2002-04-30T04:37:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-during-my-science-fiction-novel-discussion-group/106414/61 "2016-12-16T06:06:51Z")

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😛

Naw, I got about 50 pages in.

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**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-during-my-science-fiction-novel-discussion-group/106414/62 "2016-12-16T17:11:06Z")

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> [@cbtcad](#):
>
> What got me wasn’t that they didn’t know what they were talking about, but that they thought they did.

BOOM! That sentence right there is packed with a lot of wisdom. So many applications.

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**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2016, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-during-my-science-fiction-novel-discussion-group/106414/63 "2016-12-16T20:11:23Z")

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> [@JohnT](#):
>
> I don’t think you read my OP at all.
> 
> My problem with the Uplift books was not that they were set on a single planet, it was that Brin constructed this vast, interesting universe… then filled his damn stories with people trying not to communicate with the vast, interesting universe while hiding on primitive planets. Repeatedly. Then, with the second series… well, he did it again in Brightness Reef.
> 
> But he didn’t do this in Earth.
> 
> And I’m not the biggest fan of kids in science fiction. At least I wasn’t in 2002, so that didn’t help.

I was just pointing out an unusual way of phrasing.

That said, I do feel you’ve missed the point of Brin’s uplift series. He’s created a huge intergalactic empire - but one in which humans are at the very bottom of the prestige ranks. And the books are written from the human point of view down at the bottom. So we generally have a limited view because that’s what humans are seeing.

Think of it as the equivalent of a historical novel showing the settlement of America - but from the Native Americans’ point of view. You’d show how the events looked from the perspective of a small tribe. Granted, you’d be missing the big picture. For that, you would need scenes set in Washington and London and Paris and Madrid. But if you included those scenes, you’d no longer be telling the Native Americans’ story - they weren’t included in those events.

And for what it’s worth, the setting of the trilogy did expand outward. The first book, Brightness Reef, was set entirely on Jijo. But the second book alternated between scenes on Jijo and scenes out in the wider galaxy. By the third book, the series was almost entirely out in the galaxy, showing the kinds of scenes you’re talking about.

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**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2016, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-during-my-science-fiction-novel-discussion-group/106414/64 "2016-12-17T00:04:32Z")

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Also…it’s really hard to write a “galactic scale” story, since good stories are about people.

Vernor Vinge’s “A Fire Upon the Deep” is about a galactic-wide civilization – and a darn fine book! – but the story is about individuals, and small spaceships, and survivors of battles, and the like. Local and small…because that’s what real life is.

Jack McDevitt’s “The Engines of God” explores ideas on a galactic scale, but, again, his story is about individual people and small-scale exploration. Superb book, and eerie as all night-time!

(Plug for both authors as really, really nice people, two of the kindest-hearted gentlemen you could ever hope to meet.)

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**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\
**Post date:** [December 17, 2016, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thoughts-during-my-science-fiction-novel-discussion-group/106414/65 "2016-12-17T01:57:46Z")

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Fine. Be that way. Try to convince me that I’m wrong, and being a bit, shall we say, hypocritical. 😛

Just because of your actions in this thread, I am going to buy the books and read them. When I’m done I’m going to come back and say “they suck” with _conviction_.

(Seriously, though, it looks like I’m wrong re: BR and will try to tackle the trilogy again. Thanks, Nemo, Trinopus.)

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