#is good omens scifi
I think an important instinct you have to build up when you read/watch sci-fi is discerning which things are givens. If Arrival tells you that the alien language is atemporal, it is, that’s not a puzzle for you to pick apart, it’s a prerequisite to getting the rest of the story. When I talk sci-fi with people who don’t consume a lot of it this seems to be a thing they get hung up on.
“But why—“ because it make story go. “But I don’t understand what—“ because that’s how the society works. I told you the important parts, the parts that are relevant to the story. I’m not interested in writing a 200-page speculative history Re the entire course of galactic civilization to explain why it’s rude at dinner time to eat before the ambassador eats. “But I don’t understand how (whatever) works—“ it works because it’s science fiction and that’s how it works. The propulsion systems work because the story requires interstellar travel.
I am more interested in the people and the events and the weird ideas. The weird ideas are just weird ideas, this made up fiction story isn’t a thesis statement predicting why cockroaches will be skilled surgeons 10,000 years in the future.
I think this is really important for writers, too. I know I get hung up on worldbuilding details and it’s good to have a reminder that I don’t need to reinvent DNA just for an alien to have green skin.
this is honestly why stories like good omens and hitchiker’s guide to the galaxy work SO well across such a wide range of people tbh. shit happens because the story requires it to happen and you just have to accept that and keep going - and if your story is compelling enough, you will naturally do exactly that.
