Best selling science fiction books. Expectations

 

Best selling science fiction books. Expectations

Science fiction books do not tell ordinary stories. The scifi authors usually want to capture every thought of the scifi reader to make him/her believe that the #scifibook will offer him/her new scientific insights. And for the #scifi reader this is his/her main expectation.

And if the scifibook makes him/her believe in this reward with a strong conviction, the scifi reader will move deeper into the plot of the scifi story. And if that happens the scifi author has managed to convince the scifi reader about meeting his/her expectations associated with his/her passion for reading #scifibooks. Which in most of the cases is restricted to the thrill scifi readers experience from reading scifibooks.

So, there is a mutual exchange of expectations taking place between the scifi author and the scifi reader. And it is due to this expectation that they have from each other, they assume roles of passive adversaries. Where scifi readers at times get to play a more active role than the scifi author who only exists via his/her book.

If the #scifibook maintains an innovative edge over the scifi reader’s scientific awareness right from the beginning; the scifi reader would feel that his/her expectations are being met by the #scifibook. And this satisfaction would motivate him/her to continue reading the scifibook.

If it is so simple, and only about meeting the expectations of the scifi readers, then why do only few #scifibooks become the best selling #scifibooks? Is there something else at work in the background that all of us cannot make out?

Let us try to understand if there is anything else going on that actually contributes to the process of making a #scifibook the best selling scifibook!

It is a universally accepted fact that we all have expectations from the people we know or deal with in our lives. Whether formally or informally. It is this element of expectations that adds momentum to the wheel of life. And before you subject me to  the enormity of your vindictiveness, please allow me to clarify myself with a few examples.

Example I

If you buy a laptop your expectation is that it should perform at its optimum, and should become the perfect tool to facilitate your progress. It is an expectation all of us have from our laptops. It is a very rudimentary example of expectations.

Example II

When a farmer irrigates his/her land, his/her expectation is that it would help with the better growth of the crop. And when it is time to harvest the crop he/she would reap its adequate benefits. Once again, expectation is involved!

Example III

You are in the market and you enter a shop to eat a light snack. Obviously you are paying for it, but as you pay, you expect the snack to be as mood uplifting as it has always been. And it is this expectation that brings you back to this shop every time you are in this market. Once again expectation acted as the main driving force that motivated you to buy the snack.

Example IV

Now whether you observe animals living in the wild or you observe humans living in highly sophisticated and complex human societies. You will notice that expectation is involved there too. In almost every form. If somebody denies the role of expectations in human societies and rules it out as misrepresentation of the human society. He/she is saying so because he/she is a slave to his/her own expectations. Which are a byproduct of one’s knowledge and awareness of science, literature, art, poetry etc. Because as human societies progress and human faculties advance, human expectations also witness evolution. They do not remain the same!

With expectation involved in almost everything and every affair of human life, how can a scifi author manage scifi reader’s expectations? Which are subject to change, because #scifi readers expose themselves to lot of reading, which increases their intake of knowledge, that further enhances their awareness. And this ever advancing awareness impacts their range and nature of expectations as well. It is complex, I know. But, if not all, a few #scifi authors still manage to meet the expectations of their scifi readers. 

But how?

The catch phrase in this case is “nature of expectations.”

The expectations between family members are different, expectations between young lovers are different, expectations between mature and older lovers are totally different, expectations between friends are different and expectations of a scifi reader from the scifi author are altogether a different story. 

In India, according to me Mr. Munshi Premchand was the unrivalled master when it came to capturing these human expectations and weaving them into emotionally very deep stories. I would say, he is the Mr. Charles Dickens of India. Both of them were gifted writers when it came to mirroring human expectations in their books; with so much efficiency that the readers felt they were actually being shown a mirror of their own expectations. It was their ability to reflect real and unaltered realities of societies that existed during their times that made them so emphatic as writers.

Mr. Munshi Premchand. The greatest indian novelist!

When it comes to scifi readers, evaluating their expectations is easier. Because scifi readers seek scientifically adventurous thrill from #scifibooks. Along with a well told and an easy to understand story. But scientific thrill has its omnipresent trail of caution. Repetitiveness. With the story in scifibooks mainly revolving around a scientific idea, many #scifibooks offer no newness. And when that happens the scifi reader’s expectations are not met and he/she fails to be a part of the story’s main flow.

It is true that scientific ideas can become conduit because the scifi author in an attempt to brand his/her idea as the ultimate source of pedagogic salvation, turns it into an idea that instead of attracting the attention of the scifi readers distracts them. As a result of this forceful and inorganic approach to inventiveness, the scifi author himself/herself becomes the means of depriving the #scifibook from the expectations that the #scifi readers have from the scifibooks. And to avoid it, there is only one way: stay natural, do not overdo it, and never copy others ideas. Because if you do #scifi readers can sense it, and then they will feel let down. And no #scifi author wants that to happen to his/her book.

Thrill. For that matter any form of thrill, that any individual seeks, should offer him/her an original feeling of elation. Something he/she has never experienced before. 

Thrill does not mean indulging in an activity involving a lot of physical exertion. Thrill has its subtle forms as well. A reader after reading a story like Tom Sawyer experiences a form of thrill. Although he/she has neither painted the wall, nor struggled to catch the fickle and almost always hopping frog, and he/she did not even venture into the graveyard in the dark of the night; yet he/she experiences deep thrill. So, it is not true that thrill is always physical in nature, it can be mental, emotional, physical, and there are many other forms as well.

And a #scifi author who knows this fact, never invests in a #scifi story or scientific idea that would turn out to be a piecemeal like progression of the scifi story. Many #scifi books that you may have read, and that I have read in the past, evince this fact with clarity. If it were not for this reason then those #scifibooks would never have become the best selling #scifibooks.

They offer brand new scientific ideas, with an originality that gradually becomes the trademark of the scifi author that he/she is associated with by his/her scifi readers. He/she may not develop this strong fan base just after publishing his/her first book, it can take some time. But once the scifi readers begin to trust the scifi author with regard to his/her originality, the scifi author’s books become natural sources of inspiration for the scifi readers. Because these #scifibooks always meet their expectations. 

The scifi authors need to be extra careful about one important aspect though. They need to make sure that their scientific idea manages to stay relevant and futuristic for a long time. If it fails to stay relevant just after a year, the scifibook will lose its appeal and as an aftermath of this, it will fail to meet the expectations of the scifi readers. 

Now that we know how scifi authors can meet the expectations of the scifi readers; it is time that you read a very wel written scifi book, where all your expectations will be met. It is titled: They Loved in 2075.

In this #scifibook your expectations to experience scientific, futuristic, unconventional; and romantic thrill will be met with a sincerity that a bonafide scifi reader expects from the scifibook.

For this #scifibook being sincere was the only way to become relevant with 2075, when love will be redefined. Because humans will be experiencing a loss of their emotions and feelings. And it had to be original too because it is a scifi story about you, about me, and the future of humans on this planet.

The #scifibook, They Loved in 2075, makes you the hero and the heroine, because it is us who shall decide the future of humanity on this planet. 

Now the fate of future generations of humans rests upon you. To know what the future expects from all of us, and to fulfil this purpose, #scifibook They Loved in 2075, is the only available means.

Read it well and I am certain you shall be able to decide well!