The final episode of the subject of science fiction literature.. In the previous episodes we came to know the themes and the techniques, and now it is time to know the quick secrets of the craft.

- Always remember that science fiction is tied to "ideas".. The idea comes, and after it comes the science, not the other way round.. You can write a long and sprawling novel about manufacturing a quantum computer.. but where is the idea? The novel will be closer to an article or a physics lesson. Beware of letting "science" devour the novel.

The idea you write must be a "good" one.. not just anything that "looks" like science fiction and that is that.. There are science fiction writers who tried to imitate Nabil Farouk.. so they resorted to something that writers call the "recipe". This recipe led to their dying before they were born.. and no one remembers them today.

The "recipe", in short.. is "we want a fantastical idea.. a few laser guns and aliens.. a love story in the middle and a conflict.. brilliant, artist.. now you have a science fiction novel good for nothing except being thrown into the nearest rubbish bin. Stay away from the contracting method and the "recipes".

- Define your characters precisely and know their natures and their ways.. and stay away from stereotyping.. Stereotyping is real stupidity that kills creativity and the feelings that are supposed to flow while you are writing.

That is, if you are writing about a professional killer.. he does not have to be walking the streets with a bottle of wine and holding an iron crowbar.. he could be a university professor.. he could be a very gentle lady. That is what happens in reality.. Life is like that.

Stay away from the notion that "this one, in this situation, must act like this".. Humans are the most unpredictable creature in the universe in their actions and their thoughts.

Imagine if I came to you and said, "Ask an expert.. because the hero of your story has lost his father.. find out what he is supposed to feel.. and write that." The expert will tell you, "He will go through a stage of grief, depression and anxiety.. and he may be afflicted with post-traumatic stress disorder with its symptoms.. his level of intelligence will temporarily drop.. he will start behaving randomly.. his capacity to learn will decrease, and so on."

The truth is that what is written here could be said to you by any police sergeant or grocer, without the pompous terminology.. but do all human beings go through this? Certainly not.

You might ask an expert and he will talk to you about the causes of happiness.. The truth is that this is completely illogical. What makes me happy in Alexandria is not the same as what makes a resident of New York happy.. nor is what makes us happy together what will make a resident of Beijing or Moscow happy. What will make me happy in Alexandria will not necessarily make my neighbour in the next flat happy! Right?

Humans cannot be put in a mould.. If you put them in a mould you will find your story has turned monotonous and boring, without a soul. There are no standards and nothing from which you can read them with extreme precision as though they were under a microscope.. "Rushdy Abaza", the famous professional killer and currency and jewellery smuggler who wore out the police men in "The Second Man".. when he learned of the betrayal of "Samra", his beloved.. he smiled.. that is an unexpected reaction from the king of gangsters. The same terrifying, taciturn gangster who never tells a secret to any creature.. it turned out that all his secrets were with "Tant Kima", his aunt.

"Samra" herself was supposed to be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after the death of her daughter.. but that did not happen.. and she decided to take revenge straight away.. that can happen in reality and has real cases in forensic medicine files.

In the film "In Time".. the hero's mother dies in his arms.. so he sets off to another city, meets a girl and gambles with the utmost composure and calm.. that is "outside the mould", and there are many examples of it in the real world.

You are telling the story of "the hero of your story".. not the traditional, stereotyped Uncle Abdo the grocer.. so take "individuality" into account.

- Arrange the stages of the character's development.. "John Wick" was attacked by a gang of thugs and they killed his dog.. it turns out that these thugs belong to a major gang.. so he launches like a ravening beast, attacking the gang's headquarters and killing them one after another.. The secret here is that "John Wick" was a "retired professional killer".. The character developed from the peak.. working in the field of killing.. to dormancy.. retirement.. then it developed to the peak again...

The ordinary good man whom everyone presses upon.. his grim, ferocious wife.. his manager.. the bank clerk.. the editor-in-chief of the newspaper he works for.. society.. he hits a wolf with his car.. and when he gets out to check on it, the wolf bites him and flees.. so he begins to turn into a human wolf.. a werewolf.. and society sees another, frightening face in him.. The stages of the character's development here are clear and well studied.

What about Satan? The devout, ascetic, pious worshipper than whom there was no one in the whole universe in knowledge and piety, to the point that he ascended to the top.. he refused and disobeyed and fell to the very bottom.. other stages of development, entirely clear.

- Create a thrilling world.. If you watch a film like "Coma" you will find the story revolving in a hospital.. That is something with no excitement of any kind.. were it not that "Michael Crichton" created a world inside the hospital.. the strong rugby player whose cartilage was torn, who told his story and is afraid of needles and does not want a cannula inserted.. the medical student who is training and loves "Susan", who is herself a trainee.. "Susan's" dry manner and her complaining about him to the hospital director, and her confiding in him her suspicions that criminal work is going on in the place.. the withdrawal of her despairing lover.. and it turns out that the only source of her secret and her professor was the killer himself.. "Dr. Stark".. after he had saved the life of her lover, the one who annoys her all the time.

- The world you create must have consistent rules.. There are science fiction novels that failed miserably because of the absence of this consistency.. that is, for example, it is not acceptable for "the Green Giant" to be unable to lift a car.. he can lift a tank.. those are the rules of his world and they are entirely consistent.

Among the wonderful science fiction stories was one called "Battleship".. about aliens who landed in the United States at sea.. and surrounded the area with a strong electromagnetic shield.. and began picking off the fleet's ships.. At the same time, wireless signals were passing through this electromagnetic shield normally.. and at the same time the hero was telephoning his beloved wirelessly.. yet he was unable to contact an aircraft carrier standing on the edge of the electromagnetic shield.. The novel was turned into a film and the film failed.. although it really would be a good novel if these errors were fixed. In a critical opinion, I see that the film failed because it was released at the same time as the film "Avengers - Age of Ultron".

- A good science fiction novel must provoke questioning and sharpen the reader's imagination.. that is, he stops at its situations and closes the book and imagines a little.. and launches his imagination and is dazzled and comes back to you.. it must set his dream free from its shackles.. that he sees dazzling technology and meets intelligent robots and rational aliens.. the description must be dazzling.

In the novel "The Shape of Water".. the heroine loved a sea creature resembling a human.. a prisoner in a laboratory where he is being tortured and where they are trying to study him.. he too loved her and felt safe with her.. she smuggles him out, dresses his wounds and restores his strength.. and after a violent chase by the authorities.. she leaves her world and decides to dive with him into the depths.. The reader here asks.. what happened, and how did she live? When the novel was made into a film they solved this dilemma by having the creature transfer part of his blood to her, so gills appeared on her.. That robbed the situation of its magic.. The novel was better.

In the story "The Rebel" - I wrote about it once here - the strong rebel tank with superhuman artificial intelligence kills its maker because of a technical defect in it.. and the story ends with it crouching on the surface of the moon, gazing at the Earth with intense longing, waiting for its maker to return to it.. What happened after that, I wonder?

- In describing a science fiction novel you are sometimes telling the reader about a world that does not exist at all.. so he must come to know the texture of that world.. hear its sounds and smell its scent.. Yes, these things may go beyond the scope of our world.. but bring them close to him.. do not tell him "a blue flower with glowing sides" and leave him floundering in confusion.. He will leave the book and will never read from you again.

You must take him inside the world so that he feels he is in it and part of it. The description will of course be limited if the science fiction work is a "short story".

- Keep the climax in check.. a killer's climax in which, after being shot in the head, he gets up and grabs the hero's leg, is suitable for a comedy film like "A Hero of Paper" but not for a science fiction novel.. Remember in the previous episode the climax and the twist in the film "Saw" and how wonderful it was...

- Always let the ending set the imagination free.. even if it is not open.. but the reader should question.. and with his questioning he begins to come back to you again so that he can read from you once more.

I hope that in this way we have covered the subject in full.. These episodes will not of course suddenly make you "Jules Verne".. but I hope they have opened the great gate for you to that mysterious world...

I truly hope that I see new science fiction writers.. and that this literature flourishes in our Arab world.. Because this kind of literature is always the first road to science.

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