In sci-fi, humanity tends to start off completely powerless and ignorant of alien life, yet by the end, they become a leading power. Star Trek, despite being my favorite sci-fi, is especially guilty of this. IMO it’s kind of narcissistic, and more so, boring. I’d like to see more sci-fi that focuses mainly on aliens, their culture, interactions, problems and solutions, which is why in the sci-fi universe I’m worldbuilding, humans aren’t even mentioned.
I definitely have a soft spot for space opera, even so, I do have to admit it can get cliched at times. Still, IMO not all cliches are objectively bad, they’re used a lot because a lot of people do like seeing them.
I think you’ll love Asimov’s Foundation Saga if you haven’t read it already, he precisely focuses on these aspects and when he talks about humans the new perspective is often funny, I’m not really stating a cliche my bad but do check it out if and when you get time. I came across an animated series haven’t really seen it but from reviews feels like it’s gonna have Asimov feels Legend of the Galactic Heroes
I mean, there are entire book series about sapient cats (Warriors by Erin Hunter), rabbits (Watership Down), forest creatures in general (Redwall) etc. The spinoff game series Pokemon Mystery Dungeon (which is where my profile picture comes from), focuses entirely on a world inhabited only by Pokemon, and it’s massively popular.
But even then all of these beings have human problems and human like personalities, and voices. I think this is the difficulty in writing non human tales, is that the tales that most people empathize with, no matter how alien their premise or characters may be, still end up centering around human like traits and problems.
In sci-fi, humanity tends to start off completely powerless and ignorant of alien life, yet by the end, they become a leading power. Star Trek, despite being my favorite sci-fi, is especially guilty of this. IMO it’s kind of narcissistic, and more so, boring. I’d like to see more sci-fi that focuses mainly on aliens, their culture, interactions, problems and solutions, which is why in the sci-fi universe I’m worldbuilding, humans aren’t even mentioned.
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I definitely have a soft spot for space opera, even so, I do have to admit it can get cliched at times. Still, IMO not all cliches are objectively bad, they’re used a lot because a lot of people do like seeing them.
I think you’ll love Asimov’s Foundation Saga if you haven’t read it already, he precisely focuses on these aspects and when he talks about humans the new perspective is often funny, I’m not really stating a cliche my bad but do check it out if and when you get time. I came across an animated series haven’t really seen it but from reviews feels like it’s gonna have Asimov feels Legend of the Galactic Heroes
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If the new rover finds life on Mars, we’ll end up killing it. Change my mind.
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Fair enough. I really do like Star Trek’s leftist messages, and I’m trying to replicate that first and foremost in my own writing.
the problem with non-human-centric plots is selling them. few want to read about non-humans.
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But these are essentially humans dressed up in fur suits. They have human attributes, human voices, even humanoid shapes.
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I mean, there are entire book series about sapient cats (Warriors by Erin Hunter), rabbits (Watership Down), forest creatures in general (Redwall) etc. The spinoff game series Pokemon Mystery Dungeon (which is where my profile picture comes from), focuses entirely on a world inhabited only by Pokemon, and it’s massively popular.
But even then all of these beings have human problems and human like personalities, and voices. I think this is the difficulty in writing non human tales, is that the tales that most people empathize with, no matter how alien their premise or characters may be, still end up centering around human like traits and problems.