Tevun-Krus #4 - Space Opera

Space Opera Defined

'Space Opera is a sub-genre of science fiction that emphasizes romantic, often melodramatic adventure, set mainly or entirely in outer space, generally involving conflict between opponents possessing advanced technologies and abilities.

Perhaps the most significant trait of space opera is that settings, characters, battles, powers, and themes tend to be very large-scale.

Sometimes the term space opera is used pejoratively to denote bad quality science fiction, but its meaning can differ, often describing a particular science fiction genre without any value judgement.

Examples include:

The Ender's Game series - Orson Scott Card

The Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold

Pandora's Star - Peter F. Hamilton

Star Wars

Star Trek

Battlestar Galactica

Farscape'

That's ForbiddenPlanet's official definition of Space Opera but it really is so much, much more than that... But how about we start with everyone's favourite Space Opera, eh?

Star Wars. You think Space Opera, and that's the first thing that springs to mind. The epic battle of good versus evil. Who could ever forget that moment when Vader puts Ben Kenobi down, the clash of light sabres, the screech of TIE Fighters and Leia calling Han Solo a Nerf Herder?!

The original trilogy influenced a generation of Science Fiction writers. I grew up with Star Wars, it was a massive part of my youth. Bearing that in mind it should come as little surprise that many of the ideas and ideals found therein have weaved their way into my own work, too. One thing I know for certain is that I'm not alone in that.

When the prequel trilogy was released, it had much the same effect. It reignited the Star Wars love for some whilst at the same time introducing a whole new generation to it.

I'm not going spend this entire article discussing Star Wars, though I could quite easily do so!

If you're writing - or thinking about writing - Space Opera, then you gotta' think big. I mean seriously huge, absolutely monstrous, sizes of astronomic proportions. You get the point, right? As the old saying goes, bigger - in the case of Space Opera, anyway - is most definitely better. I'm not necessarily saying that you have to have enormous characters who dwarf all of those who stand before them, although you could do so if that's what you want to do. 

No, what I'm talking about is big personalities, larger than life characters who wear their hearts on their sleeves. 

I'm talking about epic quests where the only two possible outcomes are either the continuation or the cessation of life.

I'm talking about the most evil, foul beings your human mind can conceive.

I'm talking about love and hate, honour and justice, black and white with not a shade of grey in sight.

The thing is, there really are no limits when it comes to writing Space Opera. If you can imagine it, then your readers will be able to imagine it. There is no such thing as ,"No, you can't do that," in Space Opera, because you can do that. You can do whatever the Hell you want. The Universe, quite literally, is your oyster. Put your pen to paper, fingers to keys... Leave that cigarette burning in the ashtray for a moment, and write whatever comes to mind!

Now if I may, I'm going to refer back to Star Wars. You may have noticed, assuming you've watched the movies or read any of the novels, that the Star Wars Universe features elements not only of other sub-genres of Sci-Fi - SpacePunk, for example - but there's Fantasy in there, too. In fact, way back in the day the creators/writers/etc of Star Wars refused to label it as Sci-Fi. Instead they called it Science Fantasy and I suppose that's pretty much what Space Opera is. An enormous melting pot where elements of both Sci-Fi and Fantasy are thrown in and cranked up to eleven. An amalgamation chewed up and spat back out again, resulting in icky mess of mashed-up awesomeness. A sub-genre so cliche ridden it redefines the term and yet a good, well written, delicately crafted and well planned Space Opera really does work!