Researching Future Technology for a Science Fiction Novel?

Question

Because I enjoy reading Science Fiction, I'm thinking of writing a Sci-Fi novel myself. I'm interested in 'hard' (related to the engineering sciences) science fiction with a military bent (think *The Lost Fleet* by Jack Campbell or *Old Man's War* by John Scalzi), so this will be my genre of choice.However, it strikes me that, despite being Software Developer by trade, I don't know enough about the hard sciences to make my novel realistic. Plus, future technology may well be more advanced than that of today.So, before I get started, my question is: **how do I go about researching future technology for a science fiction Novel?**

Answer 1

The same way you conduct any research: utilize all available resources. Crack down and commit yourself to studying articles, published works, research essays, scientific data, etc. There's no easy way to ground your science-fictional futuristic story in realism. Most authors have to do a lot of research, and not just for sci-fi.

For example, author David Baldacci creates giant folders of research for basically all of his novels. All authors struggle to write about the past or future, or even modern topics even they're not too well-versed in. But the end result is what it's all about. Channel your passion into your various forms of research. Kudos to you.