1. The negative premise.

This common, but deadly, mistake has to do with stories set in the 4th social stage - the oppressive city - like "Brazil." These can make good stories, but they are box office poison. New Science fiction is all positive, which means these films are set in the second social stage, like the science fiction-Western, "Independence Day." (For a discussion of Social Stage in stories, see the Great Screenwriting Class).

2. Creating a world in your story that is so weird it has no one-to-one connection with the real world and your theme.

The result: viewer alienation. A weird world may be visually interesting for a short period of time. But the audience can't enter into it, so they soon become bored. Science fiction must not be clinical or you have failed in your first job as a writer, which is to have an emotional impact on your viewer now.

3. A future world that lacks details about politics, society, work, etc.

One of the main points of doing a science fiction story is to present an alternative vision of an entire culture. Science fiction without this vision is superficial. Detail the world.

4. No strong main character.

Often in science fiction stories the world or system dominates the hero. Don't forget as you create your grand vision of the future world that your story depends first and foremost on a strong main character driving the action.