Reddit mentions of How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy (Genre Writing)

> When a publisher wants you to sign a contract, that would be a good time to go to an agent and ask them to represent you.

I also wanted to add that this was the way that it used to be done. And actually I have an old version of an Orson Scott Card Fantasy writing book where he says the exact same thing, but that version was from, like, 1990.

(It's actually this version. Turns out I was spot on regarding the pub year)
Things are vastly different now, mostly because of the internet. The Big 5 houses and imprints no longer look at unagented manuscripts. And some agents don't like to sign clients who already have a contract they're sitting on because it means they can't then shop the manuscript around to other editors who might pay more (that really depends on the agent, though.)

Now, if you get a book deal without an agent, for sure reach out to your top agents and ask if they'll rep you. But going that route isn't necessary and way more difficult nowadays than in the past.

There's a huge variety of scifi weaponry used in different media. If you want a good smattering of possibility, try the Battletech books: lasers, particle cannons, missiles, and magnetic rail guns.

There are so many different creative kinds of weaponry out there, and creative ways for them to help drive the plot. For instance, in Dune, there are lasguns and personal shields. Lasguns are basically just laser blaster type guns, similar to what you'd find in Star Wars. They interact with personal shields, though, in a way that either vaporizes both the person with the gun and the person with the shield, or possible releases the energy of an atomic bomb. As a result, very few people are willing to use lasguns. The personal shields also prevent anything moving too quickly from getting past it, which means bullets also don't work. Low-tech hand-to-hand weapons like swords become hugely important in that society, which affects how the setting unfolds and how Paul is able to be successful.

Or there's the phaser and photon torpedoes of Star Trek, which do...more or less whatever the plot in that episode requires them to do.

If you're going to write in the genre, you really should try reading a bit more. I might also recommend Card's How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy. For the record, Card is an awful human being and I dislike supporting him. But I can't deny that he's a good scifi writer, and the linked book in particular is a good resource if you want to be a scifi writer.

Look, I'll give you some straightforward advice. It's up to you if you want to listen to me or not. If you like, you can look at any successful science fiction novel to confirm or disprove what I'm saying, or look at other sources of information such as this or this or this. Or heck, just google "why is info dumping bad".

OK, advice time:

Start the story by focusing on the main character, and give him a big problem to deal with right away. Then proceed with the plot by having him attempt to solve the problem. Don't have characters deliver long, information-dense speeches, the only purpose of which is to fill in the reader on details of the setting. Just let the details of the setting become known organically in the course of the narrative. The reader wants to read a story; they don't want to know about how we're going to run out of usable energy sources in 1000 years, or if the planet is 23 light years away, or the details of the time dilation and on and on. Maybe if any of this was really interesting and novel, you could include details of it up front to entice the reader, but it's just a standard scifi trope that's been done a million times. So, focus on the characters, get us engaged with them emotionally, and trust that the reader will be able to piece together the relevant details as they go instead of spoonfeeding it to them all up front like a baby.