I'm thinking of writing a book.

[Mysterian]

I've been writing various things for a while. Children's books and comedy scripts. Both require others to take them on towards a finished product. The children's picture books I believe were often very good. I managed to get on a publisher's long list but no further. The TV comedy scripts are a dead end as nobody in the business wants to consider unsolicited work, and the whole area is kind of dying out. A novel is different. I can produce a finished thing without depending on anyone else. (Although help would be nice). So I'm planning on giving it a go.

I'm going for science fiction. It doesn't require any research and 'keeping it real' is boring.
I'm going to rattle through the story quite quickly, with a focus on 'funny along the way' rather than too plotty.
Heavy on the silly.
Less about grand schemes (though there is one) and more about day to day in space. I mean, what would a space motorway services actually be like?

Need a name for the Earthling main character. Will look at village names in Dorset and Somerset. Compton Durville? Marston Magna? Clifton Maybank? Alien names are easier. Just bounce a ball on the keyboard.

Should I give a brief outline of the plot here?

Do you read much science fiction?

Hi, author and editor here. Can you think of a book that's in the same genre - e.g. if a reader liked that book they would like yours? I think you're right about TV scripts - it's incredibly hard to get anywhere with them. I wonder if you're treating it a bit lightly, e.g. focusing on the names you'll use. Sci-fi readers take their genre extremely seriously!

The science in science fiction needs to be reasonably plausible btw

Sounds like a cross between Red Dwarf and Welcome to our Village, Please Invade Carefully.

Read a bit, watch more.

The feel would be a Hitchhikers Guide kind of thing. Put an Earthing out of their depth in space. Comedy from explaining how things work. For instance, I think I have space toilets sorted!

Not focussing on the name that much, but I do kind of need one before I start. And it won't be for serious Sci-Fi nerds. Funny first.

I am a huge Red Dwarf fan.

Humorous science fiction is a recognised sub-genre. Might be worth reading a few of those books.

Write the book. Drop the name in later. Fretting about small details before you have done the donkey work feels naive.

Name sorted. Can always change it later.

There's a village in Somerset that would be ideal for a name.

Nempnett Thrubwell

ive been trying short stories romance ones, the problem i find is the day to day life seems repeative and even when its building the romance it seems samy each time, for me im trying to break it up so its more vaired but then i find i have had to evolve the stories to include other characters and other story threads then my issue has flipping between the story threads / lines, i had considered if doing one set of characters and then sorta like this is their story, and having cross over parts with other characters

Look up the Save the Cat method. Plotting out your chapters and figuring out when you will hit all the main “beats” makes it so much easier. You don’t have to stick to it exactly. But it saves you from a situation where your intro is like 30k words too long and you have to cut loads out.

Also would strongly recommend On Writing by Stephen King.

the thing for me is all the characters need to be or trying to write it logical from each activity rather than they did this but then the day after they thought they did this and so on without repeating,

There is already a pretty high-profile ‘cosy’ sci-fi novel set at the equivalent of a motorway services station.

I guessed right then! I'm a big fan too - it's the sheer absurdity of it isn't it?

It's underway. Got away from the blank page. Comes fairly easy when I'm in the right mood. The tricky bit is getting in that mood!
I'm trying not to fiddle with it too much when I've written a bit. A quick check for grammar and spelling and I move on.

I also need to clean my keyboard. It's not liking the letter G much.