My work moves between poetry and fiction, but in both forms I am interested in imagination, observation, humour and the strange directions an idea can take.
Ben Robinson is a writer and poet from Dorset in the United Kingdom. He writes poetry and comedy science fiction. Space 2047 is a deliberately absurd, satirical science-fiction story featuring an eccentric intergalactic delivery crew, strange planets, robots, unlikely mishaps and a comic narrator.
My life as a writer and poet from Dorset
In Space 2047, comedy grows out of contrast. Space travel ought to feel grand and heroic, yet the crew are often confronted by boredom, awkward conversations, ridiculous technology and problems that are anything but glamorous. That contrast gives me room to make the futuristic setting feel playful rather than distant.
The characters are deliberately eccentric. Their flaws, habits and strange ambitions help drive the humour because the universe around them may be enormous, but their worries can still be wonderfully petty and recognisably human.
I enjoy taking familiar parts of everyday life and relocating them into an absurd future. Work, shopping, travel, money, relationships and bureaucracy can all become comic material when they are exaggerated across planets and galaxies.
Robots and artificial intelligence in my fiction are not simply pieces of technology. They can have attitudes, misunderstand people, comment on human behaviour and become part of the joke. That allows the story to play with the difference between supposedly rational machines and frequently irrational people.
Characters and comedy
The universe of Space 2047 is intentionally crowded with odd names, improbable businesses, unusual planets and unexpected social rules. I like the feeling that almost anything might be waiting around the next corner of the galaxy.
Satire gives the comedy another layer. Beneath the strange incidents there is room to poke fun at work, consumer culture, rules, institutions, social habits and the ways people try to make sense of a confusing world.
Long-form comedy needs variation, so I move between dialogue, visual absurdity, character observations, futuristic inventions and escalating situations. A small inconvenience can become an intergalactic catastrophe if the characters make exactly the wrong decision at exactly the right moment.
The narrator is important to the tone because the narration can participate in the humour rather than merely report what happens. It can digress, judge, exaggerate and make the reader feel as though the storyteller is another eccentric presence travelling with the crew.
Writing across genres
Although the setting is futuristic, the emotional ingredients are familiar: boredom, hope, embarrassment, ambition, curiosity, friendship and the desire for something interesting to happen. Comedy becomes a way of magnifying those ordinary feelings.
I am interested in the freedom science fiction gives a writer. There is no need to stop at what already exists. A joke can become a planet, a strange idea can become a technology, and a passing observation can become the basis for an entire society.
Poetry influences the way I approach prose. Rhythm, repetition, unexpected images and the sound of a sentence all matter to me. Even in a comic scene, language can create momentum and personality.
Moving between poetry and fiction keeps my writing flexible. A poem may concentrate an idea into a small space, while a novel lets that idea wander, collide with characters and develop over hundreds of pages.
Why I keep writing
As a writer from Dorset, I also value observation. Everyday landscapes, conversations and human behaviour can all become starting points. Imagination does not have to reject ordinary life; it can take ordinary life and transform it.
Writing regularly matters because every new piece teaches me something about voice, pacing and the kind of ideas I want to pursue. Some ideas become serious, some become reflective and others become completely ridiculous.
In Space 2047, comedy grows out of contrast. Space travel ought to feel grand and heroic, yet the crew are often confronted by boredom, awkward conversations, ridiculous technology and problems that are anything but glamorous. That contrast gives me room to make the futuristic setting feel playful rather than distant.
The characters are deliberately eccentric. Their flaws, habits and strange ambitions help drive the humour because the universe around them may be enormous, but their worries can still be wonderfully petty and recognisably human.
Ideas behind the fiction
I enjoy taking familiar parts of everyday life and relocating them into an absurd future. Work, shopping, travel, money, relationships and bureaucracy can all become comic material when they are exaggerated across planets and galaxies.
Robots and artificial intelligence in my fiction are not simply pieces of technology. They can have attitudes, misunderstand people, comment on human behaviour and become part of the joke. That allows the story to play with the difference between supposedly rational machines and frequently irrational people.
The universe of Space 2047 is intentionally crowded with odd names, improbable businesses, unusual planets and unexpected social rules. I like the feeling that almost anything might be waiting around the next corner of the galaxy.
Satire gives the comedy another layer. Beneath the strange incidents there is room to poke fun at work, consumer culture, rules, institutions, social habits and the ways people try to make sense of a confusing world.
Creating the world
Long-form comedy needs variation, so I move between dialogue, visual absurdity, character observations, futuristic inventions and escalating situations. A small inconvenience can become an intergalactic catastrophe if the characters make exactly the wrong decision at exactly the right moment.
The narrator is important to the tone because the narration can participate in the humour rather than merely report what happens. It can digress, judge, exaggerate and make the reader feel as though the storyteller is another eccentric presence travelling with the crew.
Although the setting is futuristic, the emotional ingredients are familiar: boredom, hope, embarrassment, ambition, curiosity, friendship and the desire for something interesting to happen. Comedy becomes a way of magnifying those ordinary feelings.
I am interested in the freedom science fiction gives a writer. There is no need to stop at what already exists. A joke can become a planet, a strange idea can become a technology, and a passing observation can become the basis for an entire society.
Characters and comedy
Poetry influences the way I approach prose. Rhythm, repetition, unexpected images and the sound of a sentence all matter to me. Even in a comic scene, language can create momentum and personality.
Moving between poetry and fiction keeps my writing flexible. A poem may concentrate an idea into a small space, while a novel lets that idea wander, collide with characters and develop over hundreds of pages.
As a writer from Dorset, I also value observation. Everyday landscapes, conversations and human behaviour can all become starting points. Imagination does not have to reject ordinary life; it can take ordinary life and transform it.
Writing regularly matters because every new piece teaches me something about voice, pacing and the kind of ideas I want to pursue. Some ideas become serious, some become reflective and others become completely ridiculous.
Writing across genres
In Space 2047, comedy grows out of contrast. Space travel ought to feel grand and heroic, yet the crew are often confronted by boredom, awkward conversations, ridiculous technology and problems that are anything but glamorous. That contrast gives me room to make the futuristic setting feel playful rather than distant.
The characters are deliberately eccentric. Their flaws, habits and strange ambitions help drive the humour because the universe around them may be enormous, but their worries can still be wonderfully petty and recognisably human.
I enjoy taking familiar parts of everyday life and relocating them into an absurd future. Work, shopping, travel, money, relationships and bureaucracy can all become comic material when they are exaggerated across planets and galaxies.
Robots and artificial intelligence in my fiction are not simply pieces of technology. They can have attitudes, misunderstand people, comment on human behaviour and become part of the joke. That allows the story to play with the difference between supposedly rational machines and frequently irrational people.
Why I keep writing
The universe of Space 2047 is intentionally crowded with odd names, improbable businesses, unusual planets and unexpected social rules. I like the feeling that almost anything might be waiting around the next corner of the galaxy.
Satire gives the comedy another layer. Beneath the strange incidents there is room to poke fun at work, consumer culture, rules, institutions, social habits and the ways people try to make sense of a confusing world.
Long-form comedy needs variation, so I move between dialogue, visual absurdity, character observations, futuristic inventions and escalating situations. A small inconvenience can become an intergalactic catastrophe if the characters make exactly the wrong decision at exactly the right moment.
The narrator is important to the tone because the narration can participate in the humour rather than merely report what happens. It can digress, judge, exaggerate and make the reader feel as though the storyteller is another eccentric presence travelling with the crew.
Ideas behind the fiction
Although the setting is futuristic, the emotional ingredients are familiar: boredom, hope, embarrassment, ambition, curiosity, friendship and the desire for something interesting to happen. Comedy becomes a way of magnifying those ordinary feelings.
I am interested in the freedom science fiction gives a writer. There is no need to stop at what already exists. A joke can become a planet, a strange idea can become a technology, and a passing observation can become the basis for an entire society.
Poetry influences the way I approach prose. Rhythm, repetition, unexpected images and the sound of a sentence all matter to me. Even in a comic scene, language can create momentum and personality.
Moving between poetry and fiction keeps my writing flexible. A poem may concentrate an idea into a small space, while a novel lets that idea wander, collide with characters and develop over hundreds of pages.
Creating the world
As a writer from Dorset, I also value observation. Everyday landscapes, conversations and human behaviour can all become starting points. Imagination does not have to reject ordinary life; it can take ordinary life and transform it.
Writing regularly matters because every new piece teaches me something about voice, pacing and the kind of ideas I want to pursue. Some ideas become serious, some become reflective and others become completely ridiculous.
In Space 2047, comedy grows out of contrast. Space travel ought to feel grand and heroic, yet the crew are often confronted by boredom, awkward conversations, ridiculous technology and problems that are anything but glamorous. That contrast gives me room to make the futuristic setting feel playful rather than distant.
The characters are deliberately eccentric. Their flaws, habits and strange ambitions help drive the humour because the universe around them may be enormous, but their worries can still be wonderfully petty and recognisably human.
Characters and comedy
I enjoy taking familiar parts of everyday life and relocating them into an absurd future. Work, shopping, travel, money, relationships and bureaucracy can all become comic material when they are exaggerated across planets and galaxies.
Robots and artificial intelligence in my fiction are not simply pieces of technology. They can have attitudes, misunderstand people, comment on human behaviour and become part of the joke. That allows the story to play with the difference between supposedly rational machines and frequently irrational people.
The universe of Space 2047 is intentionally crowded with odd names, improbable businesses, unusual planets and unexpected social rules. I like the feeling that almost anything might be waiting around the next corner of the galaxy.
Satire gives the comedy another layer. Beneath the strange incidents there is room to poke fun at work, consumer culture, rules, institutions, social habits and the ways people try to make sense of a confusing world.
Writing across genres
Long-form comedy needs variation, so I move between dialogue, visual absurdity, character observations, futuristic inventions and escalating situations. A small inconvenience can become an intergalactic catastrophe if the characters make exactly the wrong decision at exactly the right moment.
The narrator is important to the tone because the narration can participate in the humour rather than merely report what happens. It can digress, judge, exaggerate and make the reader feel as though the storyteller is another eccentric presence travelling with the crew.
Although the setting is futuristic, the emotional ingredients are familiar: boredom, hope, embarrassment, ambition, curiosity, friendship and the desire for something interesting to happen. Comedy becomes a way of magnifying those ordinary feelings.
I am interested in the freedom science fiction gives a writer. There is no need to stop at what already exists. A joke can become a planet, a strange idea can become a technology, and a passing observation can become the basis for an entire society.
Why I keep writing
Poetry influences the way I approach prose. Rhythm, repetition, unexpected images and the sound of a sentence all matter to me. Even in a comic scene, language can create momentum and personality.
Moving between poetry and fiction keeps my writing flexible. A poem may concentrate an idea into a small space, while a novel lets that idea wander, collide with characters and develop over hundreds of pages.
As a writer from Dorset, I also value observation. Everyday landscapes, conversations and human behaviour can all become starting points. Imagination does not have to reject ordinary life; it can take ordinary life and transform it.
Writing regularly matters because every new piece teaches me something about voice, pacing and the kind of ideas I want to pursue. Some ideas become serious, some become reflective and others become completely ridiculous.
Ideas behind the fiction
In Space 2047, comedy grows out of contrast. Space travel ought to feel grand and heroic, yet the crew are often confronted by boredom, awkward conversations, ridiculous technology and problems that are anything but glamorous. That contrast gives me room to make the futuristic setting feel playful rather than distant.
The characters are deliberately eccentric. Their flaws, habits and strange ambitions help drive the humour because the universe around them may be enormous, but their worries can still be wonderfully petty and recognisably human.
I enjoy taking familiar parts of everyday life and relocating them into an absurd future. Work, shopping, travel, money, relationships and bureaucracy can all become comic material when they are exaggerated across planets and galaxies.
Robots and artificial intelligence in my fiction are not simply pieces of technology. They can have attitudes, misunderstand people, comment on human behaviour and become part of the joke. That allows the story to play with the difference between supposedly rational machines and frequently irrational people.
Creating the world
The universe of Space 2047 is intentionally crowded with odd names, improbable businesses, unusual planets and unexpected social rules. I like the feeling that almost anything might be waiting around the next corner of the galaxy.
Satire gives the comedy another layer. Beneath the strange incidents there is room to poke fun at work, consumer culture, rules, institutions, social habits and the ways people try to make sense of a confusing world.
Long-form comedy needs variation, so I move between dialogue, visual absurdity, character observations, futuristic inventions and escalating situations. A small inconvenience can become an intergalactic catastrophe if the characters make exactly the wrong decision at exactly the right moment.
The narrator is important to the tone because the narration can participate in the humour rather than merely report what happens. It can digress, judge, exaggerate and make the reader feel as though the storyteller is another eccentric presence travelling with the crew.
Characters and comedy
Although the setting is futuristic, the emotional ingredients are familiar: boredom, hope, embarrassment, ambition, curiosity, friendship and the desire for something interesting to happen. Comedy becomes a way of magnifying those ordinary feelings.
I am interested in the freedom science fiction gives a writer. There is no need to stop at what already exists. A joke can become a planet, a strange idea can become a technology, and a passing observation can become the basis for an entire society.
Poetry influences the way I approach prose. Rhythm, repetition, unexpected images and the sound of a sentence all matter to me. Even in a comic scene, language can create momentum and personality.
Moving between poetry and fiction keeps my writing flexible. A poem may concentrate an idea into a small space, while a novel lets that idea wander, collide with characters and develop over hundreds of pages.
Writing across genres
As a writer from Dorset, I also value observation. Everyday landscapes, conversations and human behaviour can all become starting points. Imagination does not have to reject ordinary life; it can take ordinary life and transform it.
Writing regularly matters because every new piece teaches me something about voice, pacing and the kind of ideas I want to pursue. Some ideas become serious, some become reflective and others become completely ridiculous.
In Space 2047, comedy grows out of contrast. Space travel ought to feel grand and heroic, yet the crew are often confronted by boredom, awkward conversations, ridiculous technology and problems that are anything but glamorous. That contrast gives me room to make the futuristic setting feel playful rather than distant.
The characters are deliberately eccentric. Their flaws, habits and strange ambitions help drive the humour because the universe around them may be enormous, but their worries can still be wonderfully petty and recognisably human.
Why I keep writing
I enjoy taking familiar parts of everyday life and relocating them into an absurd future. Work, shopping, travel, money, relationships and bureaucracy can all become comic material when they are exaggerated across planets and galaxies.
Robots and artificial intelligence in my fiction are not simply pieces of technology. They can have attitudes, misunderstand people, comment on human behaviour and become part of the joke. That allows the story to play with the difference between supposedly rational machines and frequently irrational people.
The universe of Space 2047 is intentionally crowded with odd names, improbable businesses, unusual planets and unexpected social rules. I like the feeling that almost anything might be waiting around the next corner of the galaxy.
Satire gives the comedy another layer. Beneath the strange incidents there is room to poke fun at work, consumer culture, rules, institutions, social habits and the ways people try to make sense of a confusing world.
Ideas behind the fiction
Long-form comedy needs variation, so I move between dialogue, visual absurdity, character observations, futuristic inventions and escalating situations. A small inconvenience can become an intergalactic catastrophe if the characters make exactly the wrong decision at exactly the right moment.
The narrator is important to the tone because the narration can participate in the humour rather than merely report what happens. It can digress, judge, exaggerate and make the reader feel as though the storyteller is another eccentric presence travelling with the crew.
Although the setting is futuristic, the emotional ingredients are familiar: boredom, hope, embarrassment, ambition, curiosity, friendship and the desire for something interesting to happen. Comedy becomes a way of magnifying those ordinary feelings.
I am interested in the freedom science fiction gives a writer. There is no need to stop at what already exists. A joke can become a planet, a strange idea can become a technology, and a passing observation can become the basis for an entire society.
Creating the world
Poetry influences the way I approach prose. Rhythm, repetition, unexpected images and the sound of a sentence all matter to me. Even in a comic scene, language can create momentum and personality.
Moving between poetry and fiction keeps my writing flexible. A poem may concentrate an idea into a small space, while a novel lets that idea wander, collide with characters and develop over hundreds of pages.
As a writer from Dorset, I also value observation. Everyday landscapes, conversations and human behaviour can all become starting points. Imagination does not have to reject ordinary life; it can take ordinary life and transform it.
Writing regularly matters because every new piece teaches me something about voice, pacing and the kind of ideas I want to pursue. Some ideas become serious, some become reflective and others become completely ridiculous.
Characters and comedy
In Space 2047, comedy grows out of contrast. Space travel ought to feel grand and heroic, yet the crew are often confronted by boredom, awkward conversations, ridiculous technology and problems that are anything but glamorous. That contrast gives me room to make the futuristic setting feel playful rather than distant.
The characters are deliberately eccentric. Their flaws, habits and strange ambitions help drive the humour because the universe around them may be enormous, but their worries can still be wonderfully petty and recognisably human.
I enjoy taking familiar parts of everyday life and relocating them into an absurd future. Work, shopping, travel, money, relationships and bureaucracy can all become comic material when they are exaggerated across planets and galaxies.
Robots and artificial intelligence in my fiction are not simply pieces of technology. They can have attitudes, misunderstand people, comment on human behaviour and become part of the joke. That allows the story to play with the difference between supposedly rational machines and frequently irrational people.
Writing across genres
The universe of Space 2047 is intentionally crowded with odd names, improbable businesses, unusual planets and unexpected social rules. I like the feeling that almost anything might be waiting around the next corner of the galaxy.
Satire gives the comedy another layer. Beneath the strange incidents there is room to poke fun at work, consumer culture, rules, institutions, social habits and the ways people try to make sense of a confusing world.
Long-form comedy needs variation, so I move between dialogue, visual absurdity, character observations, futuristic inventions and escalating situations. A small inconvenience can become an intergalactic catastrophe if the characters make exactly the wrong decision at exactly the right moment.
The narrator is important to the tone because the narration can participate in the humour rather than merely report what happens. It can digress, judge, exaggerate and make the reader feel as though the storyteller is another eccentric presence travelling with the crew.
Why I keep writing
Although the setting is futuristic, the emotional ingredients are familiar: boredom, hope, embarrassment, ambition, curiosity, friendship and the desire for something interesting to happen. Comedy becomes a way of magnifying those ordinary feelings.
I am interested in the freedom science fiction gives a writer. There is no need to stop at what already exists. A joke can become a planet, a strange idea can become a technology, and a passing observation can become the basis for an entire society.
Poetry influences the way I approach prose. Rhythm, repetition, unexpected images and the sound of a sentence all matter to me. Even in a comic scene, language can create momentum and personality.
Moving between poetry and fiction keeps my writing flexible. A poem may concentrate an idea into a small space, while a novel lets that idea wander, collide with characters and develop over hundreds of pages.
Ideas behind the fiction
As a writer from Dorset, I also value observation. Everyday landscapes, conversations and human behaviour can all become starting points. Imagination does not have to reject ordinary life; it can take ordinary life and transform it.
Writing regularly matters because every new piece teaches me something about voice, pacing and the kind of ideas I want to pursue. Some ideas become serious, some become reflective and others become completely ridiculous.
In Space 2047, comedy grows out of contrast. Space travel ought to feel grand and heroic, yet the crew are often confronted by boredom, awkward conversations, ridiculous technology and problems that are anything but glamorous. That contrast gives me room to make the futuristic setting feel playful rather than distant.
The characters are deliberately eccentric. Their flaws, habits and strange ambitions help drive the humour because the universe around them may be enormous, but their worries can still be wonderfully petty and recognisably human.
That mixture of humour, imagination and unpredictability is what keeps me returning to the page.
Discover more of my writing on my website and explore my books online.
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Topics: Space 2047, comedy science fiction, poetry, Ben Robinson, Dorset writer, satire, futuristic fiction
