Conveying a Sense of Wonder

One of the things that drew me into fiction as a child was the sense of wonder I experienced when reading certain fiction, notably that of Jules Verne, Arthur C. Clarke and later science fiction writers. The question is, how does a writer evoke that in readers?

First, let’s try to define it. The book Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction defines it this way: “a feeling of awakening or awe triggered by an expansion of one’s awareness of what is possible or by confrontation w...