Characters and Humanity in Science Fiction:

How do we keep characters emotionally grounded within a futuristic setting?

Do contemporary societal themes influence character development?

These two questions have been put to me. I am going to  answer the first question and explain it in the second question.

Writer Ray Bradury wrote a novel entitled "Fahrenheit 451" 

about a future world where reading is out-lawed. You cannot read any religious books. You cannot read books about caring for babies. You cannot read about other places. You cannot read food recipes. You cannot read road signs. In fact, you're not allowed to read how to drive.

  And if you own books and secretly read books, firemen come to your house, drag you out on the street, carry out your books, pile them up and then burn them. And if they cannot find your books, they burn your house down. 

The job of a fireman is not to put out fires, but to burn books.

So, in the story people gather together quietly. The repeat passages from the Bible, or the Koran. They tell stories that they have memorized.

  They care for each other. They comfort each other. And hope for a better day, a better life.

As a writer, I have to exprepres my characters' humanity.

As a writer, I have to torture my characters with situations they cannot immediately solve.  But what keeps the characters together is their humanity. Their concern for each other is what keeps them together.

Now, about contemporary societal themes and how they influence your characters' development is where more of your conflict comes. A very well read fiction writer makes sure that every page that he writes has conflict in it. Even the resolution part of the story has to have conflict. That's why that writer is so wealthy.

If a character of yours is kind and good and cares about people who hate other people, that character might decide to hate those other people also. What happens in society affects everybody.

A good example of how social things can influence people is a war movie made either in the 1960's or 1970's. It's called, "Hell in the Pacific". A Japanese fighter pilot is shot down over a remote, uninhabited island. Likewise, an American is shot down over the same island. Each man has been taught by his respective country to hate the other man. So, they constantly seek to kill each other, until they both realize they cannot survive by themselves. So they make a pact to not harm each other until someone comes to save them. Over time, they become friends. They've overcome the hatred they were taught.

  Then, one day, the wrong shows up. 

  I hope this helps.