by Stephanie Howard

Created on: March 24, 2010

One common misconception for science fiction writing is that the writer must know how advanced technology is supposed to work. Sometimes this is for the writer to make sense out of what he or she is writing about, and other times it is so that the writer could try to explain it to the readers. The truth is, you don’t have to know how advanced technology works or figure out how to explain it to the reader. The whole point to advanced technology is that it is advanced. That means that we would not understand how it works anyway. If it’s something that you can explain, then go ahead and put that in the book. Just don’t bore the reader. If it’s something you can’t explain, then give a description of what it looks like and what it does and you will be good. There is no rocket science you have to learn to do this, and it leaves so much more to the reader’s imagination.

Think of a laser pistol. How does it generate the laser bullets? What’s inside the pistol that makes the laser bullets? If you miss your mark, will the bullet disappear? If not, where does it end up? These are things we do not know or can only guess; yet it is one of the most common types of science fictions weapons in fiction novels. Do we need to know the details and specific answers to these questions to enjoy the book? No. Want to create an elevator that rises without cords or cables and ends up rising into the floor of a floating city? Go ahead. If you want to make a few details, that’s fine, but you don’t need to know how it works or if it’s even possible to do in order to have it in your novel. It is advanced technology after all. Who knows what could be achieved.

The main way this works is to be consistent. If you are not consistent then the story is believable and easy to be immersed in. Should the technology do something unexpected or change suddenly then it is no longer consistent and has lost a lot of its believability. And believability is the soul of the story. Even for fiction, if it is too outrageous, then it is cheesy and ridiculous. The story would have to be connected and believable for the world you have created. That is the only way to capture the reader’s attention and keep them reading.

To make it simple, explain only what you can and only what is necessary and leave the rest to the readers imagination, and no sudden changes or additions.

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