Ask a Published Author: "When writing science fiction, how much technobabble is too much?"

James R. Strickland has been telling stories since before he could read. After making his career in high tech, he took part in National Novel Writing Month, and in 2004, wrote the first draft of Looking Glass , which was published in 2007. He lives in Denver, Colorado.

How much technobabble is too much? At what point does it start bogging down the actual plot, and how do you keep it from doing that? — Moustache de Plume

Ah, technobabble, my old nemesis. My first novel, Looking Glass, probably had the most. It also got the most complaints. A good friend confided in me recently that “I probably didn’t need the explanation of how IPv6 addressing works."

The real problem with technobabble is that it’s most often a big wad of exposition, and like all exposition, it’s deadly to story flow in large doses. A simple answer to this issue? Don’t explain it. Use the technology to turn the tide of battle. Involve the technology in a high-stress moment, when your character’s interaction with it will reveal information about both your character and the technology at the same time.

In my second novel, Irreconcilable Differences, I have my narrator sharing the body of a 16-year-old farm girl who is up in a wind turbine changing the oil. My narrator doesn’t like heights. That tension gives the scene motion, gives me space to characterize my narrator, her host, and their situation. At the same time it exposes how the turbines work so that when it becomes important later, I don’t have to explain. The reader already knows.

So take the technology apart. Debug it. Repair it. Break it. Blow it up. Read the documentation and make snarky comments. (I did this in Looking Glass, and it seemed to work for the particularly critical technology of neurofibers and how they work.) The point is, ideas and yes, technobabble are fundamental to science fiction, but they need to be presented as part of the narrative and plot, not separate exposition.

Our final head counselor will be Susan Dennard, whose book,  A Darkness Strange and Lovely, hits shelves today! It’s the second in a trilogy blending historical fiction, horror, romance, and mystery .