Learning the ropes
Resist the Urge to Explain!
Writers who indulge in explanations commit a very simple, and too common mistake.
This happens a lot in sci-fi, where writers learning the ropes attempt to explain future technology naively thinking they're providing crucial and must have information to readers so the scene becomes 'realistic' and 'plausible'.
Wrong! If it is a well-known technology--in the future sci-fi world, at least--why the need to explain? It amounts to having a contemporary fiction writer who feels compelled to describe what happens when a character gets in a car and leave. Bear with me, now :)
"He rushed to the door and pulled the handle. The door opened on its hinges so he could get in and take place on the front seat, the one with the steering wheel in front.
He placed his feet on the pedals, took out the ignition key, plugged it in and turned it clock-wise. He exhaled with relief when the familiar humming of the engine greeted his efforts.
He needed to adjust the rear visor before leaving because the pilot before him was shorter, and he lost precious seconds.
On his right, the familiar gear shaft invited him to select the drive position and with a grin of satisfaction he pushed the pedal on the right, the one directly connected with the acceleration system. The engined roared and he left the curb."
Ridiculous, right? You would question the writer's sanity in getting into this kind of details.
Well, it happens in mediocre sci-fi books. And it shows naive writers :)
Writers who indulge in explanations commit a very simple, and too common mistake.
This happens a lot in sci-fi, where writers learning the ropes attempt to explain future technology naively thinking they're providing crucial and must have information to readers so the scene becomes 'realistic' and 'plausible'.
Wrong! If it is a well-known technology--in the future sci-fi world, at least--why the need to explain? It amounts to having a contemporary fiction writer who feels compelled to describe what happens when a character gets in a car and leave. Bear with me, now :)
"He rushed to the door and pulled the handle. The door opened on its hinges so he could get in and take place on the front seat, the one with the steering wheel in front.
He placed his feet on the pedals, took out the ignition key, plugged it in and turned it clock-wise. He exhaled with relief when the familiar humming of the engine greeted his efforts.
He needed to adjust the rear visor before leaving because the pilot before him was shorter, and he lost precious seconds.
On his right, the familiar gear shaft invited him to select the drive position and with a grin of satisfaction he pushed the pedal on the right, the one directly connected with the acceleration system. The engined roared and he left the curb."
Ridiculous, right? You would question the writer's sanity in getting into this kind of details.
Well, it happens in mediocre sci-fi books. And it shows naive writers :)
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[deleted user]
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Sep 08, 2013 04:26PM
Agreed. Sci-fi technology needs to be handled in a matter-of-fact way.
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Tony wrote: "Agreed. Sci-fi technology needs to be handled in a matter-of-fact way."Exactly, and yet it is a common thing. I've had a conversation with another sci-fi writer who was trying to explain readers a teleportation device going down to 'invent' a new boson particle and its force field and how it interacted with the our vector bosons. I tried to politely tell him he was crazy :)
An exception would be where, in the course of the story, a character invents a new device. My brother wrote a time travel novel that started with the scientist inventing the machine. There was a little bit of (necessary) explanation there...
Tony wrote: "An exception would be where, in the course of the story, a character invents a new device. My brother wrote a time travel novel that started with the scientist inventing the machine. There was a li..."Definitely, because it would be new even for the characters in the story. If some details are crucial to be revealed, I'd suggest also the use of a minor character and share a snippet of the information to the reader via a dialogue, e.g., an expert 'explaining' to another character, or to a child. Anything but spending paragraph after paragraph to describe details the writer believes they are 'needed' for the reader to 'believe' the story.
