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What Details are Necessary?

kirai

Dreamer
My WIP is a science fantasy (space with magical elements.) Spaceships and FTL travel are a staple. The FTL travel is set up similarly to that of the Mass relays in Mass Effect. They are more like train stations/airports. my question is: do I need to go into detail about how the FTL traveling works? I plan on going over the basic elements of it, but I feel like going into too detail may seem boring.

With enough money, some ships can acquire FTL travel without the use of the stations (based on the Alcubierre drive.)

The POV is mostly from the MC's view. She does not have extensive knowledge on this subject. She knows about the same amount as the average person knows how a car works.

What do you guys think?
 
Is it a big deal that there are places FTL can't get to, or that their speed is limited? To put that another way, is there a point where your readers will go "Why is this plot complication even an issue if they have FTL?"

If no, you can handwave it. The only people who will care are the people who will automatically refuse to read a story with FTL anyway.

If yes, you need to explain enough to allow for the complication, and you need to explain it before the complication becomes important. Try to find a natural reason to mention it (say, a relatively minor situation where the same complication applies--she can't buy some foreign perfume or something because FTL to that region is currently impossible.) You don't need to explain the mechanics in detail, but give just enough that it looks like more than just a handwave.
 

Caged Maiden

Staff
Article Team
I'm a big believer in "Only as much as the story requires". By that, I mean that you only need to explain it if the story NEEDS it. In my WIP, I have two religions not unlike Catholicism and Protestantism near and around the Reformation. While my religions are nothing like the ones of the real world, I didn't feel the need to delve into exactly what separates them from each other, nor what their extents comprise, spiritually. I mention that the one worships the gods and "divines" (saints) and that the other believes only the gods should be worshiped, I never really went into it in any sort of info dump way. The main conflict in my story is a corrupt priest who is trying to gain power, yet the only times I mention the religion at all is briefly, as support information. For instance, one of my MCs notices a tapestry at a ball and stops to examine it. Her old lover sidles up to her and discusses the image with her, over about three paragraphs, no more than 200 words. The only reason it's in there at all, isn't to explain the spirituality of the world, but because the image is directly relevant to their social situation at that exact moment.

If your character knows as much about FTL drives as I know about cars... well consider how much I talk about cars in my life. I love my car. I use it every day. I almost never thing about how it works. However, if I were writing the book for say... people who don't know anything about cars and don't use them, I might include a little more information than a more knowledgeable person might need.

If you could put in a discussion between two mechanics, for example, it might allow the reader and character to understand something if you feel it's pertinent or important for their understanding, but if it isn't, it will come across as a poorly-disguised info dump.

See, for me, I didn't need a reader to understand the religions. I only needed them to know that there were differences and that the one appealed more to the nobility and the other appealed more to the common people. But again, the main plot of my book is a group of people fighting for social reform and the church leader who is corrupt, is the catalyst for said reform.

If your FTL element is a background element in a novel about so much more, I wouldn't go into details unless necessary.
 

Svrtnsse

Staff
Article Team
Another way of doing what Feo says (sort of) is to treat it like you would airports and train stations if your story took place in the real world today. If your MC were travel by train you probably wouldn't go into details about how a train works, but you might mention the nature sliding past the window and the light thumping of the gaps between the rails.
Then again, your MC may be a bit of a train geek who worked as a driver of a subway train in their youth and then they may be paying attention to different things.
 

ThinkerX

Myth Weaver
I'm going to take a slightly different take.

1) Presumably, your MC is going to be associating now and again with actual starship crewmembers.

2) As such, these crewmembers would have defined tasks aboard the starships.

3) Hence, they are likely to 'talk shop' now and again in the MC's presence.

So...for internal consistency, YOU, at least need to have a fairly clear list of components and what they do. Otherwise, you have a good chance later on of having a character say in one scene its the 'drive coil' that initiates the warp jump, and saying in another scene its the 'Red Cube' which initiates jump, while the 'drive coil' is actually for the normal space drive.

Note that this is for internal consistency for you as the writer, not an info-dumpy thing in the book. This is a means of keeping the occasional casual reference straight.
 

Penpilot

Staff
Article Team
Like Caged Maiden, you really only need as much as the story requires.

In a story there are three things that need to be developed, the world, the plot, and character. A detail should develop at least one of these things or in the best case all three. But if it doesn't develop any of the three, then it's unnecessary. Again, it depends on the needs of the story.

Let's take your FTL travel for example.

If FTL is a key element in the plot, as in knowing how it works plays a critical part, then you have to find an interesting way to convey this information to the reader. That's story telling at it's heart, not boring the reader as the story unfolds.

If FTL is just a background element that's part of the flavor of the world, then you don't need to get into the mechanics of it. Caged Maiden's example of car is a good one. Knowing how to operate a car doesn't mean you need know how a internal combustion engine works. You just need to know what the steering wheel and pedals do, and that's pretty much all you need to convey to the reader.

If FTL is an important element to your main character's life, like they're a FTL engineer or something, then you probably need to showcase a bit of their knowledge. You don't need to go into every excruciating detail of FTL, but a quick, simple, and exacting, display of their knowledge, like having them repair something while dropping a bits of detail, would be enough.

The more an element like FTL plays in developing those three things, world, character, plot, then the more you need to explain.

Hopefully that made sense.
 
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BWFoster78

Myth Weaver
Normally, I'd say:

Only include the information that absolutely needs to be included.

Only include information in a story relevant way.

However, I'll go against the grain on this one. Science fiction fans tend to want to know how the "science" of your world works. A lot of the expect for you not only to know what the heck you're talking about but to explain it to them. Often, scifi writers will simply infodump this type of stuff.

If you're writing hardcore scifi rather than light adventure, I'd recommend incorporating the information simply to comply with reader expectations.
 
Normally, I'd say:

Only include the information that absolutely needs to be included.

Only include information in a story relevant way.

However, I'll go against the grain on this one. Science fiction fans tend to want to know how the "science" of your world works. A lot of the expect for you not only to know what the heck you're talking about but to explain it to them. Often, scifi writers will simply infodump this type of stuff.

If you're writing hardcore scifi rather than light adventure, I'd recommend incorporating the information simply to comply with reader expectations.

This but rather than do one large info dumb, have your main character mention what she does know. Then have the reader learn more about it as she does by way of conversation or having her discover something. But only when it makes sense to do so within the story. If it is not hard core scifi however then just write what is needed and don't worry about the finer details unless they cause a plot hole within the story. Because regardless of what information you include it should be information that will prevent plot holes from forming.
 

TWErvin2

Auror
You're limited somewhat by the POV, as to how much can be explained (although there are workarounds, and ways of introducing the information).

You're not writing hard science fiction, as described by having space with magic.

Those two factors will indicate how much you can describe the FTL travel and also how necessary a detailed description is.

You would probably want at least a layman's rendition of how it works integrated within the context of the story. Consider who your audience will be and that would be the best guide moving forward as to how vital and extensive the details are with respect to this, and other similar concerns.

If you're unsure, take a close look at published works similar to what you're planning, and see how they addressed such concerns.
 

Addison

Auror
I've got one name for you; Phil Pullman. I've read his work and what I, and so many others, love about his work is that he trusts the intelligence and imagination of his readers. All writers should do the same. If you explain everything then the readers just bought a big thing of printed matter. All they need is the basics, like Harry Potter or Star Wars. The readers didn't have to know how the wands were made or why this spell needed these wand gestures but that spell didn't. Nor did they need to know how the lightsabers worked so that a beam of light could chop a droid's arm off.

Trust the readers.
 

kirai

Dreamer
Everyone has been immensely helpful. I knew I had to add some detail, but I didn't want to bog down the reader with too much schematics. I think I know how to do it now.
 
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