Category Archives: Writings about Writing

Thoughts and tips about the craft

Writing Technobabble: R is for Research

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Welcome to my guide on how to write technobabble! Every post will start with one letter of the alphabet, from A to Z, and cover tips and ideas for all you writers of sci-fi. Whether you’re writing about near-future science fiction, far-flung alien worlds, or historical steampunk adventures filled with advanced technology that never was – these posts are designed to help you write convincing and unique tech for your story! 

R is for Research 

This goes along with my post about “H is for History.” Even if you’re not writing steampunk, alternate history, or some other retro-futuristic story, research is important.

You need to know the facts before you can create the fiction. Basing your tech on something real (or even other sci-fi high-tech concepts) helps to ground the reader in something believable and familiar, so that your fictional developments can then have a greater impact. 

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Writing Technobabble: Q is for Quirky, Quintessential, Quantum Questions

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Welcome to my guide on how to write technobabble! Every post will start with one letter of the alphabet, from A to Z, and cover tips and ideas for all you writers of sci-fi. Whether you’re writing about near-future science fiction, far-flung alien worlds, or historical steampunk adventures filled with advanced technology that never was – these posts are designed to help you write convincing and unique tech for your story! 

Q is for Quirky, Quintessential, Quantum Questions 

I had trouble coming up with something for “Q,” and had several words jotted down—so in the end, I’ve decided to use all of them. So here are some technobabble tips beginning with Q!

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Writing Technobabble: P is for Prefixes

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Welcome to my guide on how to write technobabble! Every post will start with one letter of the alphabet, from A to Z, and cover tips and ideas for all you writers of sci-fi. Whether you’re writing about near-future science fiction, far-flung alien worlds, or historical steampunk adventures filled with advanced technology that never was – these posts are designed to help you write convincing and unique tech for your story! 

P is for Prefixes 

This post is another short tip on how to actually create names for your pieces of tech. You can create new words—or simply change the meaning of a regular word—by adding a prefix. A prefix is a word—or even a symbol or a number—that is put before another word, and changes its meaning.

For example, “un” is a prefix, and it either negates the word it’s placed before, or changes the meaning to the opposite. As in: “necessary,” versus “unnecessary.” Pretty simple, and it’s a common part of the English language. 

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Writing Technobabble: O is for Occam’s Razor

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Welcome to my guide on how to write technobabble! Every post will start with one letter of the alphabet, from A to Z, and cover tips and ideas for all you writers of sci-fi. Whether you’re writing about near-future science fiction, far-flung alien worlds, or historical steampunk adventures filled with advanced technology that never was – these posts are designed to help you write convincing and unique tech for your story! 

O is for Occam’s Razor 

This entry doesn’t pertain to writing science fiction specifically, but I believe that it’s a principle that can aid sci-fi writers (or all writers, really). Occam’s Razor is an eponymous concept attributed to a 13th century friar named William of Ockham. 

Occam’s Razor is a principle of philosophy or logic that says, basically, that the simplest explanation for a situation is the most likely to be true. It’s not foolproof, certainly, in fiction or real life; but it’s a great concept to keep in mind when creating both complex plots and complex tech.

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Writing Technobabble: N is for Names

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Welcome to my guide on how to write technobabble! Every post will start with one letter of the alphabet, from A to Z, and cover tips and ideas for all you writers of sci-fi. Whether you’re writing about near-future science fiction, far-flung alien worlds, or historical steampunk adventures filled with advanced technology that never was – these posts are designed to help you write convincing and unique tech for your story! 

N is for Names 

With all of the tips and advice I’ve given about how to go about creating technology and analyzing how it fits into your story’s world, you might still be struggling with the actual naming of things. I gave some tips in my first post about using acronyms as names for gadgets and other sci-fi elements. And this post is another offering on how to actual create technobabble names or words. 

The “N is for Names” of this post has a double-meaning, because using real names is a great way to name things in sci-fi. Much like using acronyms, there’s a precedent for this in the real world: 

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Writing Technobabble: M is for Magic

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Welcome to my guide on how to write technobabble! Every post will start with one letter of the alphabet, from A to Z, and cover tips and ideas for all you writers of sci-fi. Whether you’re writing about near-future science fiction, far-flung alien worlds, or historical steampunk adventures filled with advanced technology that never was – these posts are designed to help you write convincing and unique tech for your story! 

M is for Magic 

Magic in a science-fiction story? Why not? Numerous sci-fi sub-genres can be just as much fantasy as fictionalized science: steampunk, space fantasy, and superhero stories often utilize as much magic as they do technology.

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