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When Technology Leaves Your Story in the Dust
Filed under “Things science fiction writers don’t want to happen.”
You write your book. You edit it. You hit the publish button. Then some schmuck of a scientist releases a paper that contradicts a key story element. Argh!
One curse of the science fiction writer is that science changes, and sometimes it can leave your story in the dust. It happened to me in Transpecial. I state that lightning storms are rare on Mars.
Not long after I published it, NASA released data indicating that actually? Lightning storms (dry ones) happen all the time on Mars because of static generated by all the dust.
Argh!
So, what can you do about it? You have three choices:
Ignore It and Hope it Goes Away
Yeah. You can pretend it didn’t happen and hope your readers didn’t notice. It might work, it might not.
If it doesn’t, you can shift to another strategy. If readers aren’t complaining, then maybe they didn’t notice. Or don’t care.
Honestly, it’s probably the best initial response.