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Writing Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [science]

This tag should be used for questions related to the usage of science in your writing, such as when asking how much science you should use while constructing the world for your fictional novel. Contrast this with the [academic-writing] tag that is about writing in the context of science. If used together you should make clear how the science tag is related to the question, such as when asking how much research to do for your paper.

This tag should be used for questions related to the usage of science in your writing, such as when asking how much science you should use while for your al . Contrast this with the tag that is about writing in the context of science. If used together you should make clear how the science tag is related to the question, such as when asking how much to do for your academic .

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How should I respond to a supervisor/editor who thinks my technical writing is "too conversational?"

My team and I are drafting a technical report to summarize the methods and results of a pilot study we recently conducted. After drafting a handful of sections, I passed them off to our supervisor for revisions and suggestions. One comment he…
Anson Call
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The unknown and unexplained in science fiction

Science fiction has been defined as a genre where the "incredible" elements are "recognizable as not-true, but also as not-unlike-true, not-flatly- (and in the current state of knowledge) impossible" (According to Darko Suvin, from Wikipedia link).…
Liquid
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Does everything have to be accurate?

Do I have to make everything apply to logic, physics, science, etc? The Harry Potter series has been a major hit, and it is nowhere near to being scientifically possible. But I've noticed that I can't seem to just "let things be" in my writing, as…
A curious writer
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Do I really need to have a scientific explanation for my premise?

So, in my post-apocalyptic novel, the world was caught up in an international war (basically WWIII), and all the world's nuclear superpowers launched their warheads and killed much of the global population. Ambient radiation from the nuclear…
user34214
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How to explain the main plot with science based concepts, without the non-sci-fi fans getting bored?

Let me explain: I'm writing a game where the Earth gets a massive biological attack from an alien race in the close future, and only a small part of the planet's life survived (few dozens of humans and animals). The explanations for those events are…
Guilherme
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How to avoid or mitigate heavy science lingo and "technobabble" in a science fiction story?

Background I am currently working on a small science fiction story (as referenced in a previous question of mine). The main protagonist of the story is an autistic biologist who gets stranded on an alien planet when his shuttle's landing system is…
Sciborg
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Making science for toddlers easy to remember

I have been intending to create a book for toddlers with basic scientific notions in it. Most books for this target readership that I have seen present whatever content in the form of a story, quite often with fictional characters. I was intending…
NofP
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What is the image size in scientific paper if indicated as "a single, 1.5 or 2-column fitting image"?

I would like to submit my manuscript in ecology, containing Figures. However, in Author guidelines, I found that I have to Indicate per figure if it is a single, 1.5 or 2-column fitting image. What are those measures? In another journals I found…
maycca
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Should I prefer long or short sentences in scientific writing?

Currently, I am writing papers with rather short sentences: About half of them contain around 20 words, about 10% to 20% even less. I am doing this for three reasons: I find short sentences easier to read, prefer to show relationships using other…
DaveBall
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What is a good way to foreshadow that magic is actually very advanced technology?

In a story I'm working on, humanity had sometime in the past reached a very advanced technological level (far higher than ours), but then had a devastating global war, and afterwards technology had been banned. Now at the time of my story, those…
celtschk
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How to write realistic injury scenes?

I'm currently writing an apocalypse themed story. As with the territory, death and/or injuries happen. I'm wondering how other writers write these scenes realistically as far as science, medicine, and biology are concerned? Meaning, if I injure a…
KaguraRap
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What level of understanding should you have of Quantum Physics to write a hard science fiction novel?

What level of understanding should you have of Quantum Physics to write a hard science fiction novel? And how should you learn Quantum Physics in order to be able to write a hard science fiction novel? What's the least time-consuming way of doing…
user36239
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The fine line between accurate science, and confusing my reader

I recently wrote a blog post (original here) about a scientific study. At the end, I included some "fine print" which states, among other things: Correlation does not mean causation. It’s theoretically possible that trans fat isn’t the culprit…
Flimzy
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Proven psychological or scientific means of scaring people?

I already feel right out of the gate that this is going to be a naive question, but I'm going to ask it anyway. I know that writing horror does not guarantee that you're particularly good at it, and that it takes talent, practice, and study in order…
bsideswiped
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How to integrate letters, in-universe book Snippets and the like into a story

So, let's say the main characters enter a building, a really big laboratory of sorts. They don't know what was being worked on here, because no one is still there, it's been abandoned recently. But for the plot to move on, they need at least a basic…
Pharguin
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