Writing Excuses 9.8: When is your Handwavium Good Enough?

from Writing Excuses · host Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler

What is handwavium? How does it work? What happens when it doesn't work?Our Sponsors:* Check out MasterClass and use my code masterclass.com/EXCUSES for a great deal: https://MasterClass.com* Check out Talkiatry and use my code Talkiatry.com/WX for a great deal: https://www.talkiatry.comSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/writing-excuses2130/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Feb 24, 2014

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What this episode covers

Eric James Stone and the Wilhelm Scream join us for a talk about "handwavium," that stuff that you use instead of through-and-through hard science. It's that part where you wave your hand and say "don't pay too much attention to this bit." When does it fail, though? When is it good enough? Like so many other things, this hinges upon whether or not the reader is knocked out of the story by implausibility. We talk about post-trans-uranics, reversing the polarity, inertial dampeners, and internal consistency. We also talk about how we, as writers, make our decisions regarding handwavium. Our Sponsors: * Check out MasterClass and use my code masterclass.com/EXCUSES for a great deal: https://MasterClass.com * Check out Talkiatry and use my code Talkiatry.com/WX for a great deal: https://www.talkiatry.com Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/writing-excuses2130/donations Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy