: Re: 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-

@Eichhorn147

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Do you need to convey plausibility?

Other answers have already mentioned this.
Depending on your intended audience, and what you personally want in your art, you might not need to convey scientific plausibility at all. If your audience is Twilight fans, the number of chromosomes vampires, werewolves, and vampire-human children have is relatively ancillary; even if they get an explanation, they probably wouldn't have complained if they hadn't. If your audience is Star Wars fans, they'll expect more trappings of technology, and more "explanations," but plenty of things can still go unexplained. They can still accept the Force without midichlorians. On the other hand, if your audience is fans of The Martian, they might be expecting something rigorously plausible, and if you put in some totally new technology without reassurance, they might not like it.

That said, if want to make the scientific plausibility explicit without providing a lengthy explanation, here are two ideas.

Hints

If you want to save space or not directly explain how some technology works, but still have something recognizably scientifically plausible to a knowledgeable individual, use a description, not a specification sheet.

Imagine a nuclear fusion bomb. You could certainly explain how it works, how the explosives increase the density of the nuclear material, how the high kinetic energy leads to a cascade of collisions, how hydrogen atoms fuse and release the mass difference as energy: in short, the science. Or you could describe the appearance and effects of the bomb instead. How much does it weigh? What kind of explosion does it produce (shape, light)? Does it poison people afterward? Or if someone takes the material out....

Or what if you want to use some fictional but still plausible technology. You can make it clear that the box that talks is a quantum computer by mentioning its temperature (quantum computers often operate at very low temperatures), and that it reacts poorly to a static shock.

By seeding these sorts of hints, you certainly maintain brevity, and even suspense for most readers, while nonetheless writing something that is obviously scientific and not magic or simply a plot device. Readers who are familiar with the principles behind the device will feel affirmed, whereas those who aren't won't miss anything.

Supplemental material

Works set in a historical setting, or a setting based on a historical setting, or even a real-world setting likely to be unfamiliar to the reader for whatever reason, often will have an appendix or prologue laying out the real-world background behind the story. Despite the fact that most readers won't be able to distinguish between actual Ancient Egypt, which existed, and Atlantis, which probably didn't, a story might nonetheless explain the history of ancient Egypt in the appendix.

This strategy could work for you; you can provide the scientific details in a supplemental section for those readers who are interested in such things. I've even seen a few particularly dedicated authors who wrote up a treatment of their work's physics or technology and posted it online. Any of the previous strategies will let you save space, or not spoil the story, while still providing the information for those who might want it.

This works best in a printed work; if you are writing a screenplay the additional filming costs may be prohibitive, or people might just not want to watch an additional video or listen to additional radio time.

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