: Re: How to tell readers that I know my story is factually incorrect? Sometimes, it so happens that I do some research for a story and find that a major plot point could never work in real life.

@Carla500

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A really good example of this is The Martian, where the key event for Watney being stranded on Mars is a violent storm which damages equipment, injures Watney and threatens the lander. Andy Weir was perfectly aware that Mars does not in fact have winds which would match the novel's events - whilst winds on Mars can be extremely fast, the thin atmosphere means they simply could not have sufficient force. However the plot required an event like this, so the event happened. Weir is unapologetic about this, because the important point is to tell the story.

The context in which this is done is relevant. In every other regard, Weir took pains to ensure the science and engineering were correct. Moreover the "windy Mars" environment keeps recurring throughout the book, presenting Watney with new challenges, but also showing that this is business as usual for Weir's "windy Mars" and not a freak event that comes out of nowhere.

So if you're going to rework some piece of the real world to fit your plot, the answer is pretty simple - just make sure that you've figured out all the consequences of that change and how it relates to the rest of the world, your characters, and/or their opponents. So long as the novel is internally consistent, your readers simply don't care.

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