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Originally posted by Thegn:
If your interested in writing plausible "tech" dialogue, just find a physicists or engineer online and ask him or her how something might work. If they're anything like me, they would get a kick out of explaining their trade. Then you can just throw in some usual jargon with what they told you. It's sure to work well enough.

Typically, in engineering the simplist geometric descriptions are used. If something looks like a coil or a rod, it's generally a "something coil" or a "something rod." Once you know a little basic science, it's not hard to fake it.

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Writers for SciFi shows actually do not commit these "tech terms" on paper... Unless if its absolutely essential to the story, they simply leave a "[ Tech ]" tag in the dialogue and someone will come behind and fill it in during the finishing process.

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Originally posted by Zicsoft:

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Writers for SciFi shows actually do not commit these "tech terms" on paper... Unless if its absolutely essential to the story, they simply leave a "[ Tech ]" tag in the dialogue and someone will come behind and fill it in during the finishing process.

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I'm told that some shows don't even do that -- they leave the tags in the script and the actors improvise. Usually the actors know that pseudo-jargon better than the writers anyway.

But that's crap. That's not science fiction. It's not even fantasy. It's just an invitation to turn off your brain for an hour. If I'm gonna do that, I'd rather watch porn. I prefer my masturbation to be more literal.


JOSS, WHERE'S MY CHECK???!!!

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Originally posted by Thegn:
I think, the tech jargon is more important then you are making it. A character like Kaylee, for instance, is defined to a large extent by her jargon. For any other character maybe it's not so important, but Kaylee has to sound convincing when she remarks about her stuff or she fails to present the persona of a competent engineer.

Now of course, if your audience is stupid, the writer has more artistic freedom, but that's a dangerous assumption to make. If your audience is not stupid, they'll see through poorly constructed dialogue. I'm of the mind to beleive that, in any writing, one should never assume that the audience can be easily fooled. It's always better to do your homework and not leave the jargon to whim, even in cases where it may not seem important.

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In the Dark Ages, Romano-Celtic Britannia was over-run by Viking-like cultures collectively called the Anglo-Saxons. They were led by warlords called Drytinns, and the greatest warriors among them were the Thegns.

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