Everything has beauty (original) (raw)

Dear Sci-Fi Authors,

Terminology conventions are convenient shorthand for communicating complex ideas, especially if you're writing more of a space opera than hard sci-fi. Terms like "hyperspace" and "commlink" and "positronic brain" save a lot of boring description, and can be awesome homages to the people who initially coined the terms. But please, for the love of intergalactic alien tentacle porn, try to remember that these terms mean something.

For instance, let's take the word "quadrant" as it relates to a galaxy. As in "We were whisked into the Delta Quadrant. Fuck, that's far away." If you're writing about, say, an empire that spans most or all of a single galaxy, you might decide that you want to divide that galaxy up into "quadrants" and that your readers will totally catch on to what you're talking about without much in the way of explanation. And, you know, that's a totally legitimate term to use.

Unless, of course, you decide to divide your galaxy up in to quadrants of a number other than four.

The thing is, the "quad" in "quadrant" means four. Galactic quadrants actually come from the quadrants of a circle in geometry. Circles are divided into exactly four quadrants. It's what the word means. Similarly, galaxies are divided into exactly four quadrants. It's what the word means.

So, when you start talking about how the galaxy in which your galactic empire exists has hundreds of quadrants, it's likely to throw some of your readers out of the story. Like, a lot. To the point where some of them will poke their husbands awake in the middle of the night to bitch about it and then spend a substantial portion of their lunch breaks the next day ranting to the internet about it. It's really quite annoying.

So, please. Before you use a word, be sure you actually know what it means.

Thanks.