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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/46741
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/46741
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Sometimes writers make mistakes. Sometimes they didn't know something. Sometimes they chose to ignore a fact because it got in the way of their story. This is so common, TV tropes has a whole family of tropes related to the phenomenon. Of particular interest to you would be [Artistic License - Medicine](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ArtisticLicenseMedicine?from=Main.YouFailYourMedicalBoardsForever) with all its subtropes, and [Critical Research Failure](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CriticalResearchFailure).

If you choose to write something, you don't add a footnote saying "actually, this is total bull". Imagine if Dan Brown added an addendum to all his books, explaining that all his "facts" are entirely made up, wrong, and incompatible with reality. He wouldn't be nearly as famous, would he?

**If you're uncomfortable with writing something that is painfully wrong, rewrite it.** Correct it. Make your work something that gives you pride rather than mild shame. If you don't really care, then you don't really care.

As a reader, a mistake I notice throws me out of the story, always. It breaks my suspension of disbelief, because I know "that couldn't have happened". Depending on the mistake, sometimes I can forgive it, gloss over it, move on. The author is, after all, just human, sometimes they make mistakes, no big deal. Or it could be that they made the choice deliberately, because it works so great for the plot. _Sometimes_ that too can be forgiven.  
Other times, the author should really have known better, should have done their research. Sometimes a mistake is so bad, I feel the author is showing blatant disrespect towards their audience. Then I will put the book down and never pick up anything by that author again.

But if you straight up add a footnote and tell me that the things you wrote can't actually work, what you're saying is "I couldn't be bothered with making it right, I do not respect you, the reader, enough to write something that works. Rewriting the work after I found a mistake was more work than I was willing to put into this, so here, take this half-baked product." I'm sure you can see how I wouldn't forgive that.

Original score: 32