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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/7549
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Lauren's and SF's answers give good advice for dealing with the necessary explanation. My additional advice is: _make sure it's really necessary_.

Driving a car is a pretty complex task (ask anyone who's taught a teenager :-) ), and there are cases where it might be important to describe in detail the revving of the engine, the easing-out of the clutch, the braking technique to prevent a skid on ice, the timed firing of the rear thrusters -- oh sorry, wrong technology :-) -- but _usually_ this doesn't matter and you can talk about the driving of the car in a less-specific manner. Sometimes in the process of developing a new thing (technology, world, social structure, etc), one can come to over-emphasize it. Remember that your technology is, fundamentally, a tool to help you tell a good story. Focus on the story first and the rest will tend to follow.

Also, you don't need to do it all at once (and your readers may give up if you do). Let it come out in bits and pieces in the context of what's going on in the story.

Original score: 13