The Imposter Syndrome - again

Recently I've read quite a few SF books by women authors who have impressive science qualifications.     Degrees and PhDs in the hard sciences are not in short supply among women science fiction writers, and that's triggered another attack of the Imposter. 

Up against trained and real scientists, what the hell do I think I'm doing writing SF?  The Imposter's whispers get even louder when I'm writing about my heroine Jian Kabana.  You're writing about a coder, and you have no idea how to code anything, the Imposter whispers.  So how do I counter this?

First, by remembering that I'm writing fiction, not science fact.  That doesn't excuse me from knowing some basic science, though.  I have a good collection of popular science books, ranging from treatises on DNA and epigenetics, to Brian Cox's Wonders of the Universe and Wonders of the Solar System, Richard Dawkins and Michio Kaku.  And if these sources fail me there's always the Internet.  Which strangely was where I was recently researching types of computer viruses.  An odd coming full circle.

I also remind myself that I often read SF books where the science isn't explained.  The latest was CL Higgins' Lightless.  That starship has a black hole at its centre for propulsion.  The author has a science degree, but she didn't even try to explain how a black hole can be captured/made and safely contained in the heart of a starship.  It's an example I can follow.

 Worldcon 75's AI in Real Life and Fiction panel AI experts admitted that they didn't even know the nature of the breakthrough they'd need to create a sentient AI.  So me writing about mine has to be pure fiction, there is no science to support them.

So I return to my work knowing that it's the story that matters.  I've sort of tried to explain how my sentient AI Chilai arose, but even there one source of her increased intelligence is travelling through the mysterious dimension of Flux.  All I say about that is that it allows very long distance travel, possibly between galaxies.

Now I've talked the Imposter down again I'm off to create another sentient AI.  This one is called Star, and he inhabits the pages of my novel Starfire.