: Re: How to make the reader "accept" absurdity? A few examples of what I refer to as ridiculous scenes: A psychic gives the protagonist a business letter with only her name - no phone, no address

A very incomplete answer, but some random thoughts:

One: Readers tend to accept wild things about physics, but not about human behavior. Like, I've often noticed when reading science fiction that I'll easily accept faster than light travel, teleportation machines, time travel, pocket fusion generators, etc etc. But if the captain of the star ship gives a lame excuse for why he violated orders, I'm saying, "Oh, come on, the Star Admiral just accepted that? Wouldn't they have demanded some explanation?" etc.

Two: Readers accept something wildly improbable that is the starting point, the premise, of the story, but not something that looks like it was introduced just to give the hero a way out at the last minute, or that appears to be included for no apparent reason. Like if you write a story that starts out with the hero inventing a time machine and going back to meet Shakespeare, readers will likely just accept this, no matter how improbable they think time machines are. But if you've never mentioned a time machine before in the story, and then at the last minute, when the hero is totally trapped and the reader is wondering how in the world he is going to get out of this mess, you say, "... and then he pulled a time machine out of his pocket and went back in time to ten years before the prison cell was built, and walked away. The end", readers will strangle you.

Three: Readers accept things that fit the general tone of the story, but not things that are jarringly out of place. If you write a story set in a magical fantasy land with elves and hobbits, and then the hero finds a magic sword, readers will accept it. If you write a detective story set in New York City that is grittingly realistic, and then the hero finds a magic sword, this will likely be a problem. I'm sure that a skilled enough writer could pull it off, but it would be very hard.

Load Full (0)

: Copywriting question, error by publisher I had a friend "publisher" help with organizing and publishing my children's book through a self publishing company. We have no written contract. He was

@Deb2945533

Load Full 1 Comments

: Usage of margin notes vs. footnotes There is a tendency in textbooks to leave ample margins for marginal notes and figures, as well as to leave readers space to include their own annotations.

@Deb2945533

Load Full 2 Comments

: Fragmented sentence I have a book I am writing, and every time I go into a grammar fixing program, I get a lot of "Fragmented Sentences." Can some one explain to me how to fix these with

@Deb2945533

Load Full 1 Comments

: Writing a Novel So, I am writing a story. I have book 1 done, half of book 2 and of course the ending in book 3. I am not an English major, and I am not at all great with grammar, or

: Re: How to make the reader "accept" absurdity? A few examples of what I refer to as ridiculous scenes: A psychic gives the protagonist a business letter with only her name - no phone, no address

More posts by @Deb2945533

: Copywriting question, error by publisher I had a friend "publisher" help with organizing and publishing my children's book through a self publishing company. We have no written contract. He was

: Usage of margin notes vs. footnotes There is a tendency in textbooks to leave ample margins for marginal notes and figures, as well as to leave readers space to include their own annotations.

: Fragmented sentence I have a book I am writing, and every time I go into a grammar fixing program, I get a lot of "Fragmented Sentences." Can some one explain to me how to fix these with

: Writing a Novel So, I am writing a story. I have book 1 done, half of book 2 and of course the ending in book 3. I am not an English major, and I am not at all great with grammar, or

Login to post a comment!

0 Comments

Back to top