Have you ever realized you were in a dream? Your best friend turns into a salamander, your conversation about goat tacos gets deep, your shy friend chats openly with everybody... you're struck with the realization that something is awry. You realize you're dreaming because the rules that govern the real world don't apply where you are. People aren't acting as they normally act, and the world isn't acting as it normally acts. The illusion of reality is broken. Have you ever realized you were in a story? A pacifist murders for no viable reason. A city undergoes terrible damage during a superhero battle but nobody cares. A character responds illogically to a situation but it's presented as the logical choice. The illusion of reality is broken. The story must follow its universe's rules. That includes physical as well as spiritual and character development rules. The one rule for story believability: Follow the rules of your story's universe. Setting the rules If you don't define that a story universe's rules are different from real life, people will project real life's rules onto the story. For instance, if you don't tell people that planet Earth in your story has no gravity, they'll assume it does until you show differently in a way that makes it obvious that it's a rule of the story. You don't have to tell the audience the story universe's rules before the rules are relevant. They can learn some of them later. You just have to make sure to keep with the rules whether or not they're relevant to the storytelling yet. For instance, if blueberries are deadly poisonous in the story's world and the heroine eats blueberries but is unaffected, the story's rules are broken and so is the believability. We need a legitimate reason, then, that the heroine isn't dead from the blueberries. It can be far-fetched, but it must be possible within the world's rules. If the audience didn't know that blueberries are poisonous in the story's world, they would assume they're safe to eat, just like in real life. The audience doesn't need to know the blueberries' danger before they're consumed, but if things aren't played out well whatever happens could feel like a Deus Ex Machina of sorts. For instance, if the villain also eats the blueberries but only the villain dies and the heroine is OK for some illogical reason or no reason we'll feel cheated. This is because the rules of the world as we know them have been broken. As the writer, you can set whatever rules you want- just make sure they're clear when they need to be! This event is possible... Just because it's believable doesn't mean people will believe it. Maybe there are non-poisonous blueberries that grow among the poisonous ones, and the heroine happened to take the non-poisonous ones while the villain took the deadly ones. It's possible, so you can believe it- but it's a stretch. The example is kind of ridiculous, but you get the idea. You could make it much more believable by having the heroine take the correct berries on purpose, knowing a slight visual difference between the two. Alternatively, it could turn out the villain didn't actually die from the blueberries but from something else. Like them or not, slim chances are what tend to make the best stories: events come together to create unusual circumstances. The chances of individual events in a story may vary, but the chances of all of them adding up to the end is usually next to nil even (especially) in great stories. People have different limits to their acceptance of stretches, but if it could happen in the story's universe- considering not just the physical world but also the characters- it is a legitimate happening. What happens if we break our rules? If a story couldn't happen in one place then the rest of the story is a lie.
If a pacifist commits mass murder, we need a good reason why. If the mass murder really couldn't happen then the rest of the story is a lie. Unbelievable stories lack appeal, so you will lose both believability and appeal if you break the story universe's rules. Breaking the rules is not the same as following rules that aren't obvious yet, but the audience needs to have an explanation at some point or the story loses power. A lot of stories break the one rule for story believability and it kills them. I still enjoy the stories after they've broken rules (for what they are), but I can't help but remember in the back of my mind that what I'm seeing now couldn't actually happen. If you enjoyed this post, check out "Character or Story?"- Wrong Question. You can also let me know you enjoyed it by sharing it with your friends! Have you ever realized you were in a story? Let me know in the comments! Want to keep up on the latest posts and news? Subscribe to the newsletter! Check out my latest project: a medieval musical comedy that YOU can get involved in! Check it out!
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