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Friday, August 10, 2012

Plausibility

Plausible: Having the appearance of truth or reason; seemingly worthy of approval or acceptance; credible; believable.  (from Dictionary.com)

I know, what a happy post for a Friday. What can I say it was on my mind so I'm writing about it.

As authors, we create stories with characters and worlds, limited only by our imagination.  Anything and everything we want happens within the pages of our tales. However, we can get carried away with a story. We envision these mind-blowing scenes that would just be so awesome, but we forget about plausibility. What a pesky little creep! A killer of creativity! Why I've eliminated entire chapters because of this guy. Fortunately, those chapter kills came before publication. Sometimes that doesn't happen and I'll get pulled right out of a story.

Case in point. I just finished reading a historical romance. Not exactly a history lesson, if you know what I mean, but highly entertaining. Anyway, our hero and heroine are kidnapped by the villain, a loathsome bastard of a British East India Company man. Poor hero is whipped, then thrown into the hold while our heroine is enslaved in the captain's quarters. They get only brief glimpses of each other for the next four weeks or so. Until she sneaks down into the hold to get a little something, something. The author writes a very hot scene, complete with heroine running her fingers through hero's silky locks and along his strong jaw. Ah bliss...

Plausibility clobbering time.

We're talking the hold of an 18th century ship. Hello rats, hello other sailors, hello vermin. Not to mention it's been a month. Our silky-locked, strong-jawed hero is going to be pretty scruffy, smelly, emaciated and not to mention probably suffering the ill effects of having his flesh torn by a whip. And considering his condition, I don't think he'd still be able to ride her into the floor. Unless he's really an alien, but that would no longer make it just a historical.

I also recently read a sci fi in which the protagonist and villain were blasting away at each other and one of the many porthole windows on the ship got blown out. They kept fighting. Knock knock. This is outer space. It doesn't matter that the book is a low tech tale, if those windows get blown out, your characters will be sucked out into space, not continue their fight. Unless they are wearing pressurized space suits with gravity boots.

When we're writing we need to keep in mind that we can have happen whatever we want, but we need to make certain it's plausible. Otherwise we risk ruining our credibility as writers. Though I do  know there are those readers who don't care one wit about whether something is believable. When I questioned the above historical on another site, I was hammered by faithful readers of the author who told me that I had no sense of drama and romance. I mean, really, who wants to read about scruffy heroes and body odors? It's not sexy.

Now even, though there are readers out there  who don't care, I would err on the side of making it believable. You know for the other 99%.

Have you ever had to eliminate something in a story because it wasn't plausible? Have you ever read anything unbelievable that jerked you out of a book? Speak truth, I promise no one will skewer you for your opinion.


28 comments:

  1. Both of those scenarios made me laugh! Yeah, I'd think space fight is over at that point.
    I re-wrote the big scene at the end of my first book so many times, trying to find a way to make it plausible. I just had to keep asking "Why didn't he...?" until that question no longer came up.

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    1. I read that scene and kept thinking about that scene in Aliens where Ripley blew the creature out of the airlock. That giant sucking vacuum of space.

      I had to re-write several scenes myself before the plausibility factor was there. It's hard! :)

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  2. You've hit this right on the nose, Melissa. It's one of the things that bother me the most in a book--why can't the author do their research properly? Last night a friend and I were talking about the DaVinci Code and how that starting scene, where whatshisname gets taken from the Ritz to the Louvre, is a flunk. The route described is the scenic one, not the route a local cop in a hurry would take. Mr. Brown did a lot of research for this book; why couldn't he check that one detail? So--plausibility. Yes. Agreed. Thanks for this post!

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    1. Thanks, Giulie! I'm so glad you enjoyed this post. I know exactly what scene you're talking about and a friend of mine, who used to live in Paris talked about that same thing.

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  3. Well hmm. Okay, in defense of science-fiction or storytelling that blows plausibility out of the water, Star Wars was entertaining. I know sound doesn't travel in space. But I liked hearing the explosions. I liked that during deceleration from hyperspace, people didn't go flying around inside the ship. Stanley Kubrik filmed 2001: A Space Odyssey in a way that was scientifically accurate. All the space scenes as a result, are quiet and have only classical music to accompany them.

    My point is that 2001 is a boring movie. I don't enjoy it. The same can be said for books. What you are indicating is that lack of the nitty gritty reality of smells, poor hygiene, and rats pulls you out of the tale. But I argue that in such a thing as a historical romance, those details are not "romantic" and therefore shouldn't be included. I guess that there will always be people in two different camps. Those that are looking for an escape from reality, and those that want eye candy and diversion. Maybe they both cannot occupy the same space in time.

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    1. Star Wars was definitely stretching the plausibility, but it was fun. You're right the nitty gritty reality is not romantic, but that's still no excuse to completely ignore all plausibility. A starved man suffering the effects of what the author describes as 50 lashes is not going to perform like a champion. She should have left that scene for later in the story when he was in better condition. That's just me, though.

      There are definitely two sides to this and I'm glad you pointed out the things you did. It's always great to see another POV. Thanks for sharing.:)

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  4. 'I would err on the side of making it believable. You know for the other 99%.' - LOL!

    I need things to be real and true. Things can still be hot. Just wait until they're back on land for the historical, or blow up an interior piece of equipment for the sci-fi. That's what the revision stage is for.

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    1. Exactly! Things can still get revved and going, but the human body is only capable of so much.

      Oh how those revisions haunt me sometimes. LOL I've taken out many a great scene because there was the plausibility factor staring me in the face.

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  5. Excellent points. Though, I do see Michael's perspective. Audience, story type, etc. really impact the details that should be given. Anticipated reader age also impacts things quite a lot. What is gross or romantic to a 13 year old, might not do much for an adult, so there'd be no need to cover certain things, or perhaps a need to embellish others.

    Either way, you've given us a lot think about over the weekend! Hope yours is great, btw. :)

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    1. Thanks E.J. Michael made some compelling arguments for sure. I never thought about age, but you're right. Something a thirteen year old would find romantic is certainly not what an adult would. T

      You have a terrific weekend as well. :)

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  6. GRRREAT post! It's absolutely a deal breaker for me - when there's one little moment of illogic that the entire rest of the story would be negated by if it had gone the way of reality. I agree with Alex - in my screenplays I have sat for hours not proceeding because I can think my way around the plot point I just came up with - only when it makes total sense and there's no silly moments of illogic do I proceed. Plausibility. So important!

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    1. Thanks, Craig! I have done the same thing. Sitting for hours trying to get past a plot point without contriving something or coming up with something that is completely illogical.

      I can suspend disbelief, but you have to establish good parameters in order to convince me to do so.

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  7. Love it! I've dropped several books right in the middle because they messed up so badly. I thought the heroine in your scenario was going to help the poor guy out of the cell - not jump him! Silly girl :)

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    1. I did too, when I first read it. I know that there is a line when writing romance. Michael Offutt made some very good points, but there are certain things I just can't suspend my disbelief for. :)

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  8. yeah... ummm... i'm not so clever a reader and often miss the plausibility inconsistencies... but these two? yeah. those are bad.
    that's why crit, crit, crit (from honest and intelligent readers) is SOOOOO important!

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    1. Crit is so very important. My own crit readers have caught many a plausibility problem for me.

      I'm not always alert to plausibility problems, either. :)

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  9. Hilarious Melissa. LOL Never let reality stop you I guess. Yet, we accept noise in space. Go figure.

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    1. Thanks, Maurice! Glad you loved my little reality checks here. It is funny how we accept certain things and others we just don't. I like that turn of phrase "Never let reality stop you..." Awesome!

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  10. I cannot stand unplausible books nor films! That's one of the most important issues when you are a writer if you ask me.

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    1. I knew you would agree with me, Dez. I'm sure as a translator you have seen tons of examples of completely implausible things happening in books.

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  11. It's been my goal to remain off the bad astronomy list since I started. My first novel, yet to be published, took forever because I needed a 'plausible' way to kill a solar system in a certain time frame. Not as easy as it sounds. Luckily, I'm now at PMO every summer and have scientists to ask.

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    1. I hear you! Finding a plausible way for characters or events to unfold in a novel can be trying to say the least. I know that readers suspend disbelief and that it does work for many a tale, but I feel as a writer there are certain times where you cannot gloss over or expect people to accept it.

      I have to visit PMO someday. What a gorgeous place.

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  12. Stuff like that tends to bug me too. I saw that movie, Lockout, recently and almost every scene was like that for me. Something entirely implausible seemed to happen over and over and over again. Too bad, because I really wanted to like that movie - well, I kinda still did - but it could have been so much better.

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    1. I hate being sucked out of a book or movie like that. Those head scratching moments where you're saying "Did that just happen? Oh come on, really?" I can suspend my disbelief, but there are times where I just can't. I've been hemming and hawing over Lockout. Maybe I'll haw a little longer.

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  13. I care about plausibility. It has to make sense to me, and be authentic. After reading Stephen Kings novel Cell, totally believed a cell phone could be modified that way to kill people. Even the author said it was a load of bunk, but it was so well written it required little stretch of the imagination.

    ........dhole

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    1. Exactly! If you establish great parameters, then you can build in plausibility. I think is what I have been trying to say, but didn't make it clear enough. Thank you!

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  14. Melissa, I am so WITH YOU. I love imaginative stories, but there still has to be some sort of plausibility that exists even in that made up world. If something is fantastical, there has to be a great explanation that the reader buys into.

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    1. Yes! There needs to be proper plausibility built within the world so that the reader can suspend disbelief. Otherwise, we're just scratching our heads.

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