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onomatomanic
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Could we have a sticky to collect some of the more helpful general advice on the do's and dont's of plot-construction in speculative fiction? I've been reading some of the older threads which have been moved to this board, and came across two insights so far which I found personally useful and would like to see included:
I mean only things like these, which are specific to sciency plot devices and fantastic settings, none of the usual trite genre-independent writing advice like "show, don't tell" and "avoid excessive use of adjectives".
TheStatutoryApe said:Basically no matter how much research you do and how perfectly and scientifically accurate you make something if that something will generally be considered unlikely then your research is not going to make your audience, who has not done said research themselves, consider it any more likely. So, essentially, the problem of disbelief cuts both ways. Funny huh?
DaveC426913 said:The bigger the lie, the sooner in your story you need to tell it.
I mean only things like these, which are specific to sciency plot devices and fantastic settings, none of the usual trite genre-independent writing advice like "show, don't tell" and "avoid excessive use of adjectives".