A few weeks ago, according to
my Facebook feed, The Bachelor finale featured a seriously unsavory breakup
between the latest contestants. I don’t watch the dating show, but viewers tore
into ABC for airing the footage.
The episode reminded viewers
that they weren’t part of a show, but rather voyeurs watching a reality TV show
that appeared to become a little too real. They were no longer able to suspend
disbelief.
As fiction writers, one of
our jobs in to get readers to suspend disbelief –to allow themselves to believe
your story, your world, your characters are real even though they know it’s
fiction. But how do we create this willingness to stay in our story?
The steps are simple (in
theory) and probably not new to anyone here.
Create a
relatable situation or character
Stay within
your world
Once
you create your world, you have to maintain the logic of that world. Characters
have to follow the rules of that world—or break them with consequences—and the
conflicts and resolutions to those conflicts have to come from the world.
Include
specific details
Small,
specific details make a story more real, particularly if readers can relate to
them. It’s not just the plush, linen chair. It’s the plush, linen chair that
smells like a wet dog.
What might be harder to
identify is what stops that suspension of disbelief. For viewers of The
Bachelor, the breakup pushed them out of the make-believe world of the TV show
and reminded them that these are people, not characters.
For me, scenes when a heroine
looks in the mirror and inventories her assets throw me out of the story. I’ve
never met a woman who did that. Most list their shortcomings.
What interrupts your
suspension of disbelief?
Keena Kincaid writes
historical romances in which passion, magic and treachery collide to create
unforgettable stories. If you want to know more about her as an author, visit
her Facebook page.
Even onstage, you didn't break the fourth wall except for effect. I think when I write I tend to hark back to those days on stage. I stay in that world, which has become real to me. It's like I'm writing dialogue, stage direction and bios for the actors all at the same time.
ReplyDeleteYou really made me think about writing and my process. Thank you. Doris
Hi, Doris. I’m curious...do you think you break that wall in your writing?
DeleteKeena, I don't think I consciously break the wall in my writing. If it does happen, it's by accident. I think all those years of being in my own world onstage has drilled into me the solidity of the fourth wall.
DeleteKeena that example you gave of the heroine looking at herself in the mirror and taking inventory jerks me out of the story every time. Likewise, when one character does that to another one, I feel the same way--like when the heroine inventories the hero as he sleeps. You know, maybe she notices on or two things, but stories where she admires his assets from head to er...toe... really pull me out of the story.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I really despise in stories (especially historicals) is the use of parentheses when showing thoughts. Maybe it's just me, but that pulls me out of the story, as if someone is pulling me aside and saying, "Yeah, here's what I'm thinking..."
Another one is the use of phrases, words, or names that are inappropriate for the time period. One that gets me every time is the word "morph" --just say "change"! Every time I see "morph" I harken back to my days as a young mother and enduring the neverending "POWER RANGERS" on tv when they'd say, "It's MORPHIN' TIME!" LOL
Great post. It made me think.
Oh...I remember the power rangers. I was teaching kempo at the time, and all the of kids came in wanting to be the white ranger. Ha, ha. I haven’t thought about that in a long time. And I agree with the heroine admiring the hero’s assets in bed. I’m always think, ‘she should have noticed before now.’
DeleteAnacronyms will pull me out of a story as will dialogue that isn't appropriate for the time period.
ReplyDeleteKeena, this was a wonderful reminder for us to "keep it real" when we write.
ReplyDeleteI have a hard time sticking with a story when all the hero seems to care about is the beauty of the heroine. The same goes for a heroine who only sees muscles and brawn and not the spirit inside the person. What I DO like is when one of them has a flaw or two and the other one adores that flaw. Giving characters a multifaceted personality and maybe even a physical flaw makes them "real".
If I read modern phrases in an historical novel, I close the book and move on to another book. It kills the story for me. It's like I fell out of the hammock...kaboom!
Loved the article, Keena.
Thanks, Sarah. I agree with your assessment of shallow heroines and heroes. Yes, that may be what you notice first, but if you never look deeper, you're not someone I want to get to know better. :-)
DeleteKeena, you've made some great points in your blog. Years ago while expecting twins, I had to rest a lot, so my mom brought me a shopping bag of Harlequin romances. One day I was so frustrated with a book I actually threw it against a wall and muttered I can do better than this. I was tired of seeing the same stereotyped h/h....she an orphan who lost her parents in a car crash at eighteen. The hero was always a good ten years older and there was always a woman with the dragon lady nails who would convince the heroine she didn't have a chance with the hero. Early in the book there would be a one paragrah description of the heroine (yes some of them were those darn looking in the mirror cataloging and falling short). And it was not well-written, but struck me as if she'd saved that paragraph, then with each book she'd pull it out and insert hair color, eyes, etc. like a paint-by-number exercise. At first I'd skim past one author's penchant for doing that. Eventually, I stopped buying her books...and quite a few others. But I learned from what I didn't like in a book and thus wrote my first book the way I wanted to read a book. Harlequin rejected my story, but had I known how close I was to acceptance, I'd have corrected my two problems which were not the plot. I think we have to study how authors write, note what we like and don't like and use that as a template to hone our own stories. Sometimes beginners are so desperate to get published that they compromise themselves and their books. A couple writers I know hated some of their books because by the time the editor finished editing, it was no longer the author's book. Thankfully, Cheryl Pierson knows how to let the author's voice shine through. I may have gone off-topic a bit here at the end, but it's my humble opinion. I haven't read a Harlequin in years, and hope they've improved.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if we read the same batch of books, Elizabeth. I remember a friend giving me a grocery bag of Harlequin books, and I read about half of them. That's when I began to hate the mirror-assessment and the heroine who didn't realize she was the most beautiful woman in the room. Just once I wanted a heroine who knew she was beautiful and knew how to work it. Instead, the villainness (sp?) was always the one comfortable with her looks. What kind of message is that to send to women?
DeleteI think we did read the same batch of books. This morning while still in bed, I was thinking about your blog and remembered one of my pet peeves that pulls me out of a story...but I dozed off and for the life of me I couldn't remember what that peeve was...but it was a good'un. It will eventually come to me, probably at 3 a.m.
DeleteLOL! Post don't call when it does come to you in the middle of the night.
Delete