Young Writers Society

Plausibility: Setting


One of the most important aspects of a story is its plausibility. In order for a reader to even consider continuing on with a story, they have to believe that what is within it is plausible. Let’s look at the definition of plausible:

“having an appearance of truth or reason; seemingly worthy of approval or acceptance; credible; believable” --Dictionary.com

Now I’m not saying that your story has to be completely possible in the real world. You certainly wouldn’t see an orc walk down your street or interstellar spaceships flying around overhead. It just has to have the appearance of possibility. Your reader must temporarily suspend what they believe possible in the real world to believe what is possible in yours. It is vital that they have trust in what you offer them. Within the world you have created, your ideas had better make sense or you’ll find yourself looking a fool.

I will discuss plausibility in several different areas, as there is more than one way in which your reader will stop believing what you have to say to them.


Setting

A plausible setting is successful when the reader acknowledges that your location and time follow basic principles.

For historical fiction, a baseball stadium wouldn’t make sense if your story took place in Ancient Rome. You need to make sure that your locations are accurate and match up with the historical periods. If you are writing a story that takes place in the year 2000, the Berlin Wall better not be standing, but the World Trade Center should. You will look like an idiot if in your story you have historical inaccuracy. Many are so disgusted by those types of errors that they immediately stop reading. If you haven’t done your research well enough to care about the setting, then they won’t care about your story. Exception: your story is a “what if” occurrence that directly addresses why a setting is different from its original status. For example, your story takes place in the sixteenth century, but the Roman Empire, instead of collapsing in AD 476, still exists. You must explain why it did not fall, it is simply not enough to just say that it was still there. Why? Well, something had to have happened that made it last. All historical evidence is against you, so you must come up with a good reason why it’s still around, and explain that reason to the reader.

For fantasy, you have a greater deal of free reign. Fantasy tends to let the author exhibit much more creativity into their world. However, there are still rules to adhere to unless you wish to lose plausibility with your reader. Real world concepts should still apply. For example, the rules of physics should still be in effect in your fantasy world (i.e. gravity). Your world should probably somewhat resemble earth; there should still be a multitude of landscapes: mountains, prairies, lakes, deserts, oceans. Weather should have the same effect on your characters in your story as in the real world. Of course you can break the rules if you directly confront why the rules are broken. If you were to write a story about a race called the “Glebniks” who lived on a planet of only desert, are allergic to rain, and could stick their appendages through solid matter, then you better show us reasons for these peculiar occurrences or your reader will dismiss your story as nothing but nonsense.

Science fiction can be tricky, as it can rely on reality more than fantasy. Science fiction often takes place in the future, so places that could not be reached in the present, are suddenly reachable. But you must still use plausibility and sense. An alien shopping mall on the moon might just be plain silly especially if it only takes place in the year 2010. But if it happened to be hundreds of years in the future, we had met a race of peaceful intelligent beings that held a colony on our moon, and they were assimilated into our society and adapted to human materialistic need, suddenly things seem more plausible. Why? We institute a direct address as to why things are the way they are. If you leave out the reasoning behind an absurd setting, then you will lose plausibility with your reader, and with that goes your respectability.


Lesson here: if you plan to go way off course from reality when it comes to your setting, be ready explain why it is so. Directly address the reasons of your worlds' existences. It will help you establish plausibility in your world. Without it, you have no world to give life to your story.

Nice article. Things like that are very easy to overlook. If your reason for things being the way the are is "because I say so", the reader will dismiss you. There has to be a reason behind everything, and like you said, physics like gravity and electricity should work the same.

Being a writer of fantasy and sci-fi, I occasionally beat my head over matters like this, trying to explain the fantastical. Even if you never explain it to the reader, if you as the writer understand the inner workings, its going to sound more plausible. And with sci-fi, you need to know what is possible but hasn't been pulled of yet, what's theoretically possible, and what is plain impossible. Things like cloaking technology are theoretically possible, as are the lasers you see in movies (I think). Walking through walls? If you believe in quatum physics. Just get your facts straight and you should be well on your way.

I'm interested to see what other articles you do and how you handle them. Nice job.