Meredith Mansfield, Author

I’ve been thinking more about the subject of my last post–world building. I realized something interesting. This is important stuff to understand, especially for a writer of speculative fiction.

One of the things that bothered me most about the story that got me thinking about this in the first place isn’t actually uncommon. I’ve seen the exact same thing in at least two other stories where it didn’t bother me at all. So what makes this one different?

I’ve come to the conclusion that the difference is that I’d already started to question the world building before I stumbled on this particular facet. My trust in the author was already wavering so everything was open to question.

When you ask a reader to suspend disbelief and accept your story, the writer’s side of that deal is trust. The reader puts their trust in you to keep that suspension of disbelief possible. When the trust is breached, even a little, so is the willing suspension of disbelief.

The detail that first made me question this story is a small one, really totally unimportant in the story. But it was the first thing (at least the first I can put my finger on) that made me say “What?!” and come out of the story for a moment to consider–and doubt–the implications of that detail.

The moral is, every detail has to be believable and consistent in order to hold the reader.

My next post will be about SCBWI’s Agents Day. Excitement is building.