Making the Impossible Real
By Donald Maass | July 1, 2009 |
Do you believe in vampires? No, seriously. You don’t, right?
Here’s a different question: Do you read vampire novels? Whether or not you do, a great many readers enjoy them. To do so they suspend their disbelief. They must. How do authors get them to do that?
The same question can be asked about novels in which justice is done, love triumphs and lone protagonists save the world. In real life those things don’t always happen, or at least not easily and despite the high odds posed in a well-plotted novel. Even character-driven stories such as sagas, coming-of-age novels, women’s and literary fiction portray events that are not everyday occurrences.
What happens in all fiction is to some degree preposterous and yet readers go along. Or not.
Have you ever felt that a novel you were reading got ridiculous? When fiction feels far-fetched we cease to enjoy it; indeed, we may even hurl it across the room. Then again, there are those novels in which the very premise defies logic and yet we breathlessly turn the pages.
How do those authors pull that off? We may speak of them getting away with something but I do not believe that any fiction writers get a free pass. When novels work they build a feeling of believability. For us to enter into those stories and enjoy them, they must. For us to buy in we must be sold.
How then do you fool readers into accepting the crazy stuff in your novel? What makes it feel real? It starts with characters who themselves accept what’s going on. It also helps to add convincing details to whatever happens to lend verisimilitude. If anything in your novel is unlikely to happen in real life, it’s useful to show point-by-point in your novel how obstacles to this event in this case do not stop it from happening. Make your villains real. Make supernatural beings a little bit human.
These principles may sound obvious but you’d be surprised how many manuscripts ignore them. If you’ve ever felt while reading a novel, “Nah, not buying it”, then you know what I mean.
-Donald Maass
This was an excerpt from The Fire in Fiction: Passion, Purpose and Techniques to Make Your Novel Great by Donald Maass. In his new book, New York literary agent Donald Maass illuminates the techniques of master contemporary novelists. Some authors write powerhouse novels every time. What are they doing differently on the page? Maass not only explains, he shows you how you can right away use the techniques of greatness in your current manuscript.
A literary agent in New York, Donald Maass’s agency sells more than 150 novels every year to major publishers in the U.S. and overseas. He is the author of The Career Novelist (1996), Writing the Breakout Novel (2001), Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook (2004) and The Fire in Fiction (2009). He is a past president of the Association of Authors’ Representatives, Inc.
You can order The Fire in Fiction online, and learn more about it from the publisher.
Donald Maass (he/him) founded the Donald Maass Literary Agency. in New York in 1980. He is the author of The Career Novelist (1996), Writing the Breakout Novel (2001), Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook (2004), The Fire in Fiction (2009), The Breakout Novelist (2011), Writing 21st Century Fiction (2012) and The Emotional Craft of Fiction (2019). He has presented hundreds of workshops around the world and is a past president of the American Association of Literary Agents (formerly AAR).
Great post! Although I wouldn’t mind a helpful example of successful vs. not successful… (I know it’s subjective…)
You mean vampires don’t really exist? Wha? They are even on Showtime.
I agree, character is everything, and can make the implausible plausible. A character that responds authentically and with human emotion can convince legions that there is a Wizarding World or that they need to suck blood to survive.
Excellent use of “verisimilitude.”
I love Donald Maas’ books and consider “Writing the Breakout Novel” to be one of the most helpful books on writing I’ve ever read. Haven’t picked up his newest — but I will. In terms of suspending belief, it depends on the story and characters. But then, everything depends on the story and characters!