Forum: Author Hangout

Timing

NC-Retired 🚫

As a subscribed SOL reader and approved reviewer.

The most unbelievable story tropes…. are the compression of time and/or reality denial.

Physical elapsed time and societal acceptance time.

Seriously.

I strongly dislike tales that ignore time.

Recent or past.

Does not matter.

Blah and blah.

Concrete takes time to harden.

Epoxy take time to solidify.

Societal attitude changes take time to profligate throughout the majority of the population.

I do not care about the protagonists intellect or available resources.

Physical reality time is unassailable.

Please, as you create your tales, do not go into the realm of 'I cannot believe that' unless it is pure fantasy.

Respect known physical.

Skirt the edges? Sure.

Stretch the envelope? Sure.

But do not violate the edges of barely plausible and no fucking way.

Thanks.

Replies: Sarkasmus NC-Retired tblev2011 JoeBobMack Switch Blayde

Sarkasmus 🚫

@NC-Retired

Honest question:

Is this a genuine complaint about badly mapped out plotlines, or a weird attempt at poetry?

Replies: NC-Retired

NC-Retired 🚫

@Sarkasmus

An honest response to poorly constructed tales that ignore reality timing.

Fuck fantasy timing.

People. Sewer construction. Technology advancement.

I care not the specifics. But instant gratification is not believable.

Replies: Sarkasmus

Sarkasmus 🚫

@NC-Retired

Well, in that case: I wholeheartedly agree.

I wonder about this every time I read one of those formulatic BTB-Stories.

If the wronged husband, who was positively devastated upon learning about his wife's infidelity, finds a new woman merely a month after the devastating revelation... I doubt he could have been as invested in his marriage as the author claimed.

Replies: JoeBobMack

JoeBobMack 🚫

@Sarkasmus

If the wronged husband, who was positively devastated upon learning about his wife's infidelity, finds a new woman merely a month after the devastating revelation... I doubt he could have been as invested in his marriage as the author claimed.

Psychological time isn't physical time; epiphanies do happend. And, after an epiphany, psychological reconstruction of interior realities can be extremely fast.

NC-Retired 🚫

@NC-Retired

Complaint? No.

More observation.

Authors that choose to create tales that ignore physical reality timing are less attractive to me than those that allow for the actual time it takes for some event to occur.

Days. Weeks. Years. Matters not.

Simply acknowledgement within their tales that physical reality prevails.

tblev2011 🚫

@NC-Retired

Agreed. I try to stick with reality, but have been known to stretch a thing or two. Construction, purchases, etcetera. For the sake of flow and story telling, I use the shortest or longest time period possible depending on need. For example, can a garage be built in a year? Yes, you bet. A month? Depends, were the permits issued beforehand?

Thanks for this thread, refreshing.

Replies: StarFleet Carl

StarFleet Carl 🚫

@tblev2011

For example, can a garage be built in a year? Yes, you bet. A month? Depends, were the permits issued beforehand?

How many people are working on it? Stick built or prefab sides and trusses? And do you NEED permits? In a city, sure. In the county, maybe. In unincorporated county areas? Nope.

How about doing it - and not a garage, but an entire BARN - in a single day?

https://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/amish-barn-raising-building-a-barn-in-one-day

Replies: tblev2011

tblev2011 🚫

@StarFleet Carl

Those folks are on a whole other level! But yeah, exactly. Details are definitely a must.

JoeBobMack 🚫

@NC-Retired

Somewhere, I saw it claimed that George R.R. Martin responded to criticism of a plot twist in one of his books where reinforcements to a battle arrived in days (hours?) when it took the original force much complete the journey with the statement that, in his novels, "time moves at the speed of plot." Got to admit, a quick search didn't surface the source of that quote, but, even without the correct attribution, it's an interesting point. NC-Retired, I get your point. My way of saying it is that you only get so much suspension of disbelief from me. I don't care whether that's FTL drives for a space opera or that a billionaire meets a flower girl and loses his heart instantly, I'll give the author their foundational premise. But don't keep asking me to suspend disbelief after that, such as for physical laws or the connection between our thoughts and our emotions.

Of course, I'm re-reading the Lady in Red series, and when the foundational premise seems to be "what if insanely talented and emotionally mature people had the fortune of the gods smiling on them?", then there's a lot of Over-the-Top fun to be had in such a story. Some people can't suspend their disbelief for such a premise, but I can stand a pretty hefty dose of the fantastical in my stories, so I'm good with it.

Replies: NC-Retired

NC-Retired 🚫

@JoeBobMack

I get your point. My way of saying it is that you only get so much suspension of disbelief from me.

^^^^^ This! Exactly. Benefit of the initial doubt. But do not hit that theme too often.

Switch Blayde 🚫

@NC-Retired

Physical elapsed time

Like any broken bone or any wound from being shot or in a fight. Hollywood does it all the time.

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Forum: Author Hangout

Timing

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