Does that
title sound a little too familiar?
Maybe we
should talk about that...
A few
months back I read a book that I couldn’t figure out. It left me completely baffled. I’m not talking about the plot (granted, I
was having trouble with that, too), but the setting.
I honestly
couldn’t figure out the world. At times,
it seemed like it was the modern world that we all know and love—granted, with
some sci-fi/ fantasy stuff going on in the background. At other times, it seemed to be a sort of
alternate history, post-apocalyptic “present.”
It didn’t help that every character was somehow tied directly into that sci-fi/
fantasy thread, because for all of them this was the “normal” world and they
didn’t notice anything different about it.
Why does
this matter?
Well,
knowing where a story is set helps me, as a reader, to set my expectations and
reactions. It lets me get a sense of
what’s possible, or what might be possible.
The setting is an automatic set of guidelines for the reader, for the
characters, and for the writer, too.
For
example...
A few years
back I read an absolutely wonderful essay on Scooby-Doo and secular
humanism. No seriously. You can read the whole thing here. The writer made a very interesting point that
shows why it’s so key to know what kind of world my story is set in. He uses it as one link in a larger chain of
logic, but for our purposes we can examine it alone.
In all the
classic Scooby-Doo episodes, the supernatural threat is always revealed
to be a fake. It’s someone in a costume
(probably Carl the stuntman or Mr. Bascombe) using special effects of one kind
or another for an ulterior motive.
It has to be, because in the world of classic Scooby Doo, ghosts and
monsters aren’t real. That’s why it
makes sense for Velma, Fred, and Daphne to act rationally and why it’s funny
when Shaggy and Scooby get scared and run away—they’re scared of the fake
monsters.
But...
If the
supernatural is real (as it is in some of those later stories), suddenly
everything shifts. The rules of the
world have changed, so we have to look at the characters in a new light. Now Velma and the others are foolish for
trying to apply logic to inherently illogical creatures and for exposing
themselves to life-threatening monsters like werewolves and vampires. Not only that, Shaggy and Scooby are now the
smart ones, because being scared of vampires is a perfectly rational response
in a world where vampires are real.
Here’s
another one.
I recently
read a piece by one of the editors at Marvel comics. He proudly spoke about how their stories are
set in “the real world.” The characters,
their reactions, the world around them...
And I have
to admit, my first thought was... what a bunch of nonsense.
(I may not
have used the word nonsense. I tend to
be a bit more emphatic with my internal dialogue...)
Let’s consider
a few details about the Marvel Comics universe.
It is commonly known that some people can fly. It’s not exactly secret that magic is real
and aliens exist. Super-powered human mutants
are also real and receive tons of media attention. There’s a large, tropical valley in
Antarctica where dinosaurs still live, visible on Google Earth and written
about in several textbooks. Energy
weapons are commonplace, as is high-tech battle armor. There are numerous publicly-known artificial
intelligences in the world. Standing
next to detonating atomic weapons can give you superpowers. Hell, in the Marvel Universe, you can jump
off the Empire State Building and there’s actually a halfway decent chance
someone will catch you on the way down.
Does this
sound remotely like the real world?
Would the
people of this world have the same expectations you and I do? Would they think and react to things the same
way? I live in LA, and when I hear a
faint rumble and the building shakes, I normally check Facebook to see if
anyone else felt an earthquake. In the
Marvel Universe, I’d probably assume it was superheroes battling a giant
monster. If I got a headache, I’d be
checking to see if it was telekinesis or some form of optic blasts. And then take aspirin. And then check for telekinesis again, just in
case it interacts with drugs somehow. And the thing is, these would be
perfectly rational reactions in the Marvel Universe.
Now, one
more example. Harry Potter. In this world there are wizards, giants,
dragons, hippogriffs, goblin bankers, house-elves, gnomes, and much, much more (no aliens, though).
But the thing is, it all exists kind of... off to the side. The average person in the world of Harry
Potter has never heard of Hogwarts and can’t find Diagon Alley. The magical world rarely overlaps with the
mundane one, and we learn there are whole government departments charged with
making sure they stay separate. The real
world for them is the real world we all know about, one where there’s no such
thing as magic.
Starting to
make sense? If I can’t define my world,
I can’t define what is and isn’t possible. I can’t have characters react appropriately if
I don’t know what would be appropriate.
On the
flipside, there’s a period show on right now that kind of gnaws at me. Mostly because it’s set in Victorian London
and one of the supporting characters never wears a hat... but also because of
the setting. The main plot revolves
around our protagonist attempting to perfect wireless, broadcasted electricity,
something Tesla worked on for decades.
Our hero hopes to destroy the fortunes of a group of wealthy oilmen by
rendering their investments worthless.
Now, here’s
the thing. We know broadcast power
wasn’t invented at the turn of the last century, so if the show ends with our
hero succeeding, it means the whole story’s been set in an alternate history. But if his broadcast power fails, it implies
the story’s set in the real world. But
until one or the other happens, I can’t tell you the setting.
Of course
some of you may know what program I’m talking about and I’m sure you’re going
to bring up the larger point—the vampires.
But here’s the interesting point.
The vampires are irrelevant. Much
like Hogwarts and Diagon Alley, no one knows the vampires exist.
But the
broadcast power... that’s in the news.
There were press releases and huge parties. Broadcast power changes everything. That’s a world where, from the beginning of
the electrical age, nothing needs batteries or wall outlets. There are countless changes and repercussions
if broadcast power is real.
Y’see,
Timmy, my fantastic story can still be set in the real world provided the
events of my story don’t change the world. I mean, within the world of the show only a
handful of people in London know vampires are real. It’s not public knowledge. And today in the modern world we’ve never
heard of or seen evidence of vampires in the Victorian era, so that part of the
story has an aura of truth and reality to it.
If you want to set an amazing story in the
real world, you need to use conspiracy theory logic. I’ve used this analogy before, and bizarre as it may sound it works. Yep, the same reasoning used by moon-landing
deniers, “9-11 was staged” folks, and the birthers is what makes for a good
fiction story. No irony there...
By
conspiracy-theory logic, any facts that disprove XYZ are an attempt to hide the
truth, thus further proving XYZ is true.
The very lack of evidence is the proof that it’s true. And if I stumble across a few coincidences
that imply XYZ might be true, well, that’s just more evidence XYZ is true.
Didn’t I
just describe the world of Harry Potter?
The
vampires hide all trace of their existence.
There is no evidence that vampires exist. Ipso facto (fancy Latin words) my
story rings true because it lines up with all known facts. Follow me?
The world
of my story has to have its own consistent logic. Because if I don’t know my world, I can’t
know how characters in my world react to things. And if I don’t know my characters, well...
that’s it.
Next time...
well, is there any topic anyone would like covered? I can probably ramble on about most anything
(as this post shows). Let me know in the
comments if there’s something you’d like me to babble about.
And if no
one does, I’ll come up with something worthwhile.
Until then,
go write.
Great post.
ReplyDeleteSome suggestions for future posts;
Dialogue and giving characters indervidual "voices"
Genre conventions, specifically the line between horror and action/adventure which both 14 of the LA zombie stories stradle.
Y'know, Anonymous, I'd been toying with revisiting genre ideas. Let's consider that on the list for next week. :)
ReplyDeleteHaven't talked about dialogue for a while, either. Also a good suggestion.
Thanks!
that's a brilliant Scooby Doo post, thanks for linking to it! Altho i did like what the first live action Scooby Doo movie did with introducing unexpectedly real supernatural elements. :)
ReplyDeletepossibility for a future post (prompted by watching Scrooged over the weekend) - redemptive plots, how do you do them? The main problem i've always seen is that the main character has to be a jerk at the start of the movie, in order for him/her to be redeeemed and turn into a likeable person by the end. So how does one get away with writing a character who's an unlikeable jerk but who the audience is still supposed to sympathise with? Apart from casting Bill Murray, natch. Any thoughts? :)
Hmmm... Redeeming a character. That could be good, too, Rakie. May have to dwell on that one a bit, but I think I could come up with something.
ReplyDelete