Suspending Disbelief

[yevkassem72]

I am thinking of a story idea that involves angels, even though I do not believe in such things, or anything else supernatural. Has anyone else done such a thing? Written about things that you do not believe in? If so, how did you suspend your skepticism long enough to write it?

 

[cloudy]

you have to "believe" in your own characters in order to expect your reader to go along with you in the tale you tell.

That doesn't mean you have to believe in angels, or things that go bump in the night, or whatever. All it means is that you tell the story as if what you are relating is believable.

I have a couple of erotic horror stories here. I don't believe that someone can be a victim of possession by using a ouiji board. I did, however, believe that my characters had it happen to them.

I think it has a lot to do with confidence in yourself as an author.

Just my $.02.

(apparently, it worked, since it's now been published)

 

[rgraham666]

To my mind, don't overdo it. Don't dwell on the fantastic nature of your supernatural characters. Write as if it is a real, everyday occurrence.

Also, be very clear on the nature of your characters. What are their abilities, their weaknesses? How do they think? How do they feel?

Make them fully realized characters and your readers will believe.

 

[cloudy]

To my mind, don't overdo it. Don't dwell on the fantastic nature of your supernatural characters. Write as if it is a real, everyday occurrence.

Also, be very clear on the nature of your characters. What are their abilities, their weaknesses? How do they think? How do they feel?

Make them fully realized characters and your readers will believe.

Yes.

 

[rgraham666]

Yes.

I've had some small success at this. About $14.00 Cdn acording to my last royalty statement.

 

[cloudy]

I've had some small success at this. About $14.00 Cdn acording to my last royalty statement.

All I've made from mine has gone to the EFF.

 

[Liar]

I am thinking of a story idea that involves angels, even though I do not believe in such things, or anything else supernatural. Has anyone else done such a thing? Written about things that you do not believe in? If so, how did you suspend your skepticism long enough to write it?

I don't have to believe in supernatural beings to write fiction about them. All I have to do is decide how much of a sceptic my charachter is. So that I know, when he encounters the supernatural, how he will react to it. How long will he try to rationalize what is happening? Will he get pragmatic, ignore the "impossibilities" of it all and get on with the situation? Will he freak out? And so on.

I treat angels, magic and outerworldly dimensions the same as I treat animals, cultures and places I'm not familiar with. Except that I don't have to do any research, I can just make shit up.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

To my mind, don't overdo it. Don't dwell on the fantastic nature of your supernatural characters. Write as if it is a real, everyday occurrence.

Also, be very clear on the nature of your characters. What are their abilities, their weaknesses? How do they think? How do they feel?

Make them fully realized characters and your readers will believe.

I hate organized religion (not personal beliefs, but the global churches that try to convert the world). It's just one of those things that I feel has been driven into the ground and doesn't help the world at all anymore.

However, I liked the movie Constantine quite a bit for not liking Christianity at all. Why is that? They made it work within its own universe. There were rules, and all of the characters had to follow them. It didn't ask "What if there is a go, devil, heaven and hell?" It simply said "There is a God, Devil, Heavan and Hell," and I believed them because they made it all work within that movie's universe.

 

[elsol]

You're writing fiction... okay, you're not writing an entirely different world... but you're making stuff up.

In this situation, you're making more of it up wholesale.

For that, you have to go with the story being consistent within itself and have fun from the God perspective.

It's your made up world.

 

[Boxlicker101]

I am thinking of a story idea that involves angels, even though I do not believe in such things, or anything else supernatural. Has anyone else done such a thing? Written about things that you do not believe in? If so, how did you suspend your skepticism long enough to write it?

Non-human things, like angels appear in a lot of stories. They don't have to be erotic horror either; they can be in the Nonhuman category. I have a series of three stories featuring a unicorn and another with a werewolf and his wife, and the great sex they have when he is a wolf. With this kind of thing, you have to be careful to avoid bestiality.

 

[yevkassem72]

Merci for the input, folks. That is really helpful.