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George Demosthenes's avatar

Relatability is definitely more important than realism. Severance is unreal, but extremely relatable. Relatability is, unfortunately, something that's hard to teach, since it's a product of life experience and introspection. It's also one reason why some stories don't work across all cultures. There's a scene in Everything Everywhere All at Once where two rocks with googly eyes talk about trauma. Extremely unrealistic, extremely relatable.

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Parker Peevyhouse's avatar

That’s an interesting insight! If someone wanted help making their story more relatable, I might tell them to make their story more specific. Often, the more specific we get about character details, settings, emotions, etc. the more we readers find to relate to.

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George Demosthenes's avatar

I like that!

Finding a smudge on your shoe vs a smudge on the brand new pair of leather cowboy boots you bought just to go line-dancing with a blind date whose hands, it turns out, reek of Doritos are two very different things!

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Parker Peevyhouse's avatar

Amazing. You have a gift.

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Duy's avatar

It is really critical. Thank you for sharing

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Daniel Puzzo's avatar

This is so useful. You might remember that I commented on a recent Note of yours where I lamented the plot holes and loose ends I needed to tidy up, and you said something positive along the lines of 'don't worry, you'll be fine' (thank you!).

Having read this, I realise I still have things to fix and it's only my first novel (I've been writing non-fiction for years) and I'm very been pretty experimental with it (I think), especially with the omniscient narrator who is meant to paper over some of the cracks in the logic. It's so funny that there's a point later in my story where this narrator jumps in and says 'now, reader, you may wonder why our hero didn't just go to the police...' and I'm not sure the explanation holds water!

I've decided to serialise my story right here quite soon, and I've talked to a few other writers who've done the same. My readers will in effect be my beta readers. I just hope I don't start getting feedback like 'what the hell? no way, impossible, you kidding me?' 😂

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Parker Peevyhouse's avatar

I will say that I don't think there's ever a 100% logical reason that characters don't involve the police, just as there isn't ever a 100% logical reason teens should save the world in place of adults. With luck, you'll find an explanation that works well enough to keep readers invested!

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Matt Cyr's avatar

I’m still a couple months out from sending my manuscript to beta readers… I need to add the prompt you started with - was there any point in the story when you (the reader) said, nope, I don’t buy it. Can’t have those. Great post. Good differentiation with character and world motivations.

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Parker Peevyhouse's avatar

Yes, I'm always eager to know if there was an element someone just didn't buy into. It's impossible to please every reader, but it's worth considering those plot points. Best of luck with your beta readers! Hope they give you great feedback.

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Ollie's avatar

So useful thank you!

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Parker Peevyhouse's avatar

Glad to hear it!

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Mar 27
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Parker Peevyhouse's avatar

That’s such an interesting insight! Since I do tend to like clone stories I’m going to tell myself this is the reason they make sense.

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