posted
in my WIP i have a combination of sci-fi and fantasy elements. the story is mainly sci-fi, and the elements that are fantasy are only fantasy because it is of a technology even further advanced.
my questions are: how long can an audience wait before i must start introducing elements of fantasy or risk losing them when i do bring it in? and: how long can they wait before i have to reveal to them that the fantastic elements are actually just a people even further advanced than my focus characters? (i can't really call them viewpoint since i am writing in 3PO)
posted
Obviously, I no expert, but as a reader here's my opinion:
(1)how long can an audience wait before i must start introducing elements of fantasy or risk losing them when i do bring it in?
What does your heart tell you?
My guess is it really depends on the MICE quotient, if you are choosing the follow that.
(2)how long can they wait before i have to reveal to them that the fantastic elements are actually just a people even further advanced than my focus characters?
If the explanation does not unfold naturally, why reveal it at all?
But then, whom I to talk? I still haven't mastered the R.U.E.
posted
Is it truly fantasy elements if there is an explination for it? Even if you don't give that explination, if you have determined how it is done and a normal human could do it eventually, it is still science fiction. Magic is for things not explainable. You obviously have an explination...
Anyways, as for your question, once you have people hooked on reading your story bring in elements as they should be. From your description those elements are going to be magic like, so they should make a large impact on the story. Establish the normal first. If you have scifi elements that establish the main characters world, make sure those elements are understood first. Once the story has defined it's setting, then turn it upside down.
quote:in my WIP i have a combination of sci-fi and fantasy elements. the story is mainly sci-fi, and the elements that are fantasy are only fantasy because it is of a technology even further advanced.
If this is ture--that the elements of fantasy are only fantasy because of advanced technology--then you writing a SF novel, plain and simple. Fantasy, by definition, has magical or supernatural element not explained by technology. I'm assuming that the characters within your story believe that this advanced form of technology is a kind of magic--much the same way an ancient Greek would believe an airplane is a kind of magic.
I'm not sure anyone can answer your question, but it seems to me that you have to look at two aspects of your story. First, suspense. Remember that suspense is created by telling your readers more than what your POV character(s) know. If in Chapter One you show the serial killer hiding in the house, your readers will be gripped in Chapter Two when the POV characters go into the house. So you have to ask: What role does this advanced technology play in the plot of your story, and how can you use it (if you can at all) to create suspense?
Second, revelation. Think of Ender's Game. Like Ender, we, the readers, are as shocked as he was to learn that he was really fighting the buggers and not just practicing with a video game. If that's the effect you want on your reader, then keep it a secret until your POV character(s) learn about it. But the trick here, I think, is to drop enough hints about the real nature of the advanced technology so that it doesn't seem to come out of left field (you want to avoid any kind of deus ex machina) but you want the hints to be subtle enough so the readers don't feel that, when the revelation finally does happen, that the POV character is a complete nincompoop for not figuring it out sooner.
[This message has been edited by Jeff Vehige (edited January 14, 2005).]
Okay, if your focus characters don't know the reason behind the "magic", then don't ever bring it up. If they do know the reason behind it, then bring it up from the start. If some know and some don't, then bring it up when you're following someone that knows about it and forget it when you're following someone who doesn't know.
Think of it like...electricity. Most of the time, you don't explain electricity in a story. But if your character is an electrician, then suddenly you'll give the reader a lot more information about electricity...because that's character information. The "true nature" of electricity just doesn't enter into the story that much, eh?
In this case, it doesn't matter what the true nature of magic "really" is. What matters is how the knowledge or belief about magic serves to define the nature of the characters.
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