I am hoping to start a discussion about the willing suspension of disbelief in reading fanfiction and those stories that have elements that make readers think “that’s not right”, or “what was the author thinking?” or even just “WTF?.” I consider myself a reader and not a writer and my intent is not to discourage writers so I will try to be circumspect in describing my examples.
Sometimes SOD issues are with mundane matters, not the fantastic. There is a Buffy/Star Wars/Stargate Halloween multi-crossover story where the author uses a patent as a plot device to bring the Stargate characters into contact with the Buffy characters. The patent as described in the story would have been rejected and therefore in my opinion should not get the attention it gets in the story:
A.) You cannot patent part of an invention or an incomplete invention. The application as described is intentionally incomplete.
B.) The invention’s description matches the criteria USPTO uses to define a perpetual motion machine and no model was included. USPTO requires a working model to grant a patent for a perpetual motion machine.
Another suspension of disbelief issue can be when an author has a character act in a very different manner with very little explanation. There is a Harry Potter/The Mask crossover that has Hermione participating in the creation of what I interpret as a new social underclass at Hogwarts prior to her fifth year, less than a year after she created SPEW in canon. In story it is described as a prank enforced via a binding magical contract, but its effects (enforced nudity, forced gender change for wizards, the addition of a tail) all look to me to be meant as lowering the affected student’s status, dehumanizing them.
Another example of this is a Buffy/Stargate/multiple anime Halloween crossover that has General Hammond and other members of the SGC act in what should be for them be illogical and unprofessional manners.
They seemingly without reservation accept a speculative conclusion from an amateur civilian group using images sourced from a single newscast of a mysterious event - with no mention of alternate data sources being gathered, reviewed, and analyzed (Geophysical survey and weather satellite data, CCTV camera recordings that were stored outside the affected area, possible eyewitnesses via air, sea, or even highway traffic) in story.
Later in the story some of the affected Buffy characters visit the SGC. Hammond and others in my opinion inappropriately focus on Tara (who has become Mihoshi Kuramitsu.) Hammond assigns researching her to Rodney, who has taken over running the science and technology department after the in-story departure of Sam Carter. This is an improper waste of resources in my mind. Researching her required no advanced technical or scientific knowledge and needs no access to classified government information. The author seems to have this happen simply so Rodney can recognize and be disconcerted by other characters in a later chapter.
So, what do you all think? What ideas and plots cause this reaction for you? Do any of the above strike you as they do me? Let’s talk.
Kilroy
Sometimes SOD issues are with mundane matters, not the fantastic. There is a Buffy/Star Wars/Stargate Halloween multi-crossover story where the author uses a patent as a plot device to bring the Stargate characters into contact with the Buffy characters. The patent as described in the story would have been rejected and therefore in my opinion should not get the attention it gets in the story:
A.) You cannot patent part of an invention or an incomplete invention. The application as described is intentionally incomplete.
B.) The invention’s description matches the criteria USPTO uses to define a perpetual motion machine and no model was included. USPTO requires a working model to grant a patent for a perpetual motion machine.
Another suspension of disbelief issue can be when an author has a character act in a very different manner with very little explanation. There is a Harry Potter/The Mask crossover that has Hermione participating in the creation of what I interpret as a new social underclass at Hogwarts prior to her fifth year, less than a year after she created SPEW in canon. In story it is described as a prank enforced via a binding magical contract, but its effects (enforced nudity, forced gender change for wizards, the addition of a tail) all look to me to be meant as lowering the affected student’s status, dehumanizing them.
Another example of this is a Buffy/Stargate/multiple anime Halloween crossover that has General Hammond and other members of the SGC act in what should be for them be illogical and unprofessional manners.
They seemingly without reservation accept a speculative conclusion from an amateur civilian group using images sourced from a single newscast of a mysterious event - with no mention of alternate data sources being gathered, reviewed, and analyzed (Geophysical survey and weather satellite data, CCTV camera recordings that were stored outside the affected area, possible eyewitnesses via air, sea, or even highway traffic) in story.
Later in the story some of the affected Buffy characters visit the SGC. Hammond and others in my opinion inappropriately focus on Tara (who has become Mihoshi Kuramitsu.) Hammond assigns researching her to Rodney, who has taken over running the science and technology department after the in-story departure of Sam Carter. This is an improper waste of resources in my mind. Researching her required no advanced technical or scientific knowledge and needs no access to classified government information. The author seems to have this happen simply so Rodney can recognize and be disconcerted by other characters in a later chapter.
So, what do you all think? What ideas and plots cause this reaction for you? Do any of the above strike you as they do me? Let’s talk.
Kilroy