Greg Fallis has a lovely rant about rules in fictional universes, which he calls cosmological events:
I mention this because I had a parting of the ways with a writer who has written a very good story. Her characters (both living and not-living) are interesting and well-defined, her dialog is bright and witty, the story is structured in a logical and supportive way, her writing is accessible without being pedestrian, and while her plot isn’t entirely original it has to be admitted that very few plots are. I won’t go into detail about the story itself but I can say this: it revolves around a murder victim whose ghost/spirit is trying to help the detective who is assigned to investigate her murder. As I said, it’s not an original idea, but it’s very well written and told in a charming narrative voice. It could be a very marketable manuscript.
So why have we parted ways? Because we fundamentally disagree on one thing: rules for ghosts. I say she needs a coherent and internally consistent set of rules for ghost behavior. What are the limits of what a ghost can do? She says rules and limits would stifle her creativity. I say rules and limits will actually force her to be more creative. …
But as a manuscript doctor, the thing that makes these stories interesting is also the thing that makes a lot of writers stumble: magic (or magick — and yes, for folks who work in this genre, there’s a difference; magic is grounded in illusion, magick is based on the physical manifestation of the supernatural or the occult). The most common problem I see in these stories is that the magick is used as a lazy way to solve problems in plot and character instead of as an existing supernatural system.
I would take this a step further and note that rules, well-thought out and rigorously followed, will keep the writer from those embarrassing plot holes which waste the writer’s valuable time and, if they escape into the outside world, lead to humiliating questions and might become a burden on their career.
The fact that the writer is whining about rules suppressing creativity tells me that he or she hasn’t yet given much thought to the theory behind good fiction writing. They no doubt work very hard at the craft, working out the dialogue and plots, but they haven’t completely considered the abstract why’s of the entire activity.
And I enjoyed Greg’s rant, except for his long list of questions he had for the writer. Then again, I’m not much into ghost stories. As Greg notes, they tend to be a little too …. magickal.
