A fictional universe can be one story or many. Continuity is an issue either way. Consistency validates and inconsistency invalidates. Effects are meaningless if regardless of cause.
I write fiction. I create imaginary universes. I make the effort to maintain continuity. I do make mistakes. I correct directly, by changing what I wrote, or indirectly, by crafting an explanation in later stories.
Continuity is important whether a story is realistic or fantastic. Realism is dispelled without it. Fantasy is rendered simply ridiculous without it.
TO BE CLEAR: An alternate version of a fictional universe is its own universe, unless the fiction explains the imagined reality as a multiverse.
Consequences matter. A universe without consequences cannot be taken seriously. One with dire consequences can be, if explained logically.
My fiction is usually action-adventure. If it is horror, it is usually as survival horror. The stories are about life and death as an adventure. The heroes live and nameless baddies die. The villains live to muster more goons for the heroes to slaughter.
If I kill a hero or a villain, they stay dead. If they appear in another story, it is in a prequel. To do otherwise is to negate the consequence of death in the fiction. The entire universe loses its edge, becoming too safe to be taken seriously.
An imagined reality must be in the likeness of reality,
whether in its image or not. The make-believe is unbelievable otherwise.
That which is consistent will tend to explain itself. Each work has different rules for how things are done. The more you deviate, the less believable it becomes.
ReplyDeleteAnd the immersion is lost with it.
DeleteContinuity and consequences ensure a story can be taken seriously indeed. Without them a story turns in to ramblings, if neither are upheld then the narrative becomes silly. You are always mindful of continuity and consequences, and the result speaks for itself. All of your work can be taken seriously and is endearing.
ReplyDeleteThanks. To do what I do is a labor of love. To neglect what I do is to not care. Work made of love shall always be the best.
DeleteI do want to agree that alternative universes are still their own, although in some cases that can influence each other if the author wants that.
ReplyDeleteMost universes are a single story house. A multiverse is the same universe with multiple stories... in both sense of the word "story."
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