Wednesday, August 15, 2012

The Leap of Faith





            Sometimes when I read a story and there is a big reveal, my reaction is literally WTF. The creativity is there, but nothing made any sense. If you ever felt this way, then the writer has violated a sacred rule: don’t abuse a reader’s suspension of disbelief.

            Suspension of disbelief is what happens with anyone reads our stories. We pick up the novel, which means we want to believe what the author tells us is true. It’s us holding back our common senses and immersing ourselves into this world of possibilities. The same thing happens when someone watches a movie. Most people know there’s no such thing as ghosts, but we all cheer on the four laser wielding heroes as they attempt to catch and contain the spooky specters. 

            What happens when that all important leap of faith seems to be a bit too long of a gap? Let’s take a majorly controversial novel as an example. I’m sure everyone has read Twilight. There’s a scene where Bella ran to the wooded area behind her house and started to believe in vampires. It was here that I questioned her sanity and became annoyed with the author. Not because the character believed. It was because she thought it was corny to believe it only moments ago while in her bedroom. For me, that’s a serious mistake. How could she not believe one second, and then start to in the next one just because a change of scenery? I felt as though my suspension of belief was abused. Naughty naughty, Mrs Meyer’s.

            As you all know, however, Twilight sold like Jabba the Hut squeaky toys at a Star Wars convention. So it could just have been me. But it does bring me to my questions. How much logic does one really need in their stories? And, can that leap of faith ever be too far for you?

        Auzy



6 comments:

  1. Even if a book/movie/film manages to surprise or fool the reader/watcher, it's important they be able to look back and have that I-should-have-seen-that-coming moment. If it's impossible that anyone, no matter how smart or observant couldn't have possibly predicated what would happen (there were no clues to find) then there is a feeling of being cheated.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I didn't have a problem with Twilight when I read it, but I did take issue with the book HOURGLASS. She spends the entire book trying to convince us that time travel is possible when I already believe that it is. The fact that she pushed it so hard on me made me not want to believe in whatever it was she was trying to sell. Funny how it differs for everyone :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Can I just say that the phrase "TWILIGHT sold like Jabba the Hut squeaky toys at a Star Wars convention" is one of the best and most hilarious similes I've read in quite some time. Thanks for the delightful laugh!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm glad I could bring a smile to your face. :)

      Auzy

      Delete
  4. I know what you mean. I hate it when this happens to me, too. I actually recently read Jennifer Donnelly's REVOLUTION and had a moment like this. I'm going with the flow and then... BAM out of nowhere there's time travel. There's hinting towards it on the book summary, but it's seemed more like a metaphor than something that actually happened but then... a girl is suddenly flung back centuries. Then apparently she's not. And you're left to figure it out for yourself. If you want to believe the paranormal align, it's open to you. If not, then you have a viable excuse (drugs + wine = mental trip). It bothered me. It was a very well written book and otherwise good, but that leap... I just couldn't make it, like your picture of Mario. I fell between the gaps.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I read and reviewed 'Variant' last week (link here: http://nickieanderson.blogspot.com/2012/07/variant.html), and, um, yeah, it was kind of like that. The first half was suspenseful and mysterious, then BLAM! REVEAL! and it was one of the worst reveals I ever read. It felt like two separate stories glued together by keeping the characters' names the same.

    ReplyDelete