Level of logic/realism in a VN

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meiri
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Level of logic/realism in a VN

#1 Post by meiri »

In any case, research should always be done if you don't already have experience in writing about the topic of whatever your VN circles around. Completely and totally making up stuff off the top of your head might be okay on occasion, but in order to have a story that makes sense, has no holes, and a little bit of connection to history and real life, research should be done.
However, how realistic should you really be? To clarify, my question is not "How much made-up stuff can I get away with?" but probably more a question/discussion on how to keep a balance. Do you think too much research/realism can take away from the fictitious value that is your story?
Ive read stuff that was clearly entirely imagined off the top of ones head. Ive also read things that seem to make allusions to other literature or events. Which do you seem to enjoy better?


Ps, not really sure if this would be more accurately placed in the Asset Creation: Writing forum.
Last edited by meiri on Fri Sep 19, 2014 6:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Level of logic/realism in a VN

#2 Post by Taleweaver »

meiri wrote:Ps, not really sure if this would be more accurately placed in the Asset Creation: Writing forum.
It would. Moving.
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Re: Level of logic/realism in a VN

#3 Post by meiri »

Taleweaver wrote:
meiri wrote:Ps, not really sure if this would be more accurately placed in the Asset Creation: Writing forum.
It would. Moving.
I think you've accidentally placed it in the Music, Sound & Movies section.
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Re: Level of logic/realism in a VN

#4 Post by Rossfellow »

When people criticize works for being "unrealistic", they typically don't mean they're historically/source inaccurate (though some are -overtly- inaccurate). They mean that the work/scene/setting isn't plausible or consistent.

All writers subject their readers to a game of connect-the-dots, especially since a large majority of games have elements of mystery(plot reveals, what happens next, flashbacks, etc) to them. The player/reader won't judge the roundness and smoothness of the dots, but rather how well connected those dots are.

Does it really matter to the reader if King Arthur is a petite woman with a sword that shoots space lasers? If everything else in the story and setting is consistent with this fact, then no, not at all. But they will definitely notice something as overt as, say, a traumatized girl who cheers up after eating ice cream when her best friend just died in front of her.(I ragequit a show over this)
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Re: Level of logic/realism in a VN

#5 Post by SundownKid »

I certainly prefer things that are at least somewhat related to the source material. Case in point, there is a video game called "Glory of Heracles". It's supposed to be about a Greek mythological hero, but for some reason Sparta looks exactly the same as your typical British medieval town. It's clearly obvious that they just put some vaguely Greek-sounding window dressing on what is otherwise a typical jRPG set in the fantasy middle ages. So, there is a lot of interesting source material out there, but it needs to be researched. It doesn't have to be 100% accurate to real life, but it would have been a whole lot more interesting if the setting and characters of that game were more similar to how your typical town/warriors in ancient Greece would have looked like.

If you are able to make allusions to other works, historical facts, et cetera. it can improve a work and make it more fun for the reader when they see how everything is related. It can increase the sense of mystery and epicness and, it makes you look more literate and diligent in your writing and can even make people check things out that they otherwise wouldn't have.

It's hard to have "too much realism" in a story, since a good writer can make a story work that is historical fiction with 100% realistic accuracy. So, it really depends on how you want to write the story and how much unrealistic stuff you want to add. But after you set the ground rules, it should be consistent with those rules.

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Re: Level of logic/realism in a VN

#6 Post by SinSisters »

Hmm, well logic and realism are two very different things in my mind. Everything has to be logical, and illogical things must either be addressed or explained (it was a dream; it was magic; it was a miracle—is there a point to why something is illogical? If it doesn't make a difference, why not just make it logical?) Realism, on the other hand, can be flexible. If we researched every little detail, it would be very realistic. Would it be enjoyable, however, to read a politically correct term, or to read a word that was used in the time-frame (16th century for example), but that we would need a dictionary to understand it? \

If one can imagine a whole universe with everything made up, and make it believable, interesting, and relatable (why do we care about these characters/events?), then Kudos, that person has just done something brilliant. Something that's also pretty difficult to do well.

As for making allusions, it depends on whether or not it would be fitting. If I'm writing a book/VN about the Golden Pirate age, but they can use magic, talking about Blackbeard won't make the story less believable. Talking about how great the Harry Potter series while in some kind of Atlantis themed world would just be odd (unless you're going for a humourous aspect).

Not sure how well that actually answered your question, but there's my two cents.

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Re: Level of logic/realism in a VN

#7 Post by breadslam »

To echo the excellent points that everyone's previously posted, you can make up whatever you want -- as long as it's consistent with everything else you've made up or (and this is an incredible challenge) you explain it away to an audience who trusts the narrative you've built. The only way you can do this last bit is by doing the first bit extremely well.

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