Suspension of disbelief?

I'm not sure if I'm understanding what you mean. I thought I did, before I read your first two responses. I don't feel that sci fi/fantasy requires a suspension of disbelief, since they will usually set up their own rules for the world/place they exist in. I love these types of books, and if they're well written I'll never think "that's ridiculous!" in the middle of one.

A while back I read the Stephanie Plum novels. Totally not my kind of books, but they're a lot of fun. At certain points they would get so ridiculous, have situations that are so unbelievable that I would have to force myself through those parts to get re-involved in the story.

How do I feel about books like this? They sort of make me feel cheap, like I'm reading garbage. The author didn't care enough about her book to think her way around the ridiculous bits, so why am I wasting my time reading it?

I thought this was a VERY good question. Thank you for asking it.

Haha, I'm waiting for Alex to answer.

I'm not sure if I entirely understand the question, because I haven't read that book, so I'm not sure what you mean by "preposterous." If you mean not entirely believable because of the magic element, I can answer the question.

Fantasy is my genre. That's it. I don't know what it is about it, but ever since I was little and first started reading, I was reading fantasy. The Magic Tree House, for example.

I think it's because the books in the fantasy genre prove that there must be something beyond what we know exists. Something beyond the monotony of our normal lives, the fact that we, alone, can't really do much. We wish we could. We wish we could just wave a wand and make things happen. Life would be so much more exciting.

In a way, the idea of magic is preposterous. But it's always been there. It originated in mythology to explain what they couldn't; why the sun was there, why snakes are black, why human corpses look so groteque (that last one has a connection to the myth of the gorgon and Medusa, as a matter of fact). For the modern mind, magic and fantasy is a great means of escape.

While the idea of magic's existence is kind of iffy and odd, I like to believe that it's there. I think everyone in their own way likes to believe that, whether they mean it literally (the "make a banana turn into a monkey" kind) or figuratively (the "there's something more out there for me" kind). We all want more. Magic helps us get there, if only in our daydreams or novels or writing.

So magic isn't so preposterous for me. I love the fantasy genre. And I know a fantasy-genre book that's lovable! And you already know what it is, as does most everybody here that's been paying attention to my book suggestions- HMC. It's so great. And of course HP.

Anyway, those suggested categories are rather random. Why do you always get such random ones? It's kind of funny, haha :D

Also, I'm really sorry if this answer had nothing to do with what you were really asking.

Edit: You don't ask bad questions! I sent that message to you early, and I only mentioned your other question. But I really like this question, even if I didn't answer it correctly.

Edit2: Wow. Reading over everyone else's answers, mine is completely wrong.

I agree with kashtastic. I think you do have to follow the writer and the story- go with the flow, in a way. If the writer is good, I think suspension of disbelief is perfectly normal and fine. Good stories are about taking the reader into someplace else. I read As I Lay Dying a while ago. Gosh, did that require a ton of SoD. If the writer is bad, say Stephane Meyer, SoD is completely the wrong thing to be going for.

Again. I'm so sorry about my answer. It's such a mess, isn't it?

I'm currently reading the Malazan- Book of the Fallen series by Steven Erickson. It's a fantasy series, with it's own internal set of rules and laws.

The problem for me is that he seems to keep changing the internal structure, but maybe that's just my perception. For example, he proposes a set of Gods, but just when you get into that set, suddenly there is another, "oldest" set. Then another...

But I love the series so far (I am on the fourth book.) Maybe at some point there will get to be so many 'layers' I'lll give up, but at the moment I enter a WSoD mode, and assume there is, somewhere, a background for this situation/character.

Actually, I sometimes I love a book that adds a bit of WSoD, where you almost know what's going on in places, but not quite- if it's well-written.

*Edit* I am also re-reading the Larry Niven Known Space series. He has some wonderful ideas for future space travel, etc. that seem to be within the possibilities of physics as we know it.

I do a WSoD with his writing because I'd like to believe I'm learning something while being entertained.

**Edit** Reader, why on earth do you think you write bad questions? I look forward to yours, actually.

I LOVE IT EVEN MORE!!! I love it when books get...absurd. Well most times. Especially if the author can pull it off...The Best/Worst School Year Ever by Barbra Robinson had a pretty absurd moment... Like what the Herdmans did to that dog or cat i think it was.. .... They didn't get punished for it at all!

They had this idea of putting a cat/dog(forget) into a washing machine. But then a series of events happens where the cat ends up clean, which is what the Herdmans wanted after all and everybody ends up confused and the Herdmans get away with it... i loved that...

My brain is abit foggy on this book. I remember loving that moment though... i really should re-read it.

Also in How Angel Peterson Got His Name by Gay Paulsen

It is extremely absurd! The way those kids get this one dude who has a car to help this one kid break the skiing record... He actually ends up getting the name "Angel Peterson" because in the very end he talks about how he saw heaven (or something like that.. i am just remembering this..)

Wow.. just WOW..

( i forget the names)

And no, this question isn't bad. I'm staring it.

Catch-22 was like that. So was a lot of Lewis Carroll and Douglas Adams, thank Providence, among other things. Kafka is great. Richard Brautigan is no slouch, either! I love that sort of stuff, and I wrote a couple of books kind of like that. For a real good time, read The Reflexive Thesis by Malcolm Ashmore. It's a scream!

(As questions go, this one isn't all that bad. It could be worse. For example, you could have asked why, which might be awkward in some circumstances, but not all that many, thankfully.)

I think that happens in every book. You need to be willing to go on the journey that the author wants to take you on, or you won't see the magic in the story. And things that don't logically/realistically make sense are illuminated then.

Like, even with movies too. I was watching a movie with my lovely mother the other day. And I wasn't in the mood to watch Richard Gere get it on with some woman, and because of that I found so many flaws in the story and totally didn't get the point of why he even took dance lessons in the first place.

But Lovely Mother was in the zone, and just got swept away with the story, and it made her cry with it's romanticism (that might be the wrong word. Romanticness got a red squiggly line under it).

When I'm in the mood, I adore preposterous books. But at other times, I'm a super hater, and hate that they annoying unrealistic.

(Grins) I read and write fanfic about five superhero teens who save the planet dresed in birdsuits. I'm _really good_ at suspension of disbelief :)

Really, all fantasy and most science fiction requires this. I know many people won't read anything not set in a completely realistic modern or historical world, but personally I prefer to escape from the real world a bit more than that.

Hm...I just try not to think about it too much. If I love the book, then I want to enjoy it without interrupting that joy. I read a series once where the writing was absolutely atrocious. I don't know if that makes it preposterous, but I still loved the series. I was as excited to read it as I would be about any other series, and I try not to forget to recommend it.

By the way, you don't ask bad questions.

**You're welcome! :)