(1)-Background setting

For every reader who has been reading for a long time, writing a review is almost an easy task. You can just browse your works, find a few typos, find a few logical loopholes, and a comment that points you to the point is released.

There are many ways to comment like this. Commenters may even be regarded as experienced and excellent knowledge, and when they meet a well-tempered and introverted author, they may even be very grateful, even though they can hardly find anything useful from such comments.

Rational errors will certainly cause reading dysfunction to some readers to a certain extent and within a certain range. However, just like writing large software will definitely have bugs, just like long manuscripts will definitely have typos, just like blockbusters will definitely have missed shots, for online novels that can often cost hundreds of thousands or even millions of words, no author can completely eliminate the lack of rationality in terms of technology.

The key to the success of a novel, rationality is not a decisive factor. In this sense, novels are not suitable for "barrel theory", that is, the worst part represents the overall level, but for "fingertip theory". How many readers can the most exciting aspects attract?

If we want to analyze in detail why mistakes at the rational level will not inevitably overturn the success or failure of the novel, the topic will be very long. This time, let’s talk about the influence of rationality from the background setting of the novel.

Many people have their own fixed categories when reading novels, and first look for them from the subject classification. The background of a novel application is whether it is a historical dynasty, a science fiction future, a martial arts world, or a fantasy continent. The accuracy and perfection of world data certainly determines whether the unique worldview atmosphere can be fully utilized, but if the facts set are inconsistent with reality, the consequences are not as serious as usual.

It is easier to say about the background settings of martial arts and fantasy. Readers of this type of novel recognize that the author is the God of the setting and there will be no fixed rules and restrictions. For example, in most fantasy worlds, elves have sharp ears, but an author sets the elves into Mickey Mouse-style round ears in a book. Of course, it cannot be said that it is a factual mistake or unreasonable thing to say that elves have round ears, if you consider that most people are used to accepting elves with long ears, setting them into round ears is a bad marketing from the perspective of catering to readers' tastes. However, if the author has enough ability, he designs many interesting details around the characteristic of round ears, and writes them vividly, and as a result, round ears become an important selling point in his book.

But if it is a novel with real history as the background, readers' pickiness and tolerance are much worse. For example, "Firecrackers actually appeared in the Warring States Period", "Is there Cuju during the Three Kingdoms Period?" "Where did peanuts come from during the Song Dynasty?"... As long as you take out the spirit of historical research to search for details, you can immediately find out the thunder. However, is such a mistake really important?

In fact, this issue has been discussed in the annotation. "Mengge Dahan died in Sichuan. In order to add to the fun of the novel, he was arranged to be killed by Yang Guo with a brick under the city of Xiangyang." This explanation shows one thing: the novel cannot be a real history. If the novel uses a historical background, then it means it is a homoplane close to real history.

The time when the novel takes place in a specific era is to depict the unique appearance of the historical period and form an element that attracts readers. What the author should note is that in terms of the rendering of the historical atmosphere, it is impossible and too expensive to satisfy professionals. Therefore, it is not important to have peanuts and potatoes in the Song Dynasty, and the appearance of wireless telegraphs in the Song Dynasty will make people vomit blood. However, if this wireless telegraph is a technology brought by time travelers, it can be compensated to a certain extent.

Even if an author claims that the background of his writings is in line with historical truth, he actually cannot do this at all, because the author is unable to examine every historical detail and will passively "unreasonable". Even if the author is a professional scholar who studies a certain historical period, he cannot write novels as academic papers. In this sense, any historical background novel must have the nature of legend, and sometimes he actively adapts the history for the needs of character creation and plot development.

History creates "unreasonable". For example, the second chapter of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms "Zhang Yide whips the inspector's post" was actually done by Liu Bei himself. However, in the positioning of the character in the Romance of the Romance, the emperor is a loyal and kind person, and the third brother is a hero who hates evil. When beating his boss, the emperor's uncle will damage his image, but the third brother will take the initiative to fight. Therefore, the truth of history gives way to the art of the art, and if it is written according to the truth of history, the image of the emperor's uncle appears to be irrational.

Going back to the topic of fantasy, there is a very popular category now that is dnd novels. Since dnd itself has a huge and complex forming rules book, this type of novel is also very easy to be criticized by some rules. In fact, it is enough for this question to be just one sentence: I am writing dnd-style novels, rather than writing novels with dnd rules.

How important is rationality (2) - General Knowledge Principles

Last time I talked about the unreasonable issues in the background facts of the novel. But no matter whether these backgrounds are historical truth or fictional settings, the existence of the information itself always has its value. If it can be placed in a suitable position, it will be a good background.

So, when the setting materials used in the book violate scientific principles and basic common sense, what should we view?

The most typical phenomenon is science fiction novels. In the minds of many readers, such novels seem to not only show beautiful high-tech scenes, but also spread scientific principles and cutting-edge concepts like scientific reading materials.

In fact, when we look at science fiction stories, the most important thing is to look at concepts, the colorful scientific and technological things created by various nouns, and the scene effects of the sci-fi style piled up with dazzling sound and light. When this technique is used to the extreme, the difference between science fiction and non-sci-fi is completely between the nominal line of the concept. For example, when Superman is given the title of alien, he is divided into science fiction characters. If he changes into a robe and two wings, he says he is an angel, and it is also very convenient to switch to the mythology category.

Therefore, driving a star destroyer, ejecting antimatter, and being able to launch laser cannons is a science fiction novel. As for why space combat in the legend of the Galaxy Heroes is like a plane naval battle, and why the Tinker Bell bamboo dragonflies can fly freely without a tail, these are not big problems. You only need to know that the set things in these stories are labeled as the name of science fiction, so they should be regarded as science fiction.

Of course, science fiction novels have long termed "soft science fiction" and "hard science fiction". For "soft science fiction", as long as the things described are high-tech hats, they can be regarded as science fiction works. In "hard science fiction", long paragraphs of text are often used to introduce technical possibilities and realizations. But this method is actually just to expand and deepen the connection between "technology concepts", and at some micro level, it is more detailed to render and strengthen the science fiction atmosphere. This type of work takes the limit of reaching the level of detailed science readings, and it is unnecessary to write engineering technical manuals and complete manufacturing processes in a deeper direction.

If you turn your attention to martial arts novels, the authors of early martial arts novels often vividly depict scenes of real martial arts and strengthen the realistic style as much as possible. This can probably be regarded as "hard martial arts". However, we all agree now that the mysterious magic tricks in the story are flying all over the sky, which is also a martial arts novel; the anime battle with only calling for tricks and using powerful skills is also a martial arts novel. This shows that the essence of martial arts novels does not lie in whether they conform to real fighting skills. They cannot use the principles of real martial arts to judge whether it is reasonable, and there is no need to question whether anyone can practice this level in reality. (In fact, the next step in many high martial arts worlds is cultivation...)

From the perspective of fantasy novels, dnd novels have vast rules and explanations, such as magical arts, spells, skills, expertise, weapons, races, monsters, and gods. If this is used as the background, you can quote things in a wide range of quotes and quotations, which will make the readers feel like a very rigorous system. If we regard the system of fantasy rules with detailed settings as "hard fantasy", then the novel that only relies on the author to create magic and tricks is "soft fantasy". However, although the dnd rules are more refined and complicated than the rules created temporarily, it cannot be said that dnd is a system that conforms to science and common sense. We all know that using realistic physical knowledge to consider the fantasy world, even a dnd, which is known as rigorous, must be completely uncontrollable and meaningless.

For "hard science fiction", "hard martial arts" and "hard fantasy", they express a logical beauty and structural beauty under complex rules, but fantasy novels construct a plausible "scientific system", while science fiction works can directly refer to and apply the real scientific system, so they can create a "scientific and reasonable" feeling effect for readers. In fact, "hard science fiction" can also be completely close to "popular science readings" in terms of the degree of expression of details, and it is not necessary to fully comply with scientific principles.

No matter what novel you read, it should be regarded as an anomalous plane. There are very different cosmic environments and other physical rules. It is normal to have gods and magic, it is normal to have dragon ball warriors, and it is also normal to have science fiction things with completely different styles. Scientific research thinking does not need to be used in martial arts novels and fantasy novels, nor even in science fiction novels.

So, although I don’t care whether the world in the book violates scientific principles, but there is a logical self-consistent conflict in the setting system of the story itself. How should I view this question? Let’s talk about it next time.

How important is rationality (3) - Self-consistent conflict

If historical common sense reverses the facts and scientific common sense cannot be explained, it can also be explained that the book is just an approximate world, and the details are not completely consistent. However, it would be very interesting to deduce logical errors from the settings placed by the author himself.

By the way, I saw someone analyze the bugs in Jin Yong's novels and argue that Huang Rong was 6 years older than Guo Jing. At that time, I laughed impulsively. If I made some mistakes in the novel, such as southerners wore long jackets during the Ming Dynasty, and the Xianbei people had written words, I, as a middle school student, could not tell at all, but I could not tell them, but I also felt that this belonged to the stage props, as long as the author did not place modern objects, it would not damage the overall historical atmosphere.

If the light skills in the novel are too magical, violate the principle of gravity and aerodynamics, and the power of internal strength violates the conservation of mass and energy... But almost all martial arts novels are written like this. Every martial arts system cannot withstand scientific research. It is indeed interesting to analyze it with physical knowledge, but this is caused by the subject itself and is not a personal reason. Only the characters set by the author themselves, and the plot is confused and logically conflicting in self-consistent, which cannot be self-consistent, and cannot be refuted. This is the most important loophole.

However, even if there are very serious problems in self-consistentness, there are extremely obvious "broken things", and sometimes it doesn't seem to be a big deal. For example, since Mr. Jin Yong entered this century, he suddenly had to revise his original work, and also made up for a large number of loopholes that readers have summarized and analyzed over the years. In theory, the foundation of self-consistentness of the new version has become more stable and solid, but this new book has much more criticism than praise, and the sales seem to be optimistic. It is said that everyone's general reflection is that he does not recognize many changes in the character's character and plot, and believes that the new changes greatly damage the readability of the original version.

For example, when Mr. Wen Rui'an wrote "The Legend of the World", the beginning of the Di Qing era, and ended up in the Yue Fei era. Then, in the related sequel "Four Famous Captains" and "Who is a Hero", he transformed and went to the Huizong era again. This is not to say that he had any specific mistakes in describing the historical environment of the Northern Song Dynasty or the historical environment of the Southern Song Dynasty, but to say that the setting of this era itself, which did not say that it was a direct time travel, so it was a problem of self-consistentness. However, even if there were such a serious flaw in the setting, readers would just laugh it off and still read the stories in the book with great enthusiasm.

It can be seen that the most important function of novels, especially commercial popular novels, is to provide readers with typical characters and vivid and interesting storylines that have a strong impression of them. As for the many self-consistent flaws in the novel, this is inevitable with the length and complex content of the novel. If the increase in the length of the novel and the complex content can bring about a proportional increase in reading pleasure, it will also reduce the readers' concern about flaws. If the novel itself cannot attract people, even if the author's settings are creative and intertwined, they will only become a "rigorous" rule book.

It’s like whenever a blockbuster is made, senior movie fans always criticize those "missing" scenes. However, those who have such great interest and leisure to pick mistakes are mostly die-hard fans. Even the four classics, even classic literature, can write a thick certificate of examination if they want to find loopholes. However, successful classic novels sometimes become topics that readers talk about when discussing the "unreasonable" part. Some people even talk about mistakes, and some people try to talk about them, saliva, and come and go, so the popularity and influence of this work have increased even more.

Of course, what I mean is not to encourage the initiative to create unreasonableness and intentionally arrange logical conflicts when writing. Instead, just repeat a point that has been put forward from the beginning. The question of rationality is not the decisive factor that determines the success or failure of a novel. The author should not lose confidence by criticism of rationality. Make the novel look more reasonable and smoother is the direction we should always strive for.

The previous articles talk about the rationality of background setting, which is roughly equivalent to talking about the faults in stage setting. If the character development and plot direction of the novel have a phenomenon that is contrary to normal logic, then what is the value of the novel? Let me talk about it casually next time.

(4) - Transparent world

In the background environment of the novel, common sense, science, and rationality of self-consistent are not the determinant factors of the success or failure of the novel. I have roughly discussed this issue a few times.

To prove from another perspective, you can first extract the importance of a certain element to the subject and see what impact it has on the subject.

If the background environment of the novel is very simple and thin, with almost only characters and plots, then is this still a novel? Of course, this is still a novel, and it is very likely to be a very good novel.

If the novel has rich settings, Pang Bo, and is even very reasonable and rigorous, but the characters are pale and the plot is boring, then, even if this is barely considered a novel, it is a novel that lacks readability.

For example, many romance novels have only a bunch of characters acting in emotional dramas, and the description of the background is almost blank. When they have to be describing the environment, they reluctantly explain the most basic background details. A handsome guy or plural appears, encounters a plural of mm, and then he is lingering, serial love, interfering, misunderstandings, and reconcile as before... Various routines of emotional scenes come out one after another. If you love, love will be to death, and if you are miserable, it will be torn to life and death. In short, it will be dazzled and dazzled by readers. However, it is very likely that after hundreds of thousands of words, we are neither clear about the basic humanistic and folk customs of this world, technical and craftsmanship, nor the distribution of the world's geographical and nationalities, political and economic systems, and even more so that the theme atmosphere of this novel is Chinese or Western, ancient or modern, fantasy or future.

To be honest, the category of "romance novels" is quite strange. Is there any novel that does not write emotional dramas? (Although there are very few novels that only describe family and friendship, but these novels are mainly short and medium-sized stories) In most popular novels, the protagonists will have love dramas, and they are also important selling points of the story. So why do you need to simply draw a "romance novel" field? The reason is that those who write "romance novels" can ignore or even ignore the background of the story. It doesn't matter if you are in a mess. Just write emotional dramas, there are readers and markets.

Since "romance novels" do not require high background settings, then the characters' thinking and emotional concepts written in such an environment have a common style, and the outlines are similar. When you want to increase the length and concentration of the background information, you will find that it is a waste of time and the taste of the story has long been established. Why do people often say that female authors write "pseudo-martial arts", "pseudo-history", "pseudo-fantasy" and so on? The reason is that many female authors start by writing romance, and often do not carefully in the story background, and cannot fully express the unique atmosphere of traditional martial arts and formal Western fantasy.

Another example is that since the threshold for online novels is lowered, many harem essays are not careful about the story background. Once the king and domineering spirit is released, countless beauties are attracted. Whether it is a collection of folk songs in the world, school beauty lists in the city, or various ethnic mms in fantasy, it is also a seasoning. Of course, the selling point of this type of novel is to collect beauty. No matter whether the theme atmosphere is written or not, there are readers and markets.
Chapter completed!