It's All About the Con by Rebecca Seaton

 

It’s All About the Con by Rebecca Seaton

Having - and keeping - a clear picture of your world is vital.

    Consistency, I mean. Something that helps make your story and its world believable is consistency. Think about television series you’ve watched or book series you’ve followed. Doesn’t it annoy you when a character changes without reason? On the other hand, a character who you know well is often the reason to keep reading or viewing.

    The Bible tells us, ‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever’ (Hebrews 13:8) One of the reasons we can trust God is because He is eternal and unchanging. We know He will forgive us today because He has already forgiven us.

    This also has a powerful effect in fiction. A good example is the TV series ‘Hudson and Rex’, which I’ve recently started watching. It’s a crime show where the lead detective is paired with an Alsatian, not at all the sort of thing I’d normally watch. However, the programme’s consistency is what elevates a simple premise to something more substantial. Minor characters are referred back to later, the university where they go for research in one episode is the same one where there was a murder in an earlier episode etc. This makes the characters and the location convincing and is what has kept me watching. The same could be said of Michael Grant’s ‘Gone’ book series – Sam changes over time, which you would expect given the high levels of trauma he experiences. However, he and the other main characters remain consistent in their feelings and responses to events and we are really invested in them. This is a book I casually picked during a school library visit, then kept coming back for the five subsequent books – the author’s consistency certainly worked to his advantage!

    How do we do it? A large part is in the world building. Use all the senses. Think about what strikes you when you meet a new person or start a new job. If your character is dis-organised, you can show this in different ways, such as being late, having the wrong sort of attire for an event, having left something at home etc., because the different actions are still consistent with the character. Another good idea is to leave your story and come back to it. Minor inconsistencies may be more obvious in the cold light of day. This is also where your beta readers can prove vital. One of the issues I brought to my Pen to Print mentor was a character who came and went a bit throughout the novel. I decided to make him a more prominent character and Anna was great at reminding me when I forgotten him or had him mysteriously appearing or disappearing during a chapter!

Some of my favourites for believable worlds and characters.

    Consistency means readers can celebrate a fitting conclusion because they know your characters. In the end it is all about the con - great writing convinces your reader to step into a made-up world and believe, for a time, that it's real.