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This week: Internal Logic Edited by: Jeff  
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"Do not over-intellectualize the production process.
Try to keep it simple: tell the darned story."
-- Tom Clancy
Trivia of the Week: Jacqueline Susann is perhaps best know as the author of Valley of the Dolls, a book that has sold more than 31 million copies to date. A lesser known and more interesting fact about her, though, is that with the publication of her third novel Once Is Not Enough in 1973, she became the first author to ever have three consecutive novels reach #1 on the New York Times Bestseller List.
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INTERNAL LOGIC
In last week's Mystery newsletter ("Mystery Newsletter (August 22, 2018)" ), I talked a little about villains and how their actions and motivations need to make sense within the context of the story. In this week's For Authors newsletter, I thought I'd expand on that idea a little and talk about internal logic as a whole concept (not just as it relates to the villains). Internal logic can loosely be defined as logic that applies within the framework of your story. Character choices, setting details, narrative elements, etc. don't necessarily have to be logical by real-world standards, as long as they're logical in the context you've created for the story. For example, if you establish that your character has magical powers that stem from his knowledge of spells that he's committed to a spell book, the internal logic of the story is that he needs his spell book in order to cast spells. If you were to then have a scene where that character were imprisoned and his spell book were taken away, it would violate the internal logic of the story to have him able to cast spells without his trusty book from the confines of his prison cell.
The key word in that last paragraph was "established." Your story can be about anything you want, as long as you establish audience expectations so they understand the rules of the world you're writing about. Faster-than-light travel that leads to space-knights with laser swords planet-hopping around the galaxy? Nothing wrong with that, as long as the rules of internal logic that you've set up for the universe apply consistently to all characters and stories. Where authors get into trouble is when they change the rules in the middle of the game (or the story, as the case may be), especially when that advantages the protagonist in some way. That dynamic can make the audience feel cheated and could potentially really disconnect them from the narrative.
These rules apply even in non-fantasy settings. If you're writing an action/thriller about a special ops soldier caught behind enemy lines with no way of being rescued, you need to change the circumstances (e.g., have him find a way to contact his handlers, signal for help, etc.) before help arrives because the whole premise you've established is that the cavalry can't come riding in to save him. In a romance novel, if you establish that the guy and the girl can't be together because of some external factor (e.g., socioeconomic inequality, difference in personality types, an antagonist getting in the way, etc.), you have to seed the idea of what will change in the situation before you actually make the change or the reader will feel cheated when you violate the "rules" that you've already established.
One of the things that I do to make sure the internal logic of my story tracks is to keep notes nearby as I'm writing (and especially when I'm revising). I make notes of character relationships, major plot points, relevant pieces of their backstory, setting information, and personality details that I want to make sure I don't forget. In the same way that I track physical details so I don't accidentally describe the same character as having green eyes in one scene and blue eyes in another, or so I don't describe the diner as across the street from the movie theater and then later write something that implies those two locations are across town, I also keep track of the more intangible things so I don't mix those up either. I refer to those little reminders so I don't forget that my wizard needs his spell book to cast a spell, or that my heroine is deeply loyal to her family and is anguished at the thought of angering them by choosing a partner her family doesn't approve of.
When you're writing a story, especially (but not necessarily) one set in an imaginary setting, make sure you're doing the work to ensure that all of your characters and narrative adhere to the same internal logic. There's nothing more frustrating than being taken out of a story when you read something and have to stop to say, "Wait, how did that work?" or "Why can the character suddenly do this random new thing now?" The work you put into making each of your characters and your overall story have consistent internal logic will pay off with readers who are engaged and interested rather than being pulled out of the narrative by inconsistency.
Until next time,
Jeff
If you're interested in checking out my work:
"Blogocentric Formulations"
"New & Noteworthy Things"
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EXCERPT: Her legs pumped straight out then bent as her swing went higher and higher. Leaning back, Amanda, age 18, wonders if she keeps going higher if she will be able to touch the clouds. Amanda revels in these precious moments, knowing the numbers would soon consume all thoughts. Numbers in columns, numbers in rows, and numbers holding arms, and kicking their feet high like the Radio City Rockettes she saw with her mother when she was quite young. When swinging, the numbers leave her brain in peace. Amanda’s biggest and only fear is being without her mother. She can deal with the numbers. As she is swinging, she fleetingly wonders about her purpose in life.
EXCERPT: With the brightly lit hallway behind her, Nurse Owens long, thin shadow moved like a hand puppet in the rectangular shaft of light falling into the patient’s quiet room. Large red letters, handwritten across the top of the chart Nurse Owens held announced, Do Not Resuscitate! The squeak of her rubber-soled shoes followed her into the dimly lit room where the stinging odor of alcohol and disinfectant swirled around her.
EXCERPT: Holding her cup up to the sunlight streaming in through the kitchen window Mel tilts it and squints, looking for the watery outline of a geisha in the base. She calls to her daughter.
"Alice, come and look. Granny used to show me this when I was a little girl. See?"
"It's a teacup, mum," says Alice, not looking up from her phone.
"Yes, but it's special. You can see a woman at the bottom."
"Wow," says Alice rudely.
Well, I used to love it, thinks Mel. She remembers one sweltering afternoon in August being allowed to have a tiny sip of tea to get rid of the dry scratchy crumbs of seed cake lodged in her throat which had caused a coughing fit. She had been holding the delicate cup very carefully, willing herself not to drop it, but it was too hot and her pudgy slippy fingers recoiled and the cup fell, fortunately landing intact on the thick Indian carpet where the contents spilled in a muddle of tea and leaves.
EXCERPT: "What do you think that I should do?" said Jim Parker, holding up an antenna.
Jim was standing in a moderately-lit lab, somewhere in New Mexico, next to his boss - a man named Roger Bilbrees. They had both just worked for forty-eight hours straight and were no closer to a breakthrough. What we need. Gaia.
"Look, this is not rocket science," said Roger Bilbrees, without a hint of irony.
EXCERPT: Sir Tomlin’s troupe had been on the creature’s trail for over a week now. They caught glimpses of a worm-like form through the trees yet no clear view.
In the villages along their way, the latest Wellington, a tiny farming hamlet on the edge of the forest, they got varied descriptions. It was a creature that rests unseen in the shadows. Only the glint of fangs betrayed its presence. A trail of slime followed it, burning the soles of boots. At the sound of church bells, it’d howl a deathly note sending shivers up the minister’s spine.
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Feedback from "For Authors Newsletter (August 1, 2018)" about communal storytelling:
Quick-Quill  writes: "After your response I looked at some of my reviews. My strengths seems to be the ploting, dialogue and relatable characters. My weakness is grammar. No big surprise there. I have to download Grammerly."
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For Authors: August 29, 2018 Issue [#9095]
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