We're at the halfway point for NaNoWriMo, but I have fallen behind on my NaNotes. I'm not sure why I would prioritize meeting the 50,000-word goal when I could just be writing posts that would net me a cool $5 or so. Get it together, man. Priorities. Anyway, I digress. Welcome to the third installment of NaNotes!

For posterity, this series is inspired by @naquoya's Notes (From An Amateur Writer) (he trimmed it for the most recent entries), which was initially a 30-day chronicle that also sought to help treat his writer's block. It extended far beyond the month and it included some of his best literary entries. If you're interested in reading it from the beginning, here's a link to the first entry: https://steemit.com/writing/@naquoya/notes-from-an-amateur-writer-1-the-search-for-inspiration

Go on, click on the link above. I know you want to. Do come back though, after binging on it. Please?

I won't fault you if that link lead you down the rabbit hole. @naquoya does have the ability to turn imagined worlds into reality. Believe it or not, some people have that kind of superpower. Belief… heh. It's funny because that's what fiction often tends to beg from readers. Which leads me to the post for today, so…

"Suspend Disbelief"

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Those two words are quite often ties with anything fictional. Whether it's a futuristic science fiction or a modern love story, it's a phrase that always hangs at the back of our minds. No matter how much realism we try to inject, any fictional story has the capacity to go off the rails. Even though things are anchored by science or social norms, the storyteller is free to do whatever he wants. Really.

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We could literally have an airplane crash into a suburban home and have only one casualty. Or, we could have unlimited bullets for the good guy who has just one handgun against an army with submachine guns and rifles. I mean, that's been done to death by action movies for decades now. No matter what the couch-bound critics say, no one would be able to stop the storyteller. Well, I guess except for common sense. But, what is common sense?

In the universe we create, common sense is whatever we want it to be. Decapitating people just because they jaywalked could be a norm in the universe we create and no one could say that it's wrong. I mean, they could but that would be a dick move. Who were they to dictate what's right or wrong in the universe you created, right? There, you are basically God.

Therein lies the conundrum though. If we build a world for our own, how do we expect others to get immersed in it. Could we just create it and wait for people to jump right in? In an ideal world, sure. But, the world we live in is far from ideal. There's a fine balance we have to strike. We have to appease ourselves and the audience.

Let's say you're writing a medical drama, but you're someone who has very little experience with the medical field. You just decided to write one because you're a fan of the genre, and everything you know is based on what you've observed during your trips to the hospital or other medical shows. When you write the wrong dosage or procedure, you can't expect doctors and nurses to just scoff it off. You're going to get questioned because you're playing in their reality.

I was reminded of this when I read my editor's notes, for my debut novel which I'm having run through the meat grinder in anticipation of a relaunch, some time ago. There's a scene there where acid was impeded by a bunch of plastic. The same acid that could melt metal and cement. My editor told me that I'm asking a lot of suspension of disbelief from audience regarding that. Mind you, he wasn't a chemist, but I wasn't as well. Who knows which one of us had more knowledge about Chemisty. Breaking Bad is my current favorite TV show of all time, so I'll answer that I do, but I don't think it's admissible. But, I did do my research regarding that. So, who was correct? Me or him?

In my defense, I was backed up by hours of research. It wasn't something that I just cobbled together because I felt like it made sense. I read through tons of papers to back my claim. To this day, I haven't replied back regarding that, but when I do, I would have words. In his defense, he knew the audience's pulse from experience and years of being an editor. He knew what would be believable and what would just be shrugged. I respect my editor to bits, but we were at an impasse.

I was paying him for his services, and he was doing his job. I'm at a crossroads as I could just easily accept his advice, but I would be compromising my story and would be throwing out hours of research. I keep thinking, "this is my world." He really wouldn't have a say about it because it was a self-published story and I had the final say. If I took him on as a publisher, then it would be a different story though. But, for this story, I call the shots.

It's not a deal breaker if I just gave in, but it begs the question, "should I?"

"Shutting off your brain"

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When doing NaNoWriMo, one shouldn't be bothered with discussions like this. If one wants to write 50,000 words in the span of a month, one should just write one's ass off and leave these questions for the following month. Taking breaks to think about what works and what shouldn't isn't something that's conducive to quick writing. If anything, one would be stuck at a couple of hundred words if one continually questions what one is writing. One should just shut off one's brain and trust one's process.

With that being said, this one (by that, I mean myself) realized that I have wasted what feels like an entire writing day just writing this. Writer's block is a bitch. I just wish it was my bitch, and it call me daddy. Alas, that is too much to ask.

On that note, I'd say this is a pretty good moment to end this post. What do you think, Larry?

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Let's keep @lukestokes.mhth as a Top 20 STEEM witness, shall we? :D

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