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Q&A Does everything have to be accurate?

You appear to be a nonfiction or science fiction writer, attempting to create a work of fantasy. In either of the former disciplines, critics will come out of the woodwork to spotlight every inacc...

posted 6y ago by Henry Taylor‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T09:08:19Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/36986
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar Henry Taylor‭ · 2019-12-08T09:08:19Z (almost 5 years ago)
You appear to be a nonfiction or science fiction writer, attempting to create a work of fantasy. In either of the former disciplines, critics will come out of the woodwork to spotlight every inaccuracy. In the later, the call of logic is a little more complex and the criticism more subtle.

In fantasy literature, consistency trumps factual truth. Your magic doesn't need to make sense in relation to our known physical laws, but it must make sense in relationship to itself. If simple spell casting is difficult and leaves a caster debilitated and prematurely old, you cannot later have the same wizard hurling fireballs like candy with no apparent negative effect. Whatever rules which you establish in the early pages of your story need to still hold sway on the last page.

You can make your rules out of nothing but dreams, but once they have been dreamed into being, they cannot be casually destroyed.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2018-06-17T00:59:12Z (over 6 years ago)
Original score: 31