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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/43385
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

(EDITED TO MAKE IT LESS BROAD AND MORE CLEAR).

I recently [asked a question](https://writing.stackexchange.com/questions/43289/do-i-really-need-to-have-a-scientific-explanation-for-my-premise) about if I really need to include scientific proof for my mostly-non-scientific post-apocalyptic novel, and the [best answer](https://writing.stackexchange.com/a/43299/34214) I received told me that I didn't need to back up my premise with science **_as long as I set the contract with my reader that science is not my promised topic._** The answer I accepted told me to establish _early on_ that science is not what I'm promising. Here is my issue:

In my book, I show in around the 8th chapter that my MC has supernatural powers, and I think it's clear to my reader that I'm not searching for a scientific explanation for this. The closest I get to this is later on in the story, where the characters surmise that radiation gave them their strange powers. _But I don't know if this is early enough._ My novel's first five approximate chapters are the closest thing I have to a final draft, and I don't know if or how I could incorporate the idea of non-science any earlier.

How do I set with my reader the promise that my story isn't scientific, if the first mention of anything fantastical occurs maybe 25% into the story?

Original score: 0