Post History
I don't think it's a good idea; when a reader opens a book they expect to learn some things about the characters in their normal world. If you open with a VR, the reader will assume that IS the nor...
Answer
#5: Post edited
by
Amadeus
·
2020-01-21T13:26:17Z (almost 5 years ago)
I don't think it's a good idea; when a reader opens a book they **expect** to learn some things about the characters in their normal world. If you open with a VR, the reader will assume that IS the normal world, and real. Orcs and other fantasy beings are only known because in some fantasy (like Lord of the Rings) they **were** real, how are readers supposed to guess the VR is a game?The jarring aspect of finding out it is a video game will most likely cause disappointment, not delight, and turn your story into something different than they thought they were reading, and perhaps put the story down.At best, they might re-read knowing it is a game. I wouldn't do it, the opening of a book is to show the actual normal world of your Main Character, and quickly (like within four pages) have them interacting with some one else, even a walk-on we won't see again. The point is to know their normal world and have the reader sympathize with the MC, at least understand something about the MC, before you put the MC into a meat grinder and _change_ their normal world.I think you can fix this with a line.> Jake put his goggles back on and un-paused the game.Better yet, leave the marksmanship for later, show us Jake in some way doing what he does every day in his normal world, interacting with real people, perhaps getting _ready_ to play a game, or getting into a "pick up" game while visiting someone else.Playing a game may indeed be a daily occurrence in his normal world, but tricking the reader into thinking the game is reality is not a good idea. And even your MC does not think it is real, nobody playing a game thinks it is real. So your narrator is intentionally lying to the reader by narrating as if it were real.
- I don't think it's a good idea; when a reader opens a book they **expect** to learn some things about the characters in their normal world. If you open with a VR, the reader will assume that IS the normal world, and real. Orcs and other fantasy beings are only known because in some fantasy (like Lord of the Rings) they **were** real, how are readers supposed to guess the VR is a game?
- The jarring aspect of finding out it is a video game will most likely cause disappointment, not delight, and turn your story into something different than they thought they were reading, and perhaps put the story down.
- At best, they might re-read knowing it is a game. I wouldn't do it, the opening of a book is to show the actual normal world of your Main Character, and quickly (like within four pages) have them interacting with some one else, even a walk-on we won't see again. The point is to know their normal world and have the reader sympathize with the MC, at least understand something about the MC, before you put the MC into a meat grinder and _change_ their normal world.
- I think you can fix this with a single line.
- > Jake put his goggles back on and un-paused the game.
- Better yet, leave the marksmanship for later, show us Jake in some way doing what he does every day in his normal world, interacting with real people, perhaps getting _ready_ to play a game, or getting into a "pick up" game while visiting someone else.
- Playing a game may indeed be a daily occurrence in his normal world, but tricking the reader into thinking the game is reality is not a good idea. And even your MC does not think it is real, because nobody playing a game thinks it is real. So your narrator is intentionally lying to the reader by narrating as if it were real.
#4: Attribution notice removed
by
System
·
2019-12-19T22:13:55Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/48358 License name: CC BY-SA 4.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
#3: Attribution notice added
by
System
·
2019-12-08T13:05:28Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/48358 License name: CC BY-SA 4.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
#2: Initial revision
I don't think it's a good idea; when a reader opens a book they **expect** to learn some things about the characters in their normal world. If you open with a VR, the reader will assume that IS the normal world, and real. Orcs and other fantasy beings are only known because in some fantasy (like Lord of the Rings) they **were** real, how are readers supposed to guess the VR is a game? The jarring aspect of finding out it is a video game will most likely cause disappointment, not delight, and turn your story into something different than they thought they were reading, and perhaps put the story down. At best, they might re-read knowing it is a game. I wouldn't do it, the opening of a book is to show the actual normal world of your Main Character, and quickly (like within four pages) have them interacting with some one else, even a walk-on we won't see again. The point is to know their normal world and have the reader sympathize with the MC, at least understand something about the MC, before you put the MC into a meat grinder and _change_ their normal world. I think you can fix this with a line. > Jake put his goggles back on and un-paused the game. Better yet, leave the marksmanship for later, show us Jake in some way doing what he does every day in his normal world, interacting with real people, perhaps getting _ready_ to play a game, or getting into a "pick up" game while visiting someone else. Playing a game may indeed be a daily occurrence in his normal world, but tricking the reader into thinking the game is reality is not a good idea. And even your MC does not think it is real, nobody playing a game thinks it is real. So your narrator is intentionally lying to the reader by narrating as if it were real.
#1: Imported from external source
by
System
·
2019-10-03T21:47:45Z (about 5 years ago)
Original score: 1