# Reality of a Universe



## mottled.kitten (Sep 1, 2008)

Hello 

I have a "universe", and it's pretty much my baby. It's been in my mind, my stories and my play-acting ever since I was a kid, and has grown with and around me. My question is, what makes a universe believable? Obviously, since my universe is a fantasy world filled with mostly fantastic creatures, it can't be completely believable... but what makes it feel "realistic" to you?

(The only story in this universe that I have available is a furotica, located here: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/words-are-wind/ if you're interested.)


----------



## foozzzball (Sep 2, 2008)

The plausibility - or realism - of a setting can be very important to any piece of fiction, and there's one thing that's always needed.

Internal plausibility. This means sticking to what you've told the reader, or not breaking it without a good reason. For instance. If, on page one, you say that your character is a violent and independant type, then on page thirty have them come across all kittenish when someone mugs them, it's not going to make that particular character seem very real.

More specifically if you state that your magical system allows people to fly, do not expect a big honking castle wall to be of any use to anybody, so why is the King who's been threatened by the magic guild so comfortable sitting behind his castle walls? If your city has ten thousand inhabitants, what happens to the sewage? Why do people remark on the cleanliness of this city's streets even though ten pages ago some hobo was peeing on a wall?

In short, make sure what you've written down makes sense in relation to itself.


----------

