Suspending Disbelief and World Building
The term suspension of disbelief is brought up often in writing classes, and it is something important to consider when writing a story. In every story there is an element of world building that requires the author to consider suspension of disbelief. From writing, illustration, film, comics, theater, to themed entertainment, video games, augmented reality, virtual reality, role playing games, and more, world building is essential to creating an enjoyable, engaging, and entertaining experience for an audience. There is a lot of nuance about this subject in terms of neuroscience and psychology, but for this article I will be focusing on how to apply this principle to world building and storytelling.
“Willing suspension of disbelief” was a term first used by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in his book, “Biographia Literaria” published in 1817. In the context of the original text, Coleridge and his collaborator William Wordsworth explored the idea of blending the ordinary world with the supernatural through creative writing. Coleridge makes a point to include realistic emotions and reactions in his supernatural stories that would ground the reader in reality. Today “suspension of disbelief” takes on a slightly different meaning, more aligned with Coleridge’s other term “poetic faith”. Its modern meaning is an audience’s willingness to temporarily allow themself to believe something that isn’t possible in order to enjoy a story.
As an example, we know that people can’t fly, but in the world of Superman they can. We accept this for the world of the story because we are able to justify it within the narrative. Of course he can fly! He may look human, but he is actually an alien from a distant planet where people are able to fly. In this example, we are not only suspending disbelief in Superman’s powers, but also giving the author our poetic faith to answer important world-building questions that keep us engaged in the story. Suspending disbelief is not just used in fantastical stories either. Stories based on historical events or time periods require extreme attention to the details of set, costumes, language, and culture in order to accurately recreate a world of the past. Any noticeable anachronisms, or something that does not yet exist within the time period, can snap the reader’s attention out of the story, break consistency, and ruin their faith in the accuracy of the world of the story. An author’s goal is to engage the reader, and the world of the story is meant to enhance the main idea of the narrative. Breaking the audience’s attention with inconsistent world building can destroy their poetic faith in the author.
World building is the process of creating a fictional world. It is more than just the setting of the story. There is a lot to consider when creating an entirely new fictional world; language, culture, customs, history, religion, government, biology, etc. And of course there is so much more to consider once you introduce magic to your world. It is fun to create and explore new worlds, but it can also be overwhelming to think about all of the things that make up the world. Remember that the most important part of a story is the narrative itself. World building should enhance the main ideas of the story, and should not come at an expense to the story. My all time favorite example of successful world building is “Avatar the Last Airbender”. The environments, characters, creatures, cultures, as well as everything from the filler episodes to Zuko’s hair adds to the main story, and builds a world that the audience can get lost in.
The world is a complex place, and the world of your story could be too. Take solace in the fact that world building is not done alone. It is okay to leave gaps or provide only hints of world building details for the audience’s imagination. These are treats for attentive fans to go deeper within your world, explore the implications of a certain item or symbol appearing in the background, challenge them to justify the meaning behind a family crest, or a costume choice, and imagine what the characters are up to when they are off screen. Work with the audience to build the world to engage them within the story.
The best thing to do to create your own world for a story is to just get started. Ask questions about the world and your characters, do research on time periods, other cultures and languages, play with geography, consider the rules of magic within your world. Have fun exploring. Keep the main idea of your story in mind and use it to guide your decisions about your world. Below this article are links to world building resources to help you get started.
Resources
TV Tropes | Willing Suspension of Disbelief
Hobbylark | Creating a Fantasy World Map: Scientific Laws to Remember
FIT | Fashion History Timeline
Orion’s Arm | Sci-Fi World Building and Software
Tools
Medieval Fantasy City Generator
Room Sketcher | design interiors
World Building Organization Software
Further Reading:
Animation World Network | Willing Suspension of Disbelief
Book Fox | How to Master Worldbuilding: A Guide to Science Fiction and Fantasy
Jerry Jenkins | A Step-by-Step Guide to Immersive World Building
Masterclass | How to Write a Believable World
Scientific American | What Brain Activity Can Explain Suspension of Disbelief
TedEd | The Willing Suspension of Disbelief
Well Storied | An Introduction to World Building
Wikipedia | Aesthetic Distance
Wikipedia | Suspension of Disbelief
Books
Check out your local library for free hard copy books! They also have audiobooks, streaming services and more!
Acting For Animators by Ed Hooks (buy via Thriftbooks)
Literature and the Brain by Norman H. Holland (buy via Thrift Books)
Lyrical Ballads by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (online text via Project Gutenberg)
On Fairy-Stories by JRR Tolkien (online PDF link)
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