Imagination can take you anywhere and allow you to do anything. But when you’re writing, imagination needs to make sense to the person reading it, and that can only happen if you can draw the reader inside of the world that you’re creating and make them believe that an entirely new set of laws exist.
If you ask just about anyone what powers Superman has, you will most likely receive answers like: he flies, he has heat vision, he’s indestructible, he can see through walls (x-ray vision) and so on. No one really says in answer to your question, “There is no Superman. He is a fictitious character that was created to the entertainment of children in a comic book.” At least, I don’t know anyone who would say that, and if someone did, I’d probably back away, slowly.
The fact that so many super hero characters have become household names, and their abilities well known, if due to the fact that we’ve come to accept this universe as something that, although not possible, is plausible in an entertaining sort of way. Super heroes touch us on a subconscious level. They can do things that we only wish we could do.
It’s difficult to do, but when I create new fiction, I attempt to find something that has never been done before. As an example, in my book “The Sounds of Tomorrow” I created a world where a young girl attains the ability to hear the sounds of traumatic events, 24 hours before they happen. When she hears a murder taking place, she has to figure out a way to let the police know without implicating herself or having those around her think that she’s crazy. In most stories, people can “see” into the future, but I had never heard of anyone only hearing the future.
In my series, “The Eyes of Tokorel”, I created a universe in which Permac and the Tokorellan people have the ability to mentally sense the emotions of someone else. In addition, they can influence others to feel any emotions. A person who is suspicious of you could be made to be trusting and accepting of you without understanding why. Have you ever met someone for the first time and decided that this is a likable person? Yet, you know little about them. Perhaps they are Tokorellan. So this ability plays on our subconscious desire to be able to enter any situation with confidence and control. If you could control the emotions of anyone you met, you could pretty much control the world. This give rise to numerous situations, especially when we find out that one person can actually “taste” when she’s being influenced. It makes for an interesting series. Good guys and bad guys alike have this ability, so the classic battle of good versus evil taken to a new level.
So the next time you create a new universe, think it through. Make it seem real and plausible. Convince your reader that such a universe exists. It’s great fun to know how much your readers will follow this new and intriguing universe that you have created!
Drew
