Writer Wednesday Flash Fiction - Leapling

 

I’m a “leapling”. I was born on leap day. I got my powers on leap day. I was prophesied to die on leap day. 

Would today be that day? I thought as the children of the night pressed around me. 

I hailed from a family of powerful witches who had control over other supernatural beings. Yeah, we weren’t the most popular lot, until people wanted our help, of course. But my power was the strongest yet, being the prophesied “leapling witch”, and all that. I had the power to make vampires mortal. You’d think that all vampires would hate this particular talent of mine, but you’d be surprised how many came to me seeking to regain their mortality. Still, the majority wanted to see me dead. I have been under special protection all of my life, until I got so fed up with it that I slipped my bodyguards. Hey, sometimes a girl wants to play and be free.

Of course, I wasn’t counting on the biggest vampire clan in the city to find me within an hour of my brilliant escape. And now, the creepy immortals surrounded me on all sides in a dark alley, their silence and slow movement more terrifying than anything else they could have done.

"Nice going", I muttered and squeezed my fists in preparation to raising protective energy.

Before I could raise my hands, a man walked in front of the rest. He was tall and beautiful. I may have been sheltered but I could appreciate a gorgeous male specimen.

“Don’t be afraid, Talia,” he said. “We need your help. Agree to work with us, and we’ll return you safely to your family.”

We stared into each others eyes, and I felt like I was drowning. In a bizarrely pleasant way.

I nodded my agreement. As if I could refuse. No, this will not be the leap day I die.

Suspension of Disbelief

NaBloPoMo Post #28

Suspension of Disbelief is defined by Wikipedia as “a formula for justifying the use of fantastic or non-realistic elements in literary works of fiction. It was put forth in English by the poet and aesthetic philosopher Samuel Taylor Coleride who suggested that if a writer could infuse a "human interest and a semblance of truth" into a fantastic tale, the reader would suspend judgment concerning the implausibility of the narrative.”

It is often up to the reader to “suspend disbelief” so they can immerse themselves into a story and overlook certain fantastical aspects.

However, is is also up to the writer to help the reader to be able to do that. The writer has to wrap her story, no matter how fantastic, in something realistic and believable in order for the reader to accept it as possible. If there are aspects in the story that the reader can identify with from his own life and surroundings, it will be easier to accept that something somewhat different and unusual might in fact take place within that more common surrounding.

There are many aspects of TV shows and movies that ask the viewer to suspend disbelief, even in stories that are not fantasy or sci-fi in nature. Sometimes it’s small things, like the fact that a pregnancy test does not turn positive within 3 seconds of peeing on it (like it did on Walking Dead) or the fact that medical or forensic results are not available within hours of the test being done or crime being comitted. But there’s limited amount of time and content to be fit into a show or a movie, and so things like that are necessary to move the plot along without making a movie last hours or days.

In fiction, it is up to the writer to make the reader believe that something is possible that doesn’t seem plausible. The way to do that is to place the reader into a familiar surrounding, include details that are familiar and that will immerse the reader into the world. Then the writer presents a fantastical aspect by either saying outright that this is not a regular occurance in that world or by letting the reader discover that himself.

One of the most important aspects for the writer to remember here is to be consistent about her world and the details. If there’s inconsistencies throughout the story, it will instantly put the reader on alert and he will treat the rest of the story with a sense of caution or suspicion, and possible disbelief.

The rise of post-apocalyptic fiction

It’s Sunday night and hurricane Irene has passed our area as a tropical storm, weaker than expected but strong enough to cause some damage and a lot of worry. It’s been a strange week – from the rarity of feeling the tremors of an earthquake in NYC to this hurricane taking a rare north-east course. Gratefully, everyone I know is safe and sound and we are praying for all those who have been affected by hurricane Irene in more serious ways.

The preparation and waiting for the storm to hit made me think of other things though. Things that I have been thinking about a lot lately. Things that have to do with survival. Our times are so uncertain and so full of crazy events that you can’t help but think of that. It is not surprising that the post-apocalyptic and dystopian fiction has been steadily becoming very popular and mainstream.

As it happened, as we were waiting for Irene, I have been in the middle of reading Aftertime by Sophie Littlefield, an enjoyable post-apocalyptic novel. Her description of the post-apocalyptic world is raw and beautifully realistic. This is the third post-apocalyptic/dystopian novel I have read in the last year. The first one was the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins, a bestseller that is now being made into a movie.

The apocalyptic events can take many various forms, from the social disintegration stemming from the fall of economic system, to natural disasters of major proportions, to a yet unknown disease that spreads like wildfire with no cure in sight, to a nuclear catostrophe. Some fiction integrates all of the above.

So why are we so fascinated by this type of fiction nowadays? It explores the topics of human spirit, survival, resistance, compassion, civilization, nature and, of course, hope and renewal. Topics which are near and dear to most of us today because you can’t avoid them with all the events going on in the world. I believe we will see this genre become even bigger and more wide-spread in the next year. There so much material for writers in this genre still. And much interest from readers because, no matter how fantastic, it often is realistic enough to imagine and relate to, even just as an exploration of a human psyche in situations of major stress and survival.

I will be posting reviews of books I read and lists of novels coming out, so come back and check those out.

I would also love to know which post-apocalyptic and dystopian novels you enjoyed reading or look forward to reading soon. And what is your vision of a possible post-apocalyptic world?