Fiction has to be plausible. All history has to do is happen.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Fiction needs to feel believable while history just needs to have happened. Real events can be stranger than what feels plausible in stories.
- In plain terms
- Fiction must seem real but history just needs to happen.
- What can you take from it?
- History can be more surprising than fiction.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Why does history feel less believable than fiction?
- How do you judge truth in stories?
Another view
Good fiction sometimes bends plausibility to match history.
More from Harry Turtledove
Many things are possible. Few things are certain.
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Permalink to quote #3 I can't not write. I'm obsessive-compulsive, and I know it.
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