Impossibilities

I was getting a critique of one of my books, and the person told me something along the lines of, “You can’t go faster than light.  The Law of Relativity prohibits it.”

No shit?

I don’t mean to be crass, but aren’t some of the technologies we use in our work not possible in real life?  Isn’t that part of the point of fiction in the first place, to bridge the gap between reality and make-believe so that our story can take place?

Of course the kind of story we’re telling has an impact on what we should include.  There’s no reason for a romance novel to talk about teleportation pods or for a detective novel to go into how magic wands affect the world.  Anything included, either technological or fantastical, should be necessary for the story to progress.  However, it’s difficult to tell a story set in an interstellar empire without finding a way for faster-than-light travel to exist, or to weave a tale about a world of magic if there’s no magic allowed.

That doesn’t mean that such inventions can be off the wall.  Things such as faster-than-light travel must make sense to most folks(some of the sticklers will never see it, and they probably shouldn’t be reading books that offend their sensibilities anyway), whether that be through a form of alternate space, the use of exotic particles, or traversing wormholes.  Magic should have rules and have either always been a part of the world or have some reason for its discovery.  While impossible technologies and other plot devices are required for certain stories, you can’t go too out there(like FTL accomplished through solid rocket boosters), or you’ll lose the reader.  Remember, these things are to enhance your story – they’re not the story itself.