Discussion can imagination rivals experience?

Discussion in 'Novel General' started by Asf, Apr 25, 2022.

  1. Asf

    Asf 《《The aria of souls》》

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    Ofcourse we know that not all authors are that person that have experience all the things in the world.
    There are some that never falls in love trying to write a romance novel.
    Someone who never fights trying to write a boxing novel.
    Or someone straight trying to write a gay novel. .
    So can someone really inexperience make a good novel just out of inagination and tropes?
    Comparable to someone that experience it first hand?
    Have redt such from an experienced PoV toward in inexperienced author's work?
    If both u and the author dont have experience would u enjoy it more?
    Thnx
     
  2. The Hamster Overlord

    The Hamster Overlord Mad scientist/Revered wizard/Alleged antichrist

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    I don't know, but time and time again I have underestimated what can and cannot be, so I will answer yes this time
     
  3. Harry

    Harry Now you see me

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    Seeing many isekai novels out there is proof that the author never isekai-ed and that's why you will see trash concept isekai equal to the gaming world, no food culture, idiot party members that would say amazing to anything MC did. But I guess it's kinda impossible for the author to go isekai-ed, survive, become OP/god, create mayonnaise + food chain without dying from food poisoning, and go back to earth just to tell the tale.

    But strangely people love it, people love nonsense. Imagination can run wild, in other word the inexperienced author can write good novel even the logic is kinda meh
     
  4. Shio

    Shio Moderator Staff Member

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    There's definitely some genre that could be written without experience. Most shounen/shoujo and plot focused novel are this type of novel. But for something more nuanced, I really think the author should at least do some research, and brushed up their human interaction. Some novel are painful to read since they want to potray realistic character development and relationship, but ended up like shounen instead.
     
  5. Fluffums

    Fluffums 【R-18 Researcher】【Seeker of Moe】

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    AFAIK no fantasy author has personally experienced magic, and no sci-fi author has been on a spaceship traveling through the galaxy.

    Direct experience isn't really necessary, but it's good to supplement imagination - for example, the guy writing about boxing can go to a gym and watch training, interview people involved and people who watch it often, go on youtube for detailed videos, etc. With all that preparation, it wouldn't be too difficult to write about boxing even without putting on a pair of gloves.

    The main place where realism helps is the fluff, little character interactions and details on techniques (not wikipedia pages like some authors do, but just a line or two that makes the uninformed go "huh, I didn't know that" and makes the informed go "oh, the author knows his stuff"). If you're aware that something is unrealistic, you don't have to remove it from the story, just think of a good excuse for it to happen.
     
  6. Nimroth

    Nimroth Someone

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    Worth noting though that just because someone has a lot of experience with something, doesn't mean that they have indepth knowledge about it, in some cases the experience could even result in you having a skewed perception of what you are trying to convey.
    Experience, knowledge and imagination are all tools here that you ideally want to have, but you can still do fine without one of them, it just possibly makes it a lot harder.

    Also experience isn't as simple as needing to have fallen in love in order to write romance, spending time with other people that are in love also counts as a valuable experience for that.
     
  7. asriu

    asriu fu~ fu~ fu~

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    yes, cuz at it core all depend on how to storytelling no? how to deliver a story is imo not relate to experience an event, it similar to the difference of writing and speaking~
     
  8. ToastedRossi

    ToastedRossi Well-Known Member

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    Creative writing preaches "write what you know"; not "write only what you've personally experienced". It's all about illusions and weaving them into a believable narrative. Sure, having actual experience can add a lot to a story, but it's not necessary, and this is why (good) writers will do a lot of research before they tackle new projects. And as a result, some of my favorite books have come from writers tackling subjects (often military related) even though they're outside of their expertise. Hell, the best Edwardian, Ancient Greek, and Eastern Front World War II novels I've ever read are written by Chinese writers. If they all stuck to only what they were familiar with, these wouldn't exist and the world would be poorer for it.

    Also, we should note that just because someone is an expert at a subject it doesn't mean that he's automatically going to be good at conveying that knowledge in an effective way. The counterpoint is an author like Tom Clancy. He's the pioneer of the modern technothriller and he wrote a lot about the military and about military hardware. Or more accurately, he made up a lot of things about military hardware. But he did so so convincingly and so entertainingly that he became a huge author. Hell, Clancy even managed to occasionally trick actual soldiers about how the gear worked. I'm not saying that writers should try to be more like this guy, but it really goes to show how important it is to sell your writing.
     
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