I know it says genre but really this chapter is about knowing the world you create. In every book there are rules that are setup by you. They can be whatever you want them to be but if you make them, you have to stick with them.

For instance if you are writing a basic YA (Young adult, also Teen Fiction) novel and you set it in high school with average students you can't suddenly have alien spaceships attacking. (Or you could, but you need to give us some hit that that would occur) Gosh okay what am I trying to say here? Ah! This is it. When writing a book you have to be aware of these three things: Possible, Probable, and Plausible.

Maria help me out here, I feel like I'm going to botch this and it's kind of an important thing to remember.

Sure, Joy. No problem.

This is a very basic principle. A bit tedious but one of the most important parts of becoming an author.

Look at the world around you. There are cars driving on the street 🚗. There are people walking on the sidewalks 🚶🏼. Birds flitting between tree 🦅🌳. And dogs barking non-stop 🐕. (That might be a more specific instance, relevant only in my specific situation where I have a dog incapable of ever shutting up.) (It's true, he is crazy annoying)

But the world around you has laws. Rules, if you will. A lot of them are just logic based.

Cars drive on the rode because that's what cars have done since their invention. We have yet to invent a flying car, so therefore it is not probable that a flying car would go zooming down my street.

Now, with the technology we have and the information we have been given by the magical movie that is Back to the Future II, it is possible that we well, in the future, have flying cars. Heck, it's even plausible that the car industry is working on a model right now and they'll be ready to go by next summer and the skies will soon be filled with flying cars. But again, because of the world I live in, it is not probable.

Am I making sense? Are you getting this?

But how does this apply to writing, you may ask? Is this just another one of my tireless rants that Joy has to deal with day in and day out? Maybe. But bare with me.

When you start to write, when you get that great idea that you have to google to make sure no one else has already written, you are in the early stages of creativity you're own universe.

Now, just like our universe, the reality we are all living in now, your universe has to have rules and laws. You have to know those rules. You don't have to tell your reader every single law that you've created. But they need to feel reassured that you are in control.

Each genre holds a certain idea behind it's title. Readers expect certain things from certain types of books. You book might span over a few genres, incorporating different ideas in a tasteful and masterful way. But you have to be clear what is your reader is to expect from you.

Okay, I really hope this is making sense. Joy, jump in to clarify if I'm going too wide-eyed and crazy.

(I think you got it! Remember comment if you have questions. No need to feel lost. 😳)

I write mainly YA/Teen Fiction/New Adult. This means all my books are based in a world closely resembling our own. It have the same laws of physics, the same general idea of how the solar system works, the same traffic laws. People expect that when they pick up a YA book with my description. That means I can't have an alien suddenly crash down in the middle of a red carpet event my characters are attending. It would not be possible and it would seriously piss off my readers.
(I don't know, I might like this book 🤔. Anyways, you were saying?)

This is all boils down to the idea of character and the law of the three P's applies to your story. Possible, Plausible, and Probable.

When you start to write a story, you set up expectation of who you're character is by how they act. One of the things I see happening too frequently in recent years are characters acting completely different than the precedent that's been set up, with no explanation.

If you're character starts getting super into salsa music, for no apparent reason, when you've explained, in detail, their undying love for EDM, and you provide no explanation, you've lost my trust.

To insert twists and turns into a plot, explanations must be added and the reader must be brought up to speed. The reader is not stupid. Far from it. They can pick up on things. But they'll put anything down that doesn't make sense and doesn't fit into the world that you've created.

It doesn't matter how possible or even probable something is, as long as it's plausible and the reader can get on board with it, you're good to go.

Hope this helped.

Sorry if it didn't.

Comment if you have any questions!