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2008-04-25T19:32:58Z

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The '''suspension of disbelief''' is what the creator of a fictional work asks of her audience/reader: To suspend their ''disbelief'' in those aspects of her fictional world that are fictional -- the existence of those characters, that place, that time, those behaviors, those events, that technology, etc. -- so that the creator can [[tell a story]] and the audience can hear it.

While suspension of disbelief is required for all fictional aspects of a work, including character, [[SF]] poses the particular challenge of consistent and realistic [[worldbuilding]]. While SF readers may be prepared to accept aliens or magic, these things must operate within a consistent structure of rules -- the rules that we know apply to our physical universe, for instance, in the case of aliens; or a consistent set of rules that makes sense, in the case of magic.

Some SF [[tropes]], while unrealistic so far as we know, have become accepted without need for much explanation. The audience suspends their disbelief on credit, as it were. These include:
* [[FTL travel]] - Not possible according to the laws of physics as currently understood
* [[Time travel]] - Not necessarily theoretically impossible, but ''highly improbable''
* [[Psychic powers]] - Otherwise realistic or [[science fiction]]al worlds often introduce psychic powers, without any plausible scientific explanation.
* [[Religion]] - Sometimes otherwise realistic or [[science fiction]]al worlds introduce some religious concept that the audience permits: e.g., destiny; prophecy; deities; souls.

[[Category:Audience studies]]
[[Category:Worldbuilding and settings]]

Suspension of disbelief - Revision history

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