“But, Mary, haven’t you said before that obvious holes in stories isn’t good?”
Huh, and I thought no one read these posts. 😉
Indeed, I have said this, and I stand by it. Having a story as free of holes as possible is a goal to strive toward. I won’t say free of holes because nothing is perfect. Every story is going to take some liberties or need a moment of “just because.” And that’s okay.
So what am I getting at with this title, then? Simply that a story may be able to get away with bigger holes under certain circumstances. The two that come to me at the moment are a story that is generally exceptionally compelling or that has an emotional significance for an individual.
As an example of the second one, I present my relationship with the 1995 movie Casper (the one with Christina Ricci and Bill Pullman). When I was a child, I almost literally lived and breathed this movie. Remember when movie rental storers were a thing? I would literally rent Casper, watch it as many times as I could within the five-day window, bring it back, walk to the shelf at the back of the store where the three Casper rentals lived, grab another VHS, and re-rent it. (Nowhere in my kid-brain did it ever occur to me that I could just…re-rent the one I brought back. And no one bothered to tell me. 🤷♀️)
This went on for…months? Maybe a year? It was a long time ago, and I don’t remember. Point is, I absolutely loved that movie, any possible holes and all.
Since it’s Halloween season, I just recently watched Casper with my family. Seeing it as an adult feels like going back in time a little bit. I just get caught up in the story and have emotions.
However, my partner, who does not have the history with the movie that I do, is a little more discerning when it comes to potential holes.
Turns out, there are quite a few.
As (almost) always, no spoilers, but suffice to say, as someone who understands story as much as I do, I can see the holes.
But because of my emotionally significant history with the movie, part of me just doesn’t care.
Now, this is all well and fine for my history with Casper. But generally speaking, hoping for emotional significance or for an entire readership to find your work exceptionally compelling is not a strategy I recommend. There are plenty of other books and movies that have lots of holes, and I’m not so forgiving as I am about Casper. Those stories might be fantastic, and if I grew up on them, that might have been very different. But I didn’t, and, thus, I notice things that don’t make sense a lot more. As a result, I don’t feel the need to read/watch more from that creator.
We all have a few special cases. Casper and Power Rangers are mine. I’ll be a fan forever because they meant something to me during my formative years. As an adult, I can objectively look at them and recognize they have flaws (as all media inevitably does). Other people might think I’m out of my mind for liking them when they have so many issues. But I’m sure I think the same thing about some of the things other people like.
Bottom Line: It’s okay to love something despite its flaws. And it’s important to realize anything you create will have some flaws in it somewhere. What I don’t recommend is not bothering to tighten your work as much as possible because “people will love it even if it’s not perfect.” This may be true, but it’s a lot easier to get people to stick around if they feel like they got something worth sticking around for.
What’s your special case? (No judgment 🤞)
👋 Fair travels,
Mary
P.S. A big thanks to OpenClipart-Vectors from pixabay.com for the image.
