I personally am very interested in nitty-gritty details-- how does this work? where do all these people get their food? what is this person's business model?-- so if I come up with an AU idea, my first thought is "how do they fight the bad guys/otherwise finish canon in this verse, if they do?" and that gets me thinking of fascinating ideas like "how would you guide someone, if you were riding on that person's shoulder?" and "what would be the opportunity cost of designing a flying wheelchair?" and "so how do you keep your assistive technology with you while being banished to the wasteland to die?"
Besides which, plot always flows from knowing how things work. If you know how things work, you know how they could be disrupted. Knowing that lets you know how to make interesting things happen.
I'm also not so sure that it's possible to draw a line between descriptions requiring research and plotty events that don't.
I guess this makes me sound as if I have a strong opinion in favor, but I really feel ambivalent, because of how abled-gazey the descriptions can get.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2013-11-02 02:49 am (UTC)Besides which, plot always flows from knowing how things work. If you know how things work, you know how they could be disrupted. Knowing that lets you know how to make interesting things happen.
I'm also not so sure that it's possible to draw a line between descriptions requiring research and plotty events that don't.
I guess this makes me sound as if I have a strong opinion in favor, but I really feel ambivalent, because of how abled-gazey the descriptions can get.