Fridge Logic

Have you ever watched a movie that you’ve thoroughly enjoyed and then, pondering it a little while later think, why didn’t Rose just shove over and let Jack climb aboard the wreckage of the Titanic?*

Congratulations, you’ve experienced fridge logic.

According to TV Tropes, any plot development that you accept while involved in the universe of the film but fails to make sense afterwards is fridge logic.

Fridge logic occurs for one of two reasons.

The first is as a result of time pressures where filmmakers use shorthand or little leaps in credibility in order to advance the story in the time allotted.

The second is simply bad storytelling.

While film producers have the excuse of being time poor, novelists have no such excuse.

A TV drama only has to hold our attention for 45 minutes;  a film, about 120.

We writers can spend weeks with our audience, but the good news is, we have the luxury of time and words to fully flesh out the motivation of our characters.

At each point we should examine why our character does the things she does and why. If she’s hostile, why? What has happened to make her react that way? Was it in reaction to a previous conversation? Or is it something in her past?

Whether it’s  revealed immediately or through the course of the story, the reason for each character’s motivation must be fully explained. Everything which happens during the course of the story has to be internally consistent in the universe which you’ve created.

That’s the reason why the book is always better the novel.

Your beta readers and critique partners are invaluable in helping you avoid Fridge Logic – or worse still glaring disconnects in characterisations. They will quickly let you know if you’re on track.

While most people are accepting that there has to be some literary licence in order to keep the story moving, they certainly won’t be forgiving of glaring errors in fact, or your hero or heroine behaving out of character without a very good explanation.

*Here’s James Cameron’s explanation:

‘If he got on with her they’d both be half in and half out of the water, and they would have both died,’ he explains, adding that this would have led to both characters dying from hypothermia.

On her own, Kate is ‘completely out of the water on the raft’, Cameron added.

Sooooo, tragedy and pathos had nothing to do with it uh? Riiiiight ;-)

And here’s the Myth Busters result:

It is plausible that Rose and Jack could have both stayed afloat on the board and survived hypothermia just long enough to be rescued — but only if they’d thought to tie Rose’s life jacket underneath the board to help with its buoyancy. Otherwise, the weight of both their bodies would have sunk the board low enough in the freezing water that they both would have died.