Quote Originally Posted by Ranai
Anyway, the plausibility check means 'plausibility within the fictional framework'. As a writer you determine the parameters, the society, the rules, the possible consequences of this or that action or inaction. Blackmail fiction writers don't even need to invent reasons that would make sense in the real world; for the plot to work they merely need to invent reasons that function well in this particular fictional universe, and show the readers how and why they work.

Certainly true, but most blakmail fiction is set in the supposedly "real" world. Therefore many rules are already set because the reader knows something about the workings of the real world. In a purely fictional world anything goes.

In a world that deviates from ours in small but recognizable ways, the reader can not be sure that every rule that applies here is valid there but it still gives the story a "realistic" feeling because the worlds are so similar.
It is easier for the author to keep up the suspension of disbelief even in "implausible" situation.

Satan_Klaus