Story Problems: When the facts don't fit

What do you do when you have a great idea for a story, but background research shows that writing it would be factually incorrect? This week sees the start of a series that talks about problems fiction writers may face in their writing.

I am currently working on an apocalyptical style short story (fiction), which posits what happens if the earth stops spinning. The story starts with the idea that there is sudden silence, because the world is no longer spinning. However, some basic research revealed that as the earth is spinning at 1000 miles per hour, pretty much everything would go flying, promptly showing that the story won't work in its current conception.

These are some of the ways I've been approaching this conundrum:

Change the setting

I have previously written Sci-Fi and fantasy, so an easy solution is to set the story in a world which operates by different rules of physics (much as the brilliant Sir Terry Pratchett did with the Discworld series). This would mean though that other aspects of my story won't work the way I want them too.

Change the timing

Another approach would be to set the story over a much longer period of time, so the earth's rotation slows over a period of time. The resulting stop will be far less dramatic, but it could work. Of course, as the earth slows, days become longer, weather patterns change, and so life would be very different on a slow rotating earth – assuming it is still possible to live on earth.

Change the story

At its heart, this is really a story about the damage we do to the earth, and the ramifications of the destruction. I've asked myself, 'does the silence matter'? Losing it would mean losing the start of the story, where the question is posed– why is it so quiet and what noise stopped? The rest of the story would have been discovering the answer – ie the earth stopped spinning, and talking about the causes and consequences. The research has certainly given me further ideas I can develop in the story.

Ignore the research?

This is a course of action I wouldn't advise – editors are likely to chuck the story out quickly (unless of course I find a way to explain why my idea works – we've all watched movies like that!) But readers tend to be quick to pick up on mistakes in writing, and it means a loss of credibility. Bottom line, if you want to write then you have to pay attention to facts.

What will I do about this story?

I'm still mulling the answer to this, but it is most likely that I will find another way to tell the story with the silence at the ending. We do tend to think we should start at the beginning with a story, but often, jumping in at an action point is more effective, and grips the reader. The original 'starting point' then becomes part of the backstory that is introduced later.

So, for me, it's back to the writing page on this one, but while I mull it over, I have other stories I'm working on.