Quote:
Originally Posted by VydorScope
How would that look to the reader, as the author breaking their rules, or realistic life where even smart people are sometimes wrong?
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The second, of course, entirely fair on the author's part and an indicator of complex situations and characters. I'm talking about cases where at least some of the characters in question would have had to know the newest wrinkle in the past, and it would have altered the story as told. I'll give a vague-ish example from Rowling: early books have all the wizards and witches shouting out the name of the spell as they cast it. This frequently gives the opponent a chance to get the defense out in time. But, we learn in later books, it's entirely impossible to cast spells silently, and the witches and wizards in training learn this skill. So why in heck were their skilled elders shouting themselves silly in early encounters?