Talking to my 10 year old about space travel changed how I think about fantasy worlds

My son asked me why spaceships in books always have gravity if they're in deep space. I gave some answer about artistic license but then he said 'maybe the author just forgot.' And honestly that hit me hard because I think I do that too, I just accept tropes without questioning them. Have any of you had a kid or someone who's not a writer point out something obvious that made you rethink your own story rules?

2 comments

2 Comments

king.derek29d ago

My kids pointed out my book has people flying through space without suits and I just said 'magic' like a lazy parent.

joelwells29d ago

That's exactly the kind of thing my brain does too (except with less interesting stuff like "why do we park on driveways and drive on parkways?"). It's funny how we all have these little moments where we just give up on explaining things properly, especially to kids. I've noticed this pattern in grocery stores where someone asks a simple question and the worker just shrugs and says "it's on sale" like that explains why the milk is next to the cat food. We all do it. We pick the easiest answer so we can move on with our day, and honestly that might be the real magic here. Your kids are probably going to remember that "magic" moment way more than some boring science explanation.