How much disbelief can you suspend?

[gunhilltrain]

That's happens in my writing, too, and I suspect it's more or less universal, given the long list of examples here.

This is why I call it a cheat code. If you pick up the details, you are suddenly a genius writer with amazing foresight and masterful worldbuilding skills. If you abandon them without explanation, only literature/movie buffs will ever notice.

What Happened to the Mouse? It's common for directors to submit long cuts of movies, practically daring the studio to reduce the length (I think many know that is inevitable). During that process, loose ends may be left unresolved. Yet I've seen director's cuts that were indeed too long. The original version of Apocalypse Now has about one worthy scene, that of Mister Clean's (Laurence Fishburn) funeral when Chief buries him on land. (The presumption is that the nature of the mission does not allow for his body to be returned to to the U.S.)

 

[Ren_eh]

I have always thought that "disbelief suspenders" (actual suspenders) would be a great give away at a movie house premier.