http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RationalFic

Eliezer Yudkowsky , on Rationalist Fiction. "But when you look at what Sherlock Holmes does - you can't go out and do it at home. Sherlock Holmes is not really operating by any sort of reproducible method. He is operating by magically finding the right clues and carrying out magically correct complicated chains of deduction. Maybe it's just me, but it seems to me that reading Sherlock Holmes does not inspire you to go and do likewise. Holmes is a mutant superhero. And even if you did try to imitate him, it would never work in real life."

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A Rational Fic is one which makes a deliberate effort to reward a reader's thinking. It's the opposite of Bellisario's Maxim. The World Building is intended to stand up to careful thought; the plot is driven by characters or circumstances that themselves are part of the story, the heroes generally think clearly (in ways the reader can follow), and a clever reader can deduce what's hidden or what's coming. Very often, the fic is also intended to teach the reader something about rationality.

One of the first authors to use aspects of rational thinking and non-Aristotelian logic as the basis of their world-building and character interactions was A. E. van Vogt, specifically in the Null-A series. One of those authors who built upon the success of Van Vogt's works to arguably create the genre known as 'rational fiction' was Eliezer Yudkowsky, who wrote the Harry Potter fanfiction "Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality" and put his own views on the subject into The Abridged Guide to Intelligent Characters . A sizeable community of people who write or enjoy this type of fiction exists on Reddit. Because HPMoR marked the emergence (or at least, codification) of the genre, the name uses Fic instead of fiction; some fans use the terms Rational Fiction, Rationalist Fic, and Rationalist Fiction interchangeably, though most use Fiction for published/non-derivative works, and Rationalist for works that not only aim for realistic intelligence, but try to teach principles of rationality.

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Rational Fics often have these tropes as their foundation:

Tropes which are common in Rational Fic, but not as central:

Tropes which Rational Fic deliberately avoids:

The number of tropes Rational Fic attempts to avoid which are on the Writing Pitfall Index might suggest that it is some sort of universal principle of good writing, which is not the case. Even those Tropes Are Not Bad, and many Rational Fics fail to avoid them in any case, or fall into other traps (Author Tract, Invincible Hero/Villain, Talking Is a Free Action, ex.). The Lord of the Rings would not necessarily have benefited from a clearly explained magic system, nor The Threepenny Opera from a logical Downer Ending, nor The Dark Knight from making The Joker a Well-Intentioned Extremist.

Also see Competence Porn, which might be the reason why rational fics are popular.

Also note that the occasional appearance of a trope to avoid doesn't prevent the work from being Rational Fic, if it conforms to most of the other tropes.

Examples:

You can also see this poll on the Facebook group "Rational Fic" where people have voted for their favorite stories. As of February 2019, the top 5 are: Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, Three Worlds Collide, Worm, Crystal Society, and The Metropolitan Man.

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Anime & Manga

The Promised Neverland, smart kids use their brains and reasoning to escape from an orphange who are raising them as beast to slaughter.

Fanfic (multi-chapter)

Fanfic (oneshot)

The Amazing Peter Parker : In which Peter Parker dedicates his life to fighting death after losing his beloved uncle Ben.

: In which Peter Parker dedicates his life to fighting death after losing his beloved uncle Ben. Scar's Samsara: The first chapter of Scar's Samsara is a oneshot which follows a rational!Scar as the villain protagonist. Other chapters were later added to expand on the premise, but the first chapter can still be read as a stand-alone story.

Literature

TV Series

Webcomics

Fleep: The main character wakes up in a phone booth buried under concrete and has to figure out how he got there and how to escape.

Freefall: A lighthearted exploration of the nearer reaches of mindspace, becoming more serious as it goes.

Strong Female Protagonist: Alison Green, a collegiate ex-superheroine, tries to discover just what she wants out of life after coming to the realization that superheroes can't really make a difference in the world.

Web Original

Podcast

Rationally Writing : A podcast by rationalist writers Daystar Eld and Alexander Wales giving advice and analysis of writing and stories.

Web Video