ABSTRACT
This chapter first considers the three options open to the fiction writer regarding the ontological setup of the community and the resulting epistemological rules that will obtain. After this introduction, we explore briefly some of the mechanics of creating stories and how these mechanics might affect the outcome. This consonance with the ways that authors put together texts is necessary for those who wish to be careful readers. The new approach of fictive narrative philosophy, it may be remembered, takes the artifact as integral to the presentation. That is, the novel or short story, itself, does the heavy lifting. It expresses the claim and argues for its plausibility according to inductive and abductive logic through their interpretation via probability theory. This is different from the traditional approach, which views the artifact as essentially in need of an interpretative apparatus that is brought in from the outside. This external overlay provides the meaning to the artifact. In this way, the traditional approach makes the interpretative apparatus the essential focus rather than the work itself.
