My Skeptical Angel

When it comes to fiction, there’s a complaint I’ve always disliked. It’s common in all media, be it books, or television shows, movies or video games. I’m sure most of you are familiar with it. Here are the famous words: “It’s not realistic.” This game sucks, you have to shoot the enemy soldiers in the head three times, it’s not realistic. I didn’t like this book because the characters were unrealistic. The guy hid in a fridge to survive a nuclear bomb, that’s unrealistic. Now, when someone says that, it’s usually true. The thing is, more often than not, that’s not the actual problem. The people who say it think they want realism, but they don’t. Well, some do, but they are the minority.

Let’s look at the whole nuke and fridge fiasco from Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull as an example. Of course, the scene is ridiculous, and I disliked it too, but not because of a lack of realism. I mean the first three Indiana Jones movies are filled with ludicrous events that could never happen in real life. For crying out like, the second one has Indiana Jones jumping off a plane in an inflated boat and he survives. And that’s not even the most insane moment of that movie. So yes, Crystal Skull was flawed, but being unrealistic was the least of its problem.

Fiction isn’t reality and isn’t meant to be. I’d go further and say it shouldn’t be. Real life isn’t a story, or a constrained narrative. If I wrote a book about my life with great accuracy and taking no liberties, it’d end up disjointed. The end would have nothing to do with the beginning. Characters that seem important would vanish without a trace. A bunch of plot threats would be abandoned. Many major plot points would hinge on coincidences. A large part of it would be uneventful and downright boring. New characters would be introduced late in the game with little reason for them being there. And so on… None of this would make a good story, but it’s all realistic. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be so common in real life.

So then, if I’m right about this, why do many demand realism? Because what they want isn’t realistic, but rather believable fiction and those two are very different. If I wrote a book where a character survived 20 gunshots, I’m sure most would feel it’d be farfetched. Yet, this actually happened in North Carolina , so by definition, it has to be realistic. It’s still unbelievable though. There are countless examples like that. That where the expression “suspension of disbelief” comes from and that’s why someone can argue a plot twist in a fantasy book is unrealistic when there are dragons around. Impossible things can be believable if they are possible in the context of the created world. As long as your world and characters have consistent rules they follow, you can get away with being unrealistic. It’s when you break these rules you get in trouble. For instance, if I write a gritty spy thriller set on present day earth and at the end the main character beats the villain by casting a fireball spell, people will cry foul. However, the same would be acceptable in a sword and sorcery type fantasy.

One major area of concern is the characters. You can create a crazy world and make it believable, but readers are particularly demanding of characters. For some, a single action that feels off can ruin the whole story. Again, this is tricky because some real behavior can be unbelievable on the surface. I’m part of a book club, and often someone complained a character was unrealistic when I’ve met people in real life who behaved in similar ways. How to avoid this issue? Unfortunately, I don’t have an easy solution. It helps to keep characters consistent, and always ask if this was an actual person, would they act this way? If the answer is no even for you, then I suggest either you change the plot, or you change the character so it fits. Answering that question yourself might be difficult though. That’s why having others reading your writing and giving their opinions can be useful.

So in most cases, it’s more important to make your setting, story, characters and so on believable rather than realistic. Don’t use what people expect from the real world as a base, but rather what they expect from fiction for your particular genre. But I know what you’re thinking: Hey you weirdo, what about those who really want extreme realism? That’s up to you. If they are your target audience, then yes go for realism. If they’re not though, then I’d say don’t worry about it unless you want realism or are writing in a genre that requires it. Sure, that subset of the population will dislike your work, but you shouldn’t try to please everyone. That’s an excellent way to either never finish, or end up with something bland and lackluster.

That’s all for now, but I’ll be back next Sunday with a new article. Thank you for reading and have a great rest of your day!