When Reality Is Too Unrealistic for Fiction

I’ve read plenty of books I’ve found unrealistic. Sure, they’re novels and therefore not reality, but there are just certain plot points I roll my eyes at and go, “Yeah, that would never happen.”

Like, I don’t know… say… everything about Fifty Shades of Grey.

Contrived setting, dialogue, plots and characters are something to be avoided at almost all cost. I say almost, because sometimes life itself gets unbelievable, prompting writers to go, “That did not just happen!” and then, “I wonder if that could fit into one of my books?”

Off the top of my head, I can think of a few absolute caricatures of real people. Like a best friend’s father who gets into angry arguments with her about whether or not there’s caffeine in Vitamin Water. In front of me. For five minutes straight.

Awkward!

Or there’s the time I was the only one in my four-apartment building for a month until the night someone moved in above me. I met his brother that evening, and then I met my new neighbor Josh the next day, upon which point he asked me out. Yet when I went to knock on his door at the agreed upon date and time (which was fine by me), he wasn’t there, leaving me to tape a note for him. Two hours later, I found a response on my own door saying what a nice idea the date sounded and how he’d love to meet me.  

Confused? I certainly was… until I figured out I had two neighbors move in the same day.

Oops!

Completely ridiculous, right? If I read that in a book, I would probably roll my eyes.

And speaking of unbelievable, I know some of my friends have thought I was taking creative license with stories about my workplace, where sexual harassment is overlooked, lying to customers is encouraged and raises/bonuses are withheld without any reason given even when the company had a banner year. Worse yet, I can’t even completely blame them for their skepticism when, the stories I tell really are so unprofessional as to be a bad joke.

Yet they’re still 100% true.

So what happens when you want to borrow from your stranger-than-fiction real life for your novels? It’s actually quite doable.

Have your characters admit how unrealistic their situation is. Make them wonder how they fell down such a rabbit hole, or let them joke about where they went wrong to be in such a mess.

When writers acknowledge how Ripley’s Believe It or Not it is, readers are much more likely to buy their tale.

A Writer’s Reality Check That Readers Should Note

I wrote Monday’s blogpost in the heat of the hour after finishing up that fateful Agents of Shield episode where Hydra is unmasked and true colors show through.

It was also about 2:00 in the morning, which rarely lends well to cool heads and calm emotions. So here I am at 11:13 the next morning, a much more rational human being.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m still annoyed with the writers. And I still think they chortled some while they plotted the storyline out, knowing full well what emotions they’d be foisting on their audience. But I can analyze that now instead of creating my own plots of shoving stuff down their throats.

Writers are powerful people. Not in the change-the-world kind of way. Despite what most braggadocios creative types want to claim, art rarely has a societal impact like that. Most of it is more reactionary than revolutionary, and even the pieces that are original and avant-garde don’t often change anyone’s opinions or spur any great evolutionary steps.

I’m not saying it can’t happen. I’m just saying it’s not the norm.

Yet that doesn’t diminish writer’s power per se. While we’re not likely to reshape society, we have so much control over people’s emotions. It’s their choice to pick up one of our books or turn on our shows, but we own them after they’re hooked. And once we own them, we can treat them however nicely or badly we want to.

That kind of power can be fun. Even thrilling, as I’ve admitted before…

Until we’re on the other side of it.

So writers, keep that in mind next time you want to do something rotten.

As for readers? Be careful what you invest in. And never trust a writer. 

This Life Isn’t Filled With Certainties, So Why Should Fiction?

I didn’t end “Amateurs Play Elsewhere” on a cliffhanger. It’s the last in the series and I don’t believe in ending series on cliffhangers.

The final chapter is an overall happy note, with the bad guys getting hit where it hurts and the good guys cheering a victory. Ta da!

But I’ll admit I did leave some issues unresolved. And some of my pre-published readers called me out on it. They wanted to know more.

I told them tough luck.

I said this with all love and respect. Really. These are two people who helped me out immensely in making the Dirty Politics series as strong as it is, and I owe them a lot. In fact, I owe the one the equivalent of $4,000 for editorial services rendered.

(Buy my books and I can actually afford to pay that debt! Just kidding. Kind of.)

Yet, I chose to discard their feedback on this particular issue. I didn’t ignore it. I actually thought about it quite carefully. But in the end, I decided to stick to the ending I’d already written. And for a very good reason.

You see, I like fairytales as much as the next girl. All of that happily-ever-after ending stuff? It makes my Disney-bred heart melt. But they’re not very realistic, are they?

This life we get to lead down here on Earth is filled with ups and downs, victories and defeats, and a lot of overall uncertainty. Despite our best-laid plans, we can’t determine the future.

It’s not ours to control. Never was, never will be. So why should our reality-based fiction be any different?

Let Disney keep its fairytales. I’m not trying to mess with them, which I greatly prefer to the original Grimm versions, I gotta say. Cutting off toes and heels? Ew!

But for anything that isn’t meant for little kids (of any age)… Well, those don’t have to wrap up every last detail. Not when I’m trying to make them realistic.