One reason I adore reading is because I can have hundreds of amazing experiences that I could NEVER have anywhere else. Because I’m not allowed a pet kraken, unfortunately. I also am not coordinated enough to ride a horse and wield a sword simultaneously. I don’t have a magical twin. And no one wants to take a field trip with me to Panem (my family is so boring, honestly).
Obviously some of the adventures I enjoy reading about are not at all realistic. (Example: krakens would make better friends than pets, obviously.)
Which leads me ask the question…
how realistic do books need to be?
This is also a double-sided question. Because on ONE HAND — I totally accept reading a book with a pet kraken in it. But on the OTHER HAND — I do not accept that every villain has terrible shooting aim so the hero always escapes entirely unscathed. See what I mean? Realism is a HARD thing to gauge.
When reviewing a book, I often squint at the details (or lack thereof) and say “BUT THAT’S NOT REALISTIC.”
Because in real life, the guy doesn’t always get the girl. And the epic-magical-wizard-battle doesn’t always go to plan. And dangit, sometimes the hero will have a bloodsugar drop and need a snack, okay?!?! Enough about worrying which person in the love-triangle to pick — what about being SO TIRED you just need to take a nap???
Books often skip over little details that make life real. Is this a good thing? Does it make the story go faster and be more concise? Or does it just turn any and every book (even contemporaries) into a sort of ideal “fantasy world” that is mildly unrelatable to us?
SURPRISING THINGS BOOKS ARE OFTEN UNREALISTIC ABOUT
T I M E:
It’s basically a book’s favourite thing of ever to mess about with time. Mostly this makes SENSE. Because you don’t want to read 90-pages when you could read 5-pages, right? RIGHT. Books often speed things up. That 4-day adventure has just ended up in two characters a) knowing each other better than any other bean of ever apparently b) having completed things with the energy of 8 decades, and c) probably falling in love, raising 2 children, getting a house, and a pair of fish. AND IT’S NOT EVEN BEEN A WEEK, OMG, CHILL.
Do we want a concise adventure or a realistically paced adventure?
A G E S:
I’m talking about YA specifically here because I looooove YA. It is ALL I WISH TO EAT FOREVER. HUZZAH! But I actually found myself saying repeatedly in my reviews “This dude is veeeery mature for only being 17.” When I was 17 I quoted movies in an Irish accent and laughed for 32 hours over it. I WAS SUPER MATURE, YES?
I get that a traumatic event (which books adore) can make you grow up faster. Also being born in a place/decade/setting that requires you to be more mature. SO THERE CAN BE LOGICAL REASONS! I admit! But often I find teenagers are not acting like teenagers. Is this because the authors are out of touch? Or because we’d pretend we were all never (at least a little bit) stupid at 17?
F O O D:
Oh stop rolling your eyes. YOU KNEW I WOULD TALK ABOUT FOOD. What can I say? I’m an advocate of Foodie Fiction. (Yes yes, that is a thing, and if it’s not I’m going to make it one.) But often in fantasy adventures, characters will go DAYS while only eating like half a piece of jerky. Sure, adrenaline does wonders. But if you don’t eat…no energy. Logic, right?! And if I had a dollar for everyone who “forgot to eat”…I COULD OPEN THE RESTAURANT THAT CHARACTERS CLEARLY NEED TO ATTEND.
E N D I N G S:
That moment when your life wraps up in a cute tidy bow and everything is set for the next 92 years? HAHAH YEAH. I DON’T KNOW IT EITHER. Now this is a very bookish thing to do: end everything neatly. And if books don’t, we do kind of get annoyed. Who wants to be left hanging?! NOT REALLY I. I want answers and I want a conclusion and I want to know that when I close the book everything isn’t immediately going to wither and die.
But it’s not even realistic. Just not even a little bit.
D I A L O G U E:
Again, this happens in books because we don’t want to read 37-pages of people going “So um, yeah right, ah, that is — oh what was I saying?” Eyeballs would explode in tears of frustration. They would. Don’t even deny it. It’s actually good writing to make dialogue readable over realistic. But I OFTEN read books where I know people wouldn’t talk like that in real life. That teenage boy with the well-thought-out soliloquy? Um, hmmmm. No? (Although, whenever I come across a teen using huge words, I get secretly happy because I always used gargantuan words in my youth. Not even on purpose. I WAS RAISED BY BOOKS.)
Sometimes writing is really beautiful, concise, and logical; whereas real-life dialogue is often NOT.
A lot of times books are “unrealistic” in order to make good reading.
I get that. I’m a writer! So I doubly understand why we do this.
But when is it “good, concise writing” and when is it “unrealistic dreamy dragon scale and fairy dust writing”? And
I can’t help but SNORT at some unrealistic bookish tendencies: like those adonis teenage boys who never work out but have perfect bodies (???) or the teens who never seem to go to school/do homework (??) or how the hero always survives that mortal wound (???) or it turns out your neighbour’s brother’s cousins best friend was in your kindergarten class and YOU HAVE A CONNECTION AND SHALL BE IN LOVE BY DAWN (???!?)
Personally? I want to see realism particularly in responses.
Like being punched in the face and yet having no bruises. THAT AIN’T REALISTIC, FOLKS. But I can be okay with un-realistic-teenager soliloquies — because AWWW. And I can totally get onboard with the pet kraken — because #GOALS. And am in definite favour of a concise dialogue — because NOPE TO BORING “UM”S IN DIALOGUE.
When I read, I want something magical. Not always general magic. But just the magic of being swept along in a story that I would NOT find in real life. (Raise your hand if you hate reality TV. Ahem.) I want my “unrealistic” dragons and time travel and golden-hearted pirates and midnight pudding escapades. SOMETIMES REALITY IS OVERRATED ANYWAY.
(Sometimes I wonder where you get your post ideas, honestly. Ha! But this was fantastic, as per the usual.)
Firstly, I’ll go to Panem with you (I’ll probably die but um, well…what did you expect? I spend all my life in front of my laptop?)
I CRAVE realism in books. I like the fact that characters get tired and hungry and feel a little useless. I LOVE it when characters get injured (and even when they die during dangerous battles) or when they just feel moody and feel like they just don’t want to save the world one day, you know?
But I also HATE it when there isn’t a neat little bow at the end of a book because I NEED AN ENDING, okay???
This post expressed how I felt perfectly because I want the realism but also…not? Like, I want unicorns, magic, wands and villains.
(Is this a good or a bad thing?!? 😂 IDEK WHERE I GET THEM FROM. I just have a lot of random post ideas. 😂)
Oh GOODIE. You and I can sight-see Panem and have a marvellous time. Death and circuses, right?
Yesss, I love it too! It suddenly makes the book REAL you know?! Like that moment when the character just needs a SNACK?!? I GET THAT. And needing some down time, or just having a day where they fail. Gah. People aren’t perfect and it’s more relatable when books acknowledge that. ENDINGS ARE NICE. I like open-endings, but not so-open-that-you-now-have-no-idea-what-the-point-of–the-book-was < --- SO FRUSTRATING We want realistic unicorns. That's not too much to ask.
I agree with you, Kat.. This post is awesome and now I wonder where Cait get the idea 😀
Sometimes the unrealistic side of book made me laugh, but most of the time it made mad.. especially the the dialouge part..
@Hana: Omg I have no clue where I come up with these things. 😂 MY BRAIN IS A MYSTERY OF WEIRDNESS. Ahem. But I agree, the dialogue can be pretty frustrating when it’s so unrealistic. 🙁
You have no clue? Anyway, I like your brain 😀 and your writing too 😀
I think I totally agree with everything here. Although I would err on the slightly more realistic side, some things just have to make a bit more sense. Especially with the resting and eating and sometimes training…. seriously how do they get so strong, cleaver, skilled in a few days! And if the training was not interesting just tell me that months later the story began or let them have had some basic training beforehand please.
Omg I would love to know the secret behind being perfect at that sword/axe/bow in like 3 days. -_- THAT DOESN’T HAPPEN. Which brings in that whole “but I’m speeecial” trope which gets old fast. And totally agree with you! Just fast-forward the story! XD Skip it and say “6 months later…” and now they can actually, idk…maybe wield the sword? (Which is why I liked Rangers Apprentice because it really said PRACTISE, and no one was perfect overnight.)
I like unrealistic books! Yes, sometimes it get a little too unrealistic, but considering my own love life is non existent, why not have heaps of gorgeous couples in books? Isn’t that the whole point of books – to get lost in an amazing world? And I kiiiiiiiiiiinnndda agree with your family about Panem – I would never have any interest in wanting to travel there! Great post, Cait!
El xx
Haha, I HEAR YA. 😂 I think it’s nice that all these 16yos do find the love of their life…even if it’s not realistic. AND EVEN IF ONE OF THEM USUALLY DIES OMG. Ahem.
Sheesh. You would get along famously with my boring family. I MEAN, HOW BAD CAN PANEM BE? DEATH AND BREAD?
I like dashes of realism in books, but I also love some random magical creatures thrown in (I mean, fantasy and dragons forever, right?). Most of the time I can let unrealistic things in books slide by, but I remember once I was reading a book, and the map made it look like two countries were months of travel apart, but when the character was unconscious in the first country at the end of the chapter…she woke up in the other country at the beginning of the next. Is it even possible to be unconscious that long???
Great post as always! <3
Yessss to fantasy and dragons! *hi fives* Tbh, I think dragons should be in EVERY BOOK OF EVER. But apparently contemporary authors disagree with me. No clue why. It’s frustrating really. AHEM. But yes! Omg the unconscious thing is soooo annoying. It’s like the worst plot device ever. Or the character who just sleeps 3 days after a big battle and wakes up heathy, refreshed and ready to go! I mean, just no.
I LOVE THIS POST! I am totally cool with some things not being realistic for the sake of the story as well and I do get massively annoyed with others. Especially the looks and wits of people, how they just breeze through life with a perfect body, perfect test scored and apparently also all the time in the world to do EVERYTHING else there is on the planet, while never being too tired to go out and be the life of the party in the evening. JUST HOW!?!?!
The whole dialogue thing is a bit tricky for me though. I like it when people are eloquent in books, but sometimes it just REALLY doesn’t seem to fit the age of the characters. I get that some people are wise beyond their age, my parents always told me that I was an old soul too, but not all the cool chicks and dudes are that way. Sometimes, and I really mean only sometimes, I wish there were a couple characters who just sticked to a bit more realistic teen talk. Then again … I was also a person who used big words and I know that because sometimes people (and yes, even my parents) didn’t know what I was talking about and I had to explain my choice of words. Apparently I was raised by books as well …
OMG YES WHAT ABOUT STUDYING FOR TESTS AND THINGS?!?!? How do any of these characters pass highschool? I have no clue. AND OMG THE TIRED THING TOO. Like how do they have energy to go out party? I know I’m an introvert and need my alone time…but even extroverted people need SLEEP. And tbh, I think most protagonists in books are introverts. (Maybe because a lot of authors are?)
Agreed about the dialogue! 😂 Actually I took one of those internet tests (Shhhh it’s fun) to see if a quiz could tell my age on my vocabulary. I GOT 60 YEARS OLD. Which is the age of my parents who I hang out with most. 😂 Soooo. It does depend! But sometimes, eh, yeah, books really need to work on this. Particularly if they never read. Like I don’t understand the dude-who-never-reads-having-an-excellent-vocabulary. It’s just not realistic.
I’ve been thinking about this as well lately! First of all, I agree on the food and ages -definitely. I mean, saving the world at 16 without any help? Special Snowflake alert. And who can save the world without food and energy? NO ONE. I mean, these people should look anorexic by now.
I’ve been thinking about making a similar post, but related to everyday normal things we all do. Like go to the bathroom. Do characters never have to use the bathroom? They’re going to get kidney failure!
Omg I’m so glad you agree about the food/ages. 😂 THANK YOU. I mean, sheesh, I get hungry just existing…let alone being physical and fighting and stuff all the time. And do books like to forget how much teenage boys like to eat?! BECAUSE IT IS A LOT.
I kind of understand cutting out bathroom scenes though. UNLESS it is just really impossible for them to have had any chance. Like prisoners locked up or whatever for days and days but no mention of them needing to go? That, I find, very unrealistic. But otherwise, I mean, I guess too-much-information can be a problem too. 😂
I like it when books are realistic to a certain extent. The characters need to be real people to me. Real people eat, sleep, go to the toilet, would die if they get a knife through their chest,… I need to see that in books too and I hope I succeeded in making my characters in my own books realistic enough. (You’re the best judge of that, hah) Sure some things won’t be that realistic when it comes to the story, but as longa s the characters and their respons to everything around them is, I’m good. If a character sees a flying pig with angels wings, I expect them to react along the lines of “OH MY GOD WTF IS THAT THING?” and not “Oh look a flying pig with angel wings…ANYWAY…” *moves on to unnecessary drama*.
AHH YES. EXACTLY! *nods* And it can depend on the genre too, right?! Except I still get annoyed in epic fantasy when a character can totally be clobbered in the head…but walk away just fine. Whereas in a contemporary, a single punch can kill someone. I neeeeed a bit more consistency than that?
YES! People need to do research about those things. XD I think Hotel Transylvania made an excellent point that is somewhat related. (Not really but I still like the point it makes.)
Johnny (a human) is asking Dracula what myths are real and at one point he asks: what about a wooden stake through the heart. And so Dracula brilliantly says:
“Yeah, well, who wouldn’t that kill?”
And it’s so true! If you get clobbered in the head it will hurt, you might even die. Unless you’re Wolverine and you heal instantly. A punch can kill depending on where they punch and who. Someone with severe heart problems can maybe I think die from a good hard punch in his chest. IDEK I’m not a doctor. But yes, where is consistency?
OMG!!! XD These all are soooo true I don’t know what to say anymore! I definitelt agree with what you said those small itsy bitsy realism thingies makes us feel more connective towards the book otherwise yeah… things tend to get weird. I don’t have a clue what I am saying anymore… so toodles!!
Loved this post!!
BAHAH YOU’RE SO WONDERFUL. *gives you cake* My discussions are so indecisive though, honestly. 😂 Realism is good and bad?! SIMULTANEOUSLY.
This is such an interesting discussion! Especially when writing, I always wonder how realistic I should be, as part of me loves how refreshing it is when characters and situations are more down to earth, however sometimes I also love books that are completely unrealistic. Fantastic post xx
Yesss, it’s so hard to decide, right?! Because there’s good/bad to BOTH sides. My discussions are so terribly indecisive. 😂
I agree mostly. It’s not interesting to read flawless characters. I guess that’s why all our favorites must die horrible painful deaths. (Anyone who’s read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows knows who I’m talking about. THE THREE BESTEST CHARACTERS. OH WAIT, I MEAN FIVE.)
(I took that kind of online test too, and I got 61, which is only a little younger than my grandparents. And older than you!! (I’m actually younger, though.))
I HAVE READ DEATHLY HALLOWS. *howls* I’M PRETTY SURE ALL THOSE DEATHS WERE TYPOS THOUGH. I’m in denial of any other answer.
You’re younger and older than me simultaneously. That is TALENT, my friend. :’) I’m so glad we have the internet to tell us our true ages.
The only unrealistic thing that bugs me is insta-love. Seriously. Can you at least have a conversation before you kiss the guy/girl? It doesn’t have to be deep and meaningful – even something as mundane as “what’s your favourite ice cream flavour?” would be an improvement on what we’re getting right now!
I think the characters acting more mature then they should think is partly wish-fulfillment – I am 18. If I suddenly fell into a story and was tasked with saving the universe, would I be excited and give it my all? Yes. Would the universe end? Also, yes. That, and even the kid heroes who act a little like kids have to be able to accomplish some things normal humans would fail at. They wouldn’t be heroes otherwise.
Omg I thoroughly agree. BUT C’MON NOW, RAIN. IT’S TOTALLY LOGICAL TO ALL IN LOVE IN A DAY AND THEN DIE TO SAVE THEM. #lies
I’m 22 and I’m pretty sure the universe would end if someone told me to save it. I mean, logically, why would you want the 16yo to save it over the person with life experience and knowledge? bUT BOOKS AREN’T SUPPOSED TO BE TOTALLY REALISTIC. They’re supposed to say we can do anything, and I kind of do love that?! I would like to pretend that 16yo me would’ve saved the world … instead of thinking about lunch the whole time.
I love food, but… yeah, sometimes I literally just forgot to eat. I can go hours and hours without even realizing I haven’t eaten, WHICH ISN’T GREAT, but hey, for me, that’s realistic. So going off that, I kinda think realism means different things to different people. 🙂
omG WHAT EVEN ARE YOU KARA. 😂 And I agree that realism means different things to different people…subjective FOR SURE. Like I always snort when a character loses track of time because I’m hyper aware of time…but honestly?! That’s ME. That’s not everyone. As readers we gotta remember that too. *nods*
LOL. This was funny! Well, you’re pretty funny… ummm…
Realism, I agree that I also like to see realism in responses. And in general… I prefer realism in books I guess. Well, you see, things have changed significantly over the years… I used to love escapism through bookish fantasism (I think I just made up that word). Now though… I feel like my taste in books have changed significantly. Nowadays, it’s either totally realistic (minus the uhmm… soo… umm… parts. I totally think dialogues are perfectly fine being unrealistic) or totally over the top… like wizards and vampires and dragons and goblins and elves and wands and flying brooms and what not.
But wait, I do love magical realism too…. just that perfect mix of magic + reality… what am I even saying?
Give me a good book and I shall love… is my conclusion. Vague, I know, but so is real life… *sigh*
Fantasism is a WONDERFUL word and should be made a real word immediately *nods* 😂 And I completely agree that dialogue kind of NEEDS to be unrealistic?!? Or else we’d be bashing our brains out trying to wade through a book where it wasn’t. :O It’s like we need realism in the details, right?!
Totally! Although, one of my all time favorite books has a talking Siamese cat, but hey… a talking cat is never a bad thing!
By the way, thank you for stopping by my blog! You’re like… totally awesome! Carrot cake? I know you like chocolate… but today all I have is carrot… =/
I CAN HANDLE CARROT CAKE. And omg you are most welcome!! I always try to do return comments because comments = fajdkslafd SQUEEE. They are the best. And I love chatting with you!
What I write isn’t usually YA, but in the books I read, I like realism. If a character is limping and then suddenly sprints with no adverse affects, that’s annoying.
My biggest pet peeve is stereotyping. Not all gay men are flamboyant. Not all studious kids are dweebish, timid sad sacks. Goths laugh, and emos can be highly rational.
One of the other annoyances is in the lack of religious observations. More people on the planet believe in some deity than not, but:
Muslims are stereotyped as terrorists or sympathizers.
Protestant Christians are stereotyped as ignorant or hyper-evangelical.
Jews are stereotyped as either apathetic to their faith or Hasidic.
Catholics are stereotyped as evil or extremely devout.
Other religions in books I’ve read are mostly non-existent, and I’ve yet to read a book with a politically Conservative hero whose views are cast in any kind of positive light.
Too true *nods* And I think this applies to ALL books, not just YA, although I only basically read YA so that’s what I talk about. 😂 And zomg stereotyping is. the. worst. Every time I read an Australian character in a book by a non-Australian, I absolutely CRINGE because it’s undoubtedly going to be exaggeratedly stupid and corny. *sigh* I think sometimes stereotypes can have a little truth? But if a writer is relying on them, then they don’t really know what they’re talking about. >_>
TBH, I’m generally ok with people acting more mature than they normally would for their age- but that’s because 99% of what I read is medieval-based fantasy (and I’m pretty sure that for a lot of medieval history, if you were over 13, maybe 15, you basically were an adult . . .) and the characters are generally going through war/having people try to kill them/etc. The only way it really gets me is when I read a book and I’m like “Wut. This character is my age or younger and s/he is out doing AWESOME stuff and being heroic and all that. What am I doing with my life?”
I definitely agree with you about the food thing, though. And the time thing. (Characters cannot develop meaningful relationships in two days! Unless they’re roleplay characters, in which case realism is sacrificed for fun roleplaying.)
TOO TRUE! *nods* Plus they’d marry you off at like 13 in medieval books…teenagerdom didn’t EXIST. So I can definitely look past it there. And with life expectancy lower, it makes sense, righty? But the “what am I doing with my life” struggle is real 😂 Basically “STOP BEING SO FANTASTIC OMG I CAN BARELY MAKE TOAST WITHOUT BURNING IT” #truestruggles
Completely agree on the age part! I was like ‘WHAAAT’ when I realized that Kaz Brekker was only 18. (still am)
HAHAHA. OKAY YEAH. 😂 I mean, I knew Kaz was only a teen, because YA fiction. But he did act like an old man. Tragedy ages us?!
Okay, so yes, I totally agree. There has to be like a level of realism in a story if I’m really going to get in on it, you know? Like Skulduggery, Val doesn’t eat as much as she should, and she knows it, BUT Skully tries to encourage her, and he tries to remember and understand what she feels, and she struggles to balance everything, and that’s REAL. Also, I find most books with food in and eating almost loads better because we all love food, right? RIGHT?
So, I really like this post. I like some sprinkling of reality on my fantasy, and a 5 course meal in my contemporaries. That sounds about right. Also, I LOVE THAT GRAPHIC FOR THE TITLE. So pretty.
JUST REMIND ME AGAIN THAT I NEED TO BRAVE UP AND GO FINISH READING THAT SERIES OMG. *cries* Ahem. But yes, Val struggling to balance real life vs Skulduggery life is a HUGE good thing. And also just that, I mean, they have walking skeletons with replaceable heads, but Val gets really tired and when they get beat up THEY GET HELP. *nods* (Forever love Kenspeckle for patching Val up. *goes back to crying*)
Wow, this is a very hard topic to think about! I have to say, I’m all right with unrealistic YA books, but only when there are “realistic”-ish instances or situations from the book that make that unrealistic situation… well… unrealistic. Which actually makes that unrealistic situation a bit more realistic in a way but, wait… I’M SORRY I’M PROBABLY CONFUSING YOU. ;-;
What I’m trying to say is, I’m all right with unrealistic YA books, yes, but when they get too unrealistic, it might put me off a bit.
NO NO YOU’RE NOT CONFUSING ME. 😂 I think that works. It’s like the details that matter, right? Let’s save the world at 16, but we also need food and sleep. *nods*
One hundred percent agree, but didn’t you know – teenagers can do anything! They are way more mature than we were (Eyes rolling and choking on my coffee). Except of course when they need a “safe place” because the world is so scary!
All kidding aside, I too look for the discrepancies/logic in books, especially the timeline. There’s only so much that can happen in a given span of time. And, I detest reading books where the hero has nineteen lives.
As always love your posts.
@sheilamgood at Cow Pasture Chronicles
Yess to the timeline. 😂 It’s kind of ridiculous how fast things can move, omg. Especially those books where it takes place over like 24 hours and they seem to live NINE YEARS in those 24 hours and just…no.
Interesting topic! You’ve given me something to think about. I’m a huge fantasy lover, but I also get put out by unrealistic behaviour or anachronisms, so clearly I have some standards of realism.
In terms of things like pet krakens or other fantasy elements, obviously I don’t expect actual realism, but I still expect there to be some internal consistency and for the repercussions of a pet kraken to be thought-out and apparent (is it docile? If so, is this normal kraken behaviour or do people react with fear when they encounter it? Are there logistical challenges to keeping a sea monster as a pet? Etc.)
Similarly, I like satisfying endings, which isn’t always entirely realistic but which also means the ending should feel like a natural culmination of the narrative, so there is some realism there. Likewise I don’t want to read about characters who are bratty or childish, but I do expect teenage characters to have a general aura of youth, for instance idealism, naïveté, uncertainty about their own future, or romantic inexperience. This doesn’t mean I expect all teenagers in all books to be all these things, but they’re some of the ways teenage characters feel like young people to me and not unageing 40-year-olds.
I think ultimately what I expect from fiction is the ILLUSION of realism. It should FEEL real even when things happen that aren’t, whether that’s krakens or a tidy ending or mature teenagers.
Yes yes we must think through our pet krakens. It isn’t okay just to drop them in the house and expect them to be polite, ya know? I think it’s realism in the small things that make the big difference, and in the things that we ALL experience. We don’t all get a pet kraken. But we do know pets must be house-broken. *nods*
YES to the teenagers being teenagery. I mean, even brattish adults are awful to read, ugh, but the naivete kind of needs to be there a little? But then I guess that depends on the story and their childhood. :O IT’S DIFFERENT FOR DIFFERENT GENRES, RIGHT?! But I do get a bit frustrated when the 17yo is ruling the world and is quite capable at it. I mean, there has to be SOME faltering, because life experience! You have to accumulate that.
Great topic! Honestly, I think a lot of it is subjective based on our life experiences. I for one, was really mature at 17 because I was a mom, so seeing not so mature themes is frustrating. But my life was different, ya know? Another aspect is WHY we read. Some people don’t want realism and want to escape. Some want it to be (like me). This is actually why I like the debate on whether or not romance should have a HEA. but topic for another day.
But, I think if things like being tired, needing to eat and all those mundane things would bore readers, so they aren’t there. In the back of my mind I am wondering where they go to the bathroom (in dystopians) or what do they do when they have their period or no shower (don’t ask, mm’kay?) but I really just don’t want to know LOL
when it comes to things like you mentioned about bruising after a punch, or a villain that can’t shoot, yes those things I want to be realistic.
I totally agree about the subjectiveness!! TOTALLY. I also think a lot of the “this protagonist is too mature/immature” can even stem from just our own personal life experiences? Like I was a very immature 16yo. But my sister was a very mature one. And yes, being a mother at 17 would make life completely different too of course. WE’RE ALL DIFFERENT.
Plus the whole escapism thing = yes yes. I mean if we wanted real life, why would we be running to books?! And sometimes we DON’T want to know the nitty gritties. 😂 I sure don’t want to know every time they pee. Just…it doesn’t make any difference to the story. heh.
The things mentioned here are very true. I’m very fond of realism, in the right places. (I obviously don’t want to hear people say ‘um’ all the time in dialogue.) I try really hard with the time problem, because I notice myself messing up with it and I DON’T think it’s cool to mess with the laws of the universe to make your story go faster. (There are ways to do this without messing up time)
Anyways.
This may sound gross, but I really want to know, why do we never see girls on their periods in books? Like, this is a big thing for us. Once a month an invisible force is incessantly karate chopping us in the gut. How would you deal with it if 1) You are on an epic adventure of pain and hardship 2) Someone you love just died 3) Your getting doe eyes for your hanky traveling companion and 4) You get your period.
It would seriously send me over the edge.
Conflict and humor would abound. It could be a tricky subject, but someone should write this. They just should.
SO MANY PEOPLE HAVE MENTIONED THE PERIOD THING. 😂 I thoroughly agree. I think it’s almost sexist that we don’t see it? Like people are ashamed and want to pretend periods don’t happen, but hello it’s a human function and it’s not embarrassing or shameful. Grr. I want to see it more in books too. PLUS SOME OF US GET REALLY CRANKY BEFORE PERIODS. Imagine trying to save the world when it was a few days before your period? I would just let it all burn. AHEMMMM.
Anyway. AGREED with your comment entirely. :’)
I DEFINITELY get mood swings and cravings before mine. Like I’ll just be sitting there and suddenly I’m depressed about my feeble human existence and contemplate all of the pain and suffering in the world. Then I’ll get really angry for the stupidest reasons and be ready to rip off heads if the dishwasher is loaded incorrectly. Then I’ll want a Snickers bar.
Imagine a protagonist suddenly acting like this. Her companions would be so confused. It would be hilarious.
I read to escape(well I read for a lot of reasons, but that’s the main one.) I like things to be realistic to, like EAT FOOD GOSH DARN IT. YOU NEED TO EAT. ALSO SLEEP. IT’S A THING PEOPLE DO, HERO. Time is also the most annoying one. Like, you just met this person 2 hours ago, and you’ve already kissed them, saved the world and cured cancer.
As a writer, though, I totally understand trying to make the book be fast paced, so that people don’t lose interest, but I want to be realistic at the same time. *sighs* oh the struggle.
YES ME TOO. Amongst other reasons. 😂 But escapism is a big on for me, and why would I want to escape into a 100% realistic story? DOES NOT SOUND FUN AT ALL. hehe. But omg yes, the 24hrs thing can be a bit over the top. I realise 24hrs can change your life, but seriously. Sometimes it takes that long just to go buy milk for your cereal and get out of your pyjamas. (No? Just me? Oops.)
I LOVE this topic because I think about it so often too!!
I’m just rereading Chloe Neill’s Chicagoland vampires (total guilty pleasure) and I got to two pages about Merit’s love of food. It made me SO HAPPY because she’s eating, she’s obsessed with eating, and she loves it and has no regrets. It’s wonderful because that’s totally me! I can identify with this. Someone finding her secret stash of chocolate? I UNDERSTAND THE PAIN AND THE SHAME. So yeah, I’m totally loving it.
Anyway… I definitely like realism in the way people react in stories? Not just the bruises etc. (although, yeah, definitely!) but also how they respond to situations and to dialogue. And YA.. I LOVE YA. And mostly I can get on board with it being a little unrealistic because it makes me feel like maybe I wasn’t a complete idiot at 17/18/now at 24 *sobs* but then I kinda know I was?
Also I was RAISED BY BOOKS TOO! And thank you for hating reality TV, Cait <3
No shame about liking vampires! I DON’T MIND VAMPIRES. Ahem. Anyway. FOOOOOOD. It always makes me happy when people in books eat, omg. :’) That book sounds wonderful tbh and you’ve made me want to go look it up. 😂
I’m pretty sure I was a complete idiot from 15 to like 19. -_- Being a teenager is seriously hard work, omg, and messy.
You’ve really got me thinking now about my own work-in-progress! I pretty much agree with you- certain parts of books NEED to be more realistic, and it’s kind of annoying when they aren’t. Characters are supposed to eat, go to school, BE HUMAN…y’know…just generically speaking.. But at the same time I love the teenage boy soliloquies, the concise dialogue, the neat endings. So I don’t know. I’m slightly torn. I suppose that a mix of both is good. xD
I just realized I’m totally rambling and this may not make sense but I’m tired so I give up.
YESSS BE HUMAN. FOR SURE. 😂 Although, I sometimes have to remember to put this in my own writing too, omg. I am very guilty of making wounds less severe than they should be because I can’t have my characters lying around uselessly for too long. 😂 (I love fictionally boys with their soliloquies and niceness. <3 i'll have a fictional teenage boy over a real one ANY DAY.)
This might sound weird, but I sometimes wonder if characters in fictionland ever go to the bathroom? Because no one ever seems to need to pee, or bathe. It’s weird. I was listening to Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire and Harry is in the bath with the egg and I thought ‘wow, I think this is his first bath in FOUR YEARS’ lol
Followed by ‘I want a bathroom with magical taps.’
And you’re right, many of them miss so many meals they could not function!
A lot of YA the characters either read younger than they’re meant to be (like they’re total brats) or way older. It is bizarre, but I just ignore ages in books these days, makes it easier! Although when they mention it all the time ‘she was only seventeen’ I’m all ‘no she’s 25 STOP IT’.
HAHAH. FIRST BATH IN 4 YEARS. 😂 I think it’s okay to skip that kind of stuff unless it pertains to the plot…because otherwise, I mean, I seriously do NOT want to read every time they pee. I just don’t see the point and it would make the book really tedious. Just my opinion though. 😂 But for like Harry Potter it’s okay because we don’t spend 24/7 WITH Harry. We know school time is passing and we just get the important scenes. Whereas for like an action-adventure where we are with the characters ALL. THE. TIME and they never pee/bathe/eat/sleep…it doesn’t work. Nopity no.
I am so guilty of the injury thing, and the forgetting to eat, but yeah it can be incredibly annoying too. And with perfect characters, especially teenagers, it’s like….what?….how are you so accomplished/beautiful/whatever? No one is like that!! That’s why I love the stories that show the warts as well as the sparkling jewels. I want the character who aren’t perfect, who are quirky and have to deal with some real life issues
And as for the falling in love immediately, every time I see that, I’m like: you just met/noticed each other. I can understand being attracted immediately, but love? Really? Love takes time to develop, not less than a day.
Those are unrealistic things that bug me when I read them. I can deal with most other unrealistic things, and I tend not to read contemporary. The characters can be mutant fish people, and as long as their personality and behavior is written realistically I will probably at least try it.
YES. Warts and sparkling glitterly lives please. 😂 I mean, we want fiction to be a bit unrealistic or else we wouldn’t read, because it would be tedious and we kiiiinda do like the thought of shiny lives? BUT AT THE SAME TIME: a book just feels silly and false if it skips realistic details. And omg when they’re like sacrificing their lives for each other but it’s only been 3 days. NOPE. 😂
In our book The Nameless (which is up on Wattpad if you’re interested) we really try to keep it realistic: characters get their periods (which you don’t see enough in books, like literally), the characters that go from our world to a fantasy one have no idea how to do the most simple things such as ride a horse and hold a sword ect.
I hate stories that are like: LOOK the main character is a 15 year old girl with zero training and after one week she’s the greatest warrior there is and takes down an empire on her own, like, NO
I think a really good example is Game Of Thrones, where the main characters also die when they make stupid descisions, the cities smell like shit and everything is just grim and depressing really. I think George R R Martin did such a great job.
Xx Amber, http://thenamelessbookblog.blogspot.nl/
(link to my book: https://www.wattpad.com/myworks/41792207-the-nameless)
Omg totally agree that periods are never mentioned in books. Which isn’t faaaaiiiiir because it’s a big part of LIFE, honestly. And I also get peeved when the character learns how to wield that sword in like 7 days. -_- I MEAN, WHEN DOES THAT EVER TRULY HAPPEN!?! Never.
And GRRM definitely wins for realisticness in his books. 😂 Probably why they’re so traumatising to read…..death doesn’t make sense and EVERYTHING SUCKS.
I completely agree! For me, though, it depends on what mood I’m in. Sometimes, I’m a lot more willing to accept unrealistic things. The unrealistic thing that tends to bother me the most is insta-love. Instant crush? Okay. Instant “I will never love anyone else and I would DIE for you” love? No thank you.
Especially when it’s like “AND I JUST MET YOU 3 DAYS AGO BUT WE WILL DIE TOGETHER”. Hmmm..nooooo. 😂
I really like this post! There are some things that you just can’t fit fluidly into a novel without them just seeming pointless, like bathroom breaks or when a character walks into a room and completely forgets what they were doing there. Do all those female characters never get their period??
I don’t read for real life. If I wanted completely realistic, I’d just live! A truly realistic book would literally be people going through the motions, being boring, not knowing what to do with their life, uselessly scrolling through social media, etc. I’m definitely not a fan of contemporary, because normal people with normal issues is just boring for me.
I think unrealism is why we’re drawn towards things like books and movies: we want escape, we want entertainment, we want the daydream that an author has so conveniently crafted for us. Maybe some realistic touches would be nice, but overall, the reason we keep reading these unrealistic books is because we just sit back and enjoy the ride 🙂
Hehe, absolutely YES. 😂 Plus it would make it tedious if we had to read them washing the dishes and folding their socks and washing their hair. Unless it MATTERS to the plot, I say skip it. *nods* For sake of the story. If things were 100% realistic, I doubt books would even be pleasurable to read. More annoying and frustrating :O
And YES to the escapism. I’m sure that’s a huge thing why a lot of people enjoy books/movies.
Okay, I totally love this post. Like, let’s have a tiny bit of realism in fantasy and a tiny bit of fantasy in realism, right? And I agree especially with your opinion of dialogue in fiction. On one hand, no one talks like that, but on the other, who would /want/ to read what people sound like in normal conversation? 1/2 of the book would be pauses while the introverts (which are almost every character, lol) try to think of something to say and/or just process their thoughts into actual words. So yeah, that is something I struggle with finding the balance between in my own writing – Using everyday language, but without all the boring “um”s and “like”s clutter:)
And…would you…accept a YA book suggestion? I read “Safekeeping” by Karen Hesse a few months ago, and I really enjoyed it. It was supposed to be futuristic, but not to the point where we had colonies on planets or anything like that. To me, it was a /realistic/ future. And the characters experienced hunger and cold and exhaustion, etc. You don’t have to read it, but if you do, will you tell me what you think?
On a side note, I kept thinking of the song “The Real World” by Owl City as I read this post: “Reality is a lovely place…But I wouldn’t want to live there.” Great post, Cait!
AGREED AND AGREED. 😂 I think if dialogue was realistic we would have to read 10 pages where we SHOULD read one. 😂 So I’m all for making that “unrealistic” and concise (and funny! because let’s face it…those witty comebacks usually come hours later. 😂)
OMG I LOVE KAREN HESSE!! I haven’t read her books in years, but did you ever read Out of the Dust?? And there was a Captain Cook one I can’t remember the title of, agh, but it was also awesome. I really should look up Safekeeping. Thanks so much for telling me about it! 😀
Aaahh, how could I have let so much time pass before replying? So sorry about that! Yes, yes, yes, the first book I read of Karen Hesse’s was Out of the Dust, and absolutely loved it! Also, fun fact, she graduated from the writing institute that I am taking courses from, which is how I found out about her 😀 I’ve read Out of the Dust, Witness, Safekeeping, and I just finished The Aleutian Sparrow. OMW they’re all so good! And you’re so welcome! Anything for a fellow booknerd! 😉
I think books should be realistic in how the people act, behave, and think. They should be like “normal” people who respond just like anyone else would. Sometimes I read books, and I just can’t believe someone would act a certain way given a situation.
I totally know what you mean! AND I AGREE. And I think sometimes it can ruin the story because it just makes us as readers really detached? Because it cooouldn’t happen.
I love this post, as I’m constantly declaring whether or not books are realistic. More often than not, I am able to overlook the fact that people don’t eat enough or do their homework or etc, because those things are not essential to the plot. It’s when plot points or the drama or the emotion are unrealistic that I really care and that it affects my opinion of the story.
Oh oh I totally agree with what you say here too!! Sometimes the tedious details would just ruin the story because: BORING. But unrealism to get them out of a tight plot problem or something? Merp. It can ruin the story.
Well, as an avid fantasy reader and a sci fi lover, I can definitely handle lack of realism. HELLO DOCTOR WHO!! BUT at the same time, I need some things to be realistic within that, if that makes sense. I can’t deal with perfect happy endings, or a heroine being the ONE girl EVERY boy falls for (especially if she’s like: but I’m not pretty, why boys?! – GAH!) I like your point about RESPONSES too – I need characters to react plausibly, even if what’s going on around them is implausible. Bravo Cait!
YEsss. Realism in the details, right?!? Plus when the details ARE realistic it makes the non-realistic-things like krakens and time travel actually work for us and make us believe in them.
(Omg the trope of 93839 boys loving one girl is really irritating. 😂 Particularly if she’s kind of horrible?!? I mean, really. GAH.)
DUDE I was just thinking about this TODAY (and yesterday actually). I started rereading The Fault in Our Stars and I thought I wouldn’t like it as much as I did the first time around, which was when I was still living a blogless life, sheltered from the harsh world of book reviews. Since then, I’ve heard and read countless people say they didn’t like TFiOS because it wasn’t realistic. Mostly I hear the “no 16 year old talks that way” argument, which I think is a pretty silly reason to not like a book. It’s a BOOK. No one talks like people do in books. Just enjoy the beauty and the differentness (that’s now a word) from your own life – that’s what reading is for.
ANYWAY. Long (rant-y) story short: I agree with you. Books don’t need to be completely true to life, but they also should take into account some things, like the hitting in the face and not having a bruise and the gosh darn food. PEOPLE NEED TO EAT. I do nothing BUT eat all day long.
Yessss. I honestly don’t understand the TFIOS haters, because Augustus talked like that BECAUSE IT WAS HIS PERSONALITY. And plus Isaac didn’t talk like that. So John Green wasn’t just throwing everyone into this elegantly talking barrel. It was part of who Augustus (and Hazel) really was and it amused them so I think it was 100% teenagery. Plus the actors who did it in the movie made it sound plausible too so I’m entirely convinced. 😂
BOOKS ARE NOT MADE TO BE 100% REALISTIC. Plus why would we want that? 😂
Actually, a kraken isn’t a fantasy creature. It was thought to be a tall tale like Bigfoot or the Loch Ness monster until a sailor cut one of its tentacles off. Now it’s species is called the giant squid, and there probably is a way to adopt one.
DUDE. THANK YOU FOR TELLING ME THIS GLORIOUS PIECE OF LIFE CHANGING NEWS, BRB. I’M GETTING A KRAKEN.
I’m fourteen and OF COURSE I quote movies in accents, but I LAUGH FOR 47 HOURS. and, was that a psych gif??
OOH, YES. BOOKS NEED MORE REALISM WITHOUT BEING BORING.
YES THAT WAS PSYCH GIF OF AWESOME. SHAWN IS MY SPIRIT ANIMAL. Also *hi fives* for clearly
terribleawesome senses of humour. :’) My brother and I used to go on Irish accent rants and honestly talk in it for hours. I’m sure we offended true Irish people all over the world for eternity, but. Teenage senses of humour = DERANGED MOSTLY. *gives hyena laugh* NO REGRETS. 😂I say books should be realistic.
Nabila // Hot Town Cool Girl
I think there should be a bit of give and take, but realism in the details = yes! 😀
This is a really interesting topic to think about! I think I’m fine with crazy things happening in books as long as the characters’ actions and reactions and abilities are at least mostly realistic. I do get frustrated by characters who don’t seem to need to eat or sleep or whatever. Although I think sometimes for the sake of a good story these things can be overlooked.
Saaaame. It’s frustrating, but also at times understandable. So I guess we can’t rage too much?! 😂 But it’s nice when the realistic details ARE there and I think it makes the book more real/special.
100% yes to dialogue. Gosh people talk so much, so concisely, and so effortlessly on paper. I’m a blabbering idiot half the time. Not to mention how hard it is to string a sentence without getting interrupted or something. And of course when you’re practically giving a speech to your friend they’re just silently listening to you without any form of “yeah” or “mmm”, as though that sort of exchange doesn’t happen in real life. GAH.
Not to mention getting the witty comeback 3948 hours later, right?!? 😂 But if that was in books it would be SO tedious to read, *sigh* Plus I’ve noticed that most people, when retelling a story IRL, will actually tell the ending first? (Or this could just be my family.) But in books, that would be considered bad writing… IT’S SO WEIRD TO CONSIDER.
*FRANTICALLY RAISES HAND*
I’m a lover of fantasy, so fantastical elements, like pet dragons or having tea with gnomes, don’t bother me – in fact, I love them – it’s unrealistic day-to-day things, like lack of food consumption, constantly perfect hair, and lack of menstruation that bother me. Another thing I think authors frequently romanticize and forget/don’t know how to write realistically are //battles//. Battles are smelly and messy and seeing them often affects a person’s mental health. Plus, during a duel there’s no room for witty banter.
Very interesting article!
Ellie | On the Other Side of Reality
Yesssss, EXACTLY. It’s the reality in the details we need *nods* and if a book gets that then we absolutely have no reason to disbelieve there are no dragons, right? IT WORKS. IT DOES. MY TRAIN OF THOUGHT HERE IS TOTALLY REAL. 😂 And zomg yes to the battles. Battles, I honestly don’t think, would work out like they do in the books and movies.
I totally agree with basically everything in this post. Especially when it comes to food. Characters are rarely actually eating and, I know from experience, that it is possible to eat away 80% of the day (with maybe some multi-tasking while eating chips or some such). Also, dehydration is a serious thing and often our characters who never eat are never drinking water either! They are probably having some sort of hallucinations all the time which would not come in handy while trying to escape the villain.
Anyway, sorry for my rant there. Your post is amazing and I have to wonder where you come up with all these brilliant post ideas!
I hope you have a wonderful Easter (if you celebrate at all)!
OMG YES DEHYDRATION.! I didn’t even think of that but 100% yes. Especially for all those epic action adventures…where is their water, seriously. Plus the whole food thing really needs to happen. >_> If you do a lot of physical activity + no food = you collapse. The end.
(I do celebrate Easter and it was great! Thanks so much! Although I’m so so late in replying to this AND I FEEL REALLY BAD. *gives you cake* 😂)
Amen and amen again. All of these are common complaints with me when reading YA Lit. Thank you so much for this post! You’ve given me all the thoughts which I’m going to put int a blog post. 😀
Ooh, 🙂 Can you make sure to yell at me when your post is live so I can read your thoughts too?! 😀 And I don’t accuse YA of just this either…it can be books in general! 😂
Oh, this is a GOOD post. You’ve got some of my favorite pet peeves in here (especially with the food one). One of the BIGGEST things that bugs me in my fantasy stories (since that’s mostly what I read) is them not feeling realistic. And when I say that to people who DON’T read fantasy, I always get a funny look and comment along the lines of “right, cause vampires and fairies are TOTALLY realistic.” But that’s the point … they’re NOT real, but I want the world that they’re in to FEEL real, and it’s all the things you pointed out in this post that accomplish that. .
And yeah … When I was in high school, one of my favorite things to complain about was the distinct lack of needing to eat anything in the books.
And/or the magnitude of things that are accomplished in a mere 24 hour period … there are times that I buy it, cause I know I’ve had some crazy busy days. But I also know that certain things (like just moving from point A to point B) take a certain minimum amount of time, and I don’t always buy that x+y+z+w < 24 hours. I'm a statistician / cost estimator by profession, so when I'm writing, it's not at all uncommon to see me sitting down with an excel spreadsheet and delineating everything that's going on (even some of the things that I'm not actually writing out), and estimating a time per task. It's one detail that I always try to pay particular attention to, especially on my first round of editing. Is that going overboard?
YESSSS. ABSOLUTELY!! And just because we’re not going to meet a dragon/faery/vampire/talking bear…doesn’t mean they get to skip around in lala land without obeying the rules of the universe. Plus when they DO that it MAKES them real. And that’s what books want, right?! To convince us their reality is our reality?!? :’)
AND ZOMG YES I TOTALLY AGREE ABOUT THE TIME THING. It takes tiiiime to do things. If you say “I’m going to the shop for 15 minutes” you barely EVER go to the shop for 15 minutes. Get there, get in the car, get your keys, drop your wallet, can’t find the stuff, get distracted by chocolate etc etc. And I totally don’t think you’re going overboard if you’re being careful about time! I mean, it doesn’t have to be 100% accurate, but it should SHOULD be realistic!! IMO anyway. 😂
Have you ever noticed that book characters don’t go to the bathroom? And the girls never get their periods, of course, unless it’s part of the plot… which is especially confusing when the main character’s on a 6-month-long quest and you’re wondering where she stashed her tampons. Perhaps in her quiver of magical arrows?
Yeah, the teenage boy who looks like Adonis is one that cracks me up. I guess authors are writing for their audience. Who wants to read about pimply, skinny dudes? Most teenage girls (and boys) see enough of them every day at school (I know I did!). I guess it’s some sort of wish-fulfillment thing; authors are just trying to give teenagers what they want.
This post reminds me of a couple of things my teachers talked about in high school. One was in physics class, and our teacher was talking about the unrealistic portrayal of people getting shot (mostly on TV and in the movies). Like someone would shoot them in the chest with a handgun, and their feet would leave the floor and they’d go flying back into the wall. The teacher actually went through the calculations (force, velocity of the bullet, etc.) to show that that wouldn’t be physically possible… even if the person was wearing a vest. Looks nice and dramatic on screen, though. The other thing this post reminded me of was in English class, where the teacher talked about how, in fiction, everything has to have meaning (unlike real life, where sometimes random things happen for no reason). I guess that’s why we sometimes see things that happen in fiction as unrealistic… because real life has a certain amount of chaos and meaninglessness, and if you put all of that in a book, readers would most likely wonder what the point of it was.
I have definitely noticed the lack of periods, which I honestly think stems from the believe that they’re “embarrassing and disgusting” and no one wants to acknowledge them, WHEN THEY’RE JUST FACTS OF FEMALE’S LIVES AND NOT HAVING ONE IS MORE WORRYING THAN HAVING ONE. Ahem. So I agree on that absolutely. I, however, think adding in bathroom stops isn’t necessary. I mean, why? I don’t want to know when they’re peeing. 😂
And omg YES. I’m pretty sure authors (whether unconsciously or not) like to smooth out how awkward it is to be a teenager. Like I GET it in a way? As a teen I was always okay with it because being a teenager sort of sucks, so pretending it isn’t acne and awkwardness was sometimes okay. If that makes sense? But at the same tiiiiime, I think it’s wrong to ignore that teens are AWKWARD AND PIMPLY AND GENERALLY NOT VERY FIT. (Unless they’re on a dragon quest?)
And yes! Fiction does have to have meaning, absolutely. And I think that’s okay? It’s storytelling….but it’ll definitely never be like real life. I mean, you can get sucker-punched with a IRL plot twist that destroys you, but if you did that in a book without any foreshadowing or lead-up it’d be “bad writing”. IT’S ALL REALLY WEIRD.
‘If I had a dollar for everyone who forgot to eat…’ That part made me laugh! I don’t understand how characters can forget to eat – it’s my favourite thing! I think books should try to be realistic, but they do need to skip over parts at times – like eating or ineloquent speeches – to make them interesting. (:
DUDE YES EXACTLY!! How is it even possible to not be hungry for 94 years on end? *stamps foot* I CALL PHONINESS.
I agree with you so much!!! Also one thing is NEVER mentioned is when people go to the bathroom like in the hunger games or when girls have periods (I was so happy when it was mentioned in The Fifth Wave) YAY realism ahahah!
Periods = yes. I wonder why they just delightfully ignore that it happens. I MEAN COME ON AGH. 😂 Although I was reading Walk on Earth a Stranger where the girl is on the Oregon Trail and disguises as a boy and she gets her period which is SUPER scary for her because she’s pretending to be a boy. I was so impressed that the author put that in!!
“I want my “unrealistic” dragons and time travel and golden-hearted pirates and midnight pudding escapades.” THAT RIGHT THERE. THAT IS ME.
I don’t really care about “realistic” stuff. I want my fiction to be fiction. There will, occasionally, be times when I’m like “wait whaaat??” but on the whole, I let it slide, because FICTION IS FICTION PEOPLES. IT’S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE REALISTIC. 😛 My thoughts. XD
YESSS YOUR THOUGHTS ARE WONDERFUL I HIGHLy aGREE. I do think we need to allow leeway. Because if a book was 100% realistic it would be dreadfully dull AND slow AND boring and just arghgh. People would still complain 😂
Foodie fiction should be a thing, I can actually rate my top 10 literary meals in my head right now without even thinking about it too much. In fact when I was younger I made alphabet sugar cookies inspired by The Phantom Tollbooth, and I refer to all ramen as Ponyo noodles (ok that’s anime, but still).
I think the need to be real depends on the world, I can handle all kinds of crazy so long as the author takes the time to make it flow with the story.
Zomg I LOVED The Phantom Tollbooth when I was little! It was the first thing I wrote fanfiction for! 😂 YES I KNOW THAT IS SO WEIRD. Ahem. I honestly can’t remember what I wrote or what the book was much about but whatever. Shhhh. It is a wonderful book. :’)
For my last NaNoWriMo project, I decided to write high fantasy. I then realized I had no CLUE on how to write high fantasy. And then came THE GOOGLE SEARCHES. While I was struggling with some of my worldbuilding aspects, there was this one author blog where the author advised: THE FIRST THING TO DO IN FANTASY WORLDBUILDING IS TO ESTABLISH THE LAWS OF PHYSICS IN YOUR WORLD… SO TO SPEAK. And I thought: how delightfully USELESS. This isn’t sci-fi! I’m not changing the laws of physics (except dragon riding is a thing, because obviously; but even then the gravitational forces are the same).
It wasn’t until later that it occurred to me that what they said encompassed A LOT. And if you actually spend any time THINKING about that, you’ll realize that that’s what establishes the REALISM IN A SURREAL WORLD. (And by ‘you’, I mean ME.) And we need that. It means that a punch leaves a bruise. That not sleeping/eating results in a spectacular crash. That if two inexperienced teens sleep together for the first time, chances are it won’t be delightful. That being trained for a week, even by the monks of Tibet, doesn’t turn a couch potato into a killing machine. That saying ‘THAT’S THE ONLY WAY’ is almost always ridiculous.
And don’t even get me started on establishing the parameters of your own magic system and then going back on them.
So, we’re on the saaaaame page, Cait. REALISM IN RESPONSES AND LAWS! BUT ALSO DRAGONS AND KRAKEN!
(And SIGN ME UP FOR THAT TRIP TO PANEM! I’LL BE THE FIRST TO DIE, BUT I’LL GO DOWN IN STYLE!)
Duuuude, you break my HEART by saying that those nice monks in Tibet have no hope of making me a killing machine in a week. THERE GOES MY NEXT HOLIDAY PlANS. Ahem. But omg, your comment is A+. I so totally agree. And I think books/movies got away with a lot of this stuff in the past? But we picky readers/consumers want the realism. We want to be swept away in a magical adventure AND we want to believe we could probably do it too. IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK? NO OF COURSE NOT. AUTHORS/WRITERS/CREATORS: FIX THIS.
(Also world building is super hard. 😂 If not even for making things realistic but for just making it sound like a logical world that readers are going to scream at you about. omg.)
HEY THE HUNGER GAMES ARE OVER NOW. WE CAN JUST BE ON TOUR RIGHT AND SAMPLE ALL THE CUISINE?
Great post!! You are hilarious!! I’ve actually ranted about this with my friends every time I read something extremely unrealistic, and that’s often. Do I find it annoying? Hell yes. I find when I realize how unrealistic the novel is, I don’t forget it. I don’t drop it and it stays with me until the very end of the novel and THAT is annoying. So, I always end up forcing my mind to ignore the fact that the characters fell in love in a week. No one falls in love within a week. Especially, while you are roadtripping to the other side of the country.
Now, abruptly change the subject to age. I have a serious mindscrew when the characters are 16/17 because that’s my age. I’m the same age as the characters I’m reading about and they are doing and reacting in ways that seem rather..for the lack of better words, (or it’s the right word) unrealistic.
I guess, what I’m trying to say is that I 100% agree with all the points you listed about unrealistic features in novels AND that I need a healthy balance of both. I also agree that reality is overrated, I like fantasy and that is as unrealistic as you can get.
Yayayay, I’m glad you liked it!! 😀 And honestly the unrealistic bits stick out to me the most too and always end up being mentioned in my review because arughrughrgh. I just want things to make SENSE and be LOGICAL and without that, the book just sometimes doesn’t work.
I have such a wonderment about ages, tbh. 😂 I mean, I’m 22 so it’s been a little while since I was 17, I admit. BUT I HAVEN’T FORGOTTEN THE TEENAGE FEELS. And I was an immature highly dramatic 17 year old who would NOT have been able to star in a YA novel ever. 😂 I do think it depends on genre? But yeah. Sometimes I think the characters aren’t particularly true to ages/real life reactions either, which can be disappointing. One can’t edit out how messy it is to be a teenager. :O
I can giggle over some unrealistic things – like how you mentioned time or food or a protagonist always getting their love interest. Realism in books doesn’t work if the author uses PLOT as an excuse for a plotHOLE. That’s probably my biggest pet peeve. A fantasy novel’s intricate worldbuilding can be really weakened by an event/spell/magic-thing that’s used for one plot but doesn’t help with something else. Like I love Harry Potter, but there are plenty of events that are just explained away because of plot but not something more concrete.`
Oooh, absolutley agree with the Harry Potter thing. 😂 And tons of books do that too. I mean, authors are human, I supppppoooooose. BUT STILL 😂 I also don’t like it when it’s unrealistic to get them out of a tight spot? We want realism there too!!
This post is SUPER epic and I am SO DOWN for all the things in this ever! Because honestly…you just walloped yourself upside the head on a 2×4 and you’re not even hurting like what?! LOL I was giggling the entire time I was reading your list–great work! And thanks so so much for the laugh!
THANK YOU, BETH. :’) And I’m glad it made you laugh. EEEEP MY WORK HERE IS DONE. 😂
Realism. Realism! REALISM! I want it so badly and I spend so much time trying to make sure my own writing is realistic, too. But, you’re right, it’s double-sided. I think I adore unrealisticness when it’s sweet and funny, but not the whole insta-love (or even four day long love), magically beautiful teenagers who NEVER eat or do homework or are concerned about school. In fantasy, I think having a pet dragon isn’t unrealistic, but in contemporary, I would raise my eyebrows A LOT. It still could happen, though. And I’m also a historical-accuracy freak, so if the history in historical fiction is wrong, I will hate it … I pick apart movies based on true historical events, after all.
In my youth (now, I mean) I used gigantic words too and ones that just plain sound amazing. Like iota and epitome.
Your post ideas are the greatest, Cait!
Yessss, we are in such agreement on this! *hi fives* (Although it is sad that all the contemporaries must miss out on dragon raising. SAD FACE FOR CAIT) ahem. But hi five for our nerdy youths (which is like, yesterday). *HI FIVES* Because the epic people use huge words and sound like deranged dorks. :’)
I like my books to be at least semi-realistic? I think I’m in the same boat as you where I go, “WHY IS THIS PERSON SO BUFF AND HOT AT SIXTEEN!?” and “How does she have 53429489032489324 guys fawning after her when she’s a big brat and I couldn’t even get one to look at me?” (though I did get one to look at me, hence my being married, harhar) Because those things just aren’t realistic in real life. People are shy and do stupid things and have really annoying laughs when they think things are funny (don’t deny it, you know someone like that, too). I mean, I do my best to overlook those things if they’re only mentioned once or twice, but if they’re mentioned almost every. Single. Time. A character sees the other one? Yeah, that’s just annoying. And their hormones need to calm down.
I also have to wonder: when do these characters EVER go to the bathroom? Like, do they get done their 439429430 day journey and then suddenly take a massive crap? I mean, seriously.
I kinda want to do my own chat on my blog about this topic because DANG CAIT YOU MAKE SUCH GOOD DISCUSSIONSSSSS. *bows down to overlord*
Omg I won’t deny the annoying-laugh thing. 😂 or just people who laugh at the wrong things Or just PEOPLE BASICALLY. OMG HUMANS AND THEIR BAD DECISION MAKING WUT EVEN. *composes self* I really get frustrated with the contemporaries where the boys are all ripped/buff because you honestly have to work out 39839 hours in the gym to get like that. And those characters NEVER work out. Gah. (Although I am pretty much okay with books not mentioning tedious details like toilets and cleaning teeth…I mean, seriously? That just slows down the story. 😂 heheh)
THANK YOU. 😀 I’m so glad you like my discussions!
Awesome post, Cait! I think that realism in books really depends on the genre – I’m fine with time warping if it’s a fantasy/sci-fi book, because sometimes you do need to skim through a couple of days (Especially if it’s an epic!) Having said that, realism with responses is the one thing that should definitely be real in all genres! Because like you said haha, being punched in the face and walking away with no bruises…that’s definitely unrealistic! xD
Yessss, I’m so glad you agree! It’s the little things that make it real, right?! Plus, omg, book characters seem to get punched up ALL THE TIME and never even get black-eyes or swelling. Wut even IS THIS.
I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU MEAN!!! This can get so annoying. Okay, just because it’s a fantasy DOESN’T MEAN IT CAN’T HAVE REALISTIC TENDENCIES AMONGST THE DRAGONS. THE DRAGONS STILL NEED TO EAT. (probably) It’s like those books where the story is entirely realistic- if ______ existed. Whether that be elves, dragons, fairies, etc. Am I making any sense or just being confusing?
NO NO YOU’RE PERFECT. I thoroughly agree. *nods* It’s like we need the details that relate to us to make sense. We readers know you gotta eat to live and if you punch hard stuff you’ll break your hand. But we don’t know much about dragons (dangit) so we’re happy to be told anything on that account. *nods*
Unrealistic books are the best! I spend my day life in reality, I deserve to travel to a different world at night. I love that books do that; I especially love when a book leaves me a little bit dazed. Like I feel like what I just read affected my life, but no one else’s around me. I need the unrealism (yes, that’s a word) to keep me going(and a never ending stack of books). I NEED IT LIKE I NEED AIR! You feel me?
I FEEL YA. PARTICULARLY WITH THE NEVER ENDING STACK OF BOOKS. < -- The best thing in history.
I think it’s the little things that should be realistic; like, yeah, BRING ON THE PET KRACKENS, but if you go without water and food for five days YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED TWO DAYS AGO, especially if you’re walking 10+ miles a day. Someone who just had this gaping stomach wound would not be up and running around within a few days. Punching someone isn’t painless. Someone who’s half-starved can’t lift super-heavy things. It’s that kind of thing that bugs me.
Yesss, the “little things” are definitely what matters, I couldn’t agree more, Aine! And omggg, yes with the punching-someone-is-not-painless. Actually breaking your hand is highly probable. Also go too long without food + tons of physical exertion = you will collapse. bOOKS. ACKNOWLEDGE THIS.
I, for one, don’t even notice the time as it’s passing! I DON’T. That’s why the odd time pacing never really bothers me if it’s not THAT bad! (And authors do it because, well, most people are like me!)
And let’s think about Augustus Waters. Some of the stuff he was spouting out was genius and brilliant and totally contributed to us all falling in love with him, but seriously. He was a teenager, and some people don’t come up with that stuff even after they die!
Also, readers never really eat or pee or poo, unless the restaurant or kitchen or bathroom is a part of a critical scene. Maybe the girl bumps into the guy at a restaurant! Or in the bathroom! (You’d think that’d be rare but ahem most of the Wattpad teen fics ahem.) I understand the reasoning behind this (I mean, who WANTS to read about the characters doing their business? I guess that’s cool, but….
And YES. Nice endings make the readers feel good, but then the picky weirdos of us want…. not a neat ending? But then they would have complained for ages if there wasn’t? Basically it’s a lose-lose. THE DILEMMA OF THE NOVEL.
For your dialogue thing, again – AUGUSTUS WATERS. That boy was just a gargantuan tea pot of WORDS (albeit AMAZING words though). And deep thinkings that I might come up with after I retire maybe? (Because, well, what else do you do after you retire, other than pondering deep things and contemplating life? #mein50years)
Adonis teenage boys who never work out are the dream. The fantasy. Unfortunately, it happens a lot in YA contemporary novels (“He didn’t seem to work out like [insert current buff boyfriend] did, but his lean, coiled ropes of muscles were JUST as attractive, if not more….], and I’m like: “I WANT THIS I AM GUILTY.” What? I’m a hopeful girl?
Anyway, those muscles….. are okay for me! I mean, it’s totally unrealistic and makes all of us disappointed for real guys, but books transport you to other worlds. And sometimes those other worlds should be romanticized a little. If not a lot. Okay, a little a lot is my final answer. #conquered
(also sorry for this long-ass answer – I’m literally typing this out in a separate Notes tab and copy-pasting because I KNEW I was going to have tons to say! 😁)
I feel like, particularly for Augustus Waters, it was his personality though? Like WHO he was, right? So it made sense for him to be like that because it was consistent. But a non-pretentious teen who just suddenly busts out a soliloquy = nope. 😂
I kind of am totally okay with skipping the nitty gritties though. I think it can be pointless? Like, for the sake of the story, I think all the details need to matter. I don’t particularly need to know when they pee or get food stuck in their teeth. 😂
DUDE AGH TO THE WORKING OUT THING OMG. It’s so so unrealistic. To have an amazingly fit body = you need to work out. And those boys never even workout EVER in the books, let alone appear to off-page so…wut wizardry is this. *stamps foot* HAHA I mean, not that it’s bad, but it is kind of unrealistic? 😂
Buuut sometimes realism is overrated anyway, right?!
Yeah where’s the homework lol? They never like, study, and stuff. It’s always out the door to prowl around and fight evil or whatever. What about exams??? I guess we shan’t be bothered w/ such things. 🙂 And dialogue- so true. Soliloquy is a good word- they’re so darned eloquent! But you’re right (and I laughed at this) – who wants to hear all those UM’s? Good one…
Yeah i’ll take the unrealistic dragons and stuff over reality any time. And I’m all for skipping some details, like um bathroom breaks. That must be inconvenient at times. Although George Martin seems determined to show us some of those interludes. Thanks George. Next.
Anyway fun post!
All I see is people IRL talking about all the stress of exams and studying…but in books they get into university without any of that. 😂 IT DOESN’T SEEM FAIR.
GRRM seems determined to show us every time his characters sit, pick their nose, think evilly, or have indigestion. -_- I rarely say this because what do I know..but…A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE COULD SERIOUSLY DO WELL TO BE EDITED. 😂
I like a mix of magic and realism. It is such a fine line! We are so hard to please. One thing I want to see more realistically is parents in MG or YA books, and more realistic parent-kid relationships. Sometimes parents are never mentioned. This leads me to wonder: does this kid have a mysterious benefactor who pays all the monthly bills, provides endless groceries and pocket money, keeps up the house, and pays the yearly taxes? The kid goes to school, doesn’t go to school, and all is well and good? Unrealistic at its height.
Agh, yes, parents are definitely a big offender here. 🙁 Either they’re totally uninvolved or they’re kind of the villains? Either way: NOPE.
YES TO THIS POST. Like as you know, I’m Contemporary Queen so that’s supposed the be THE REALISTIC GENRE. And like I do love the unrealistic dialogue – Augustus Waters, come to me. But also I love when teens are super-realistic and immature and laughing over the stupidest things. Which is why I have Crispin in How to Hug a Grizzly, because he’s just ridiculous.
SO YES we do need aspects of realism (which is why I secretly hate the 19 years later of Harry Potter…but shhh don’t tell anyone or they’ll take my Potterhead badge away).
You aRE the contemporary queen, I totally agree with that. *nods* Augustus Waters is everything though. <3 And it's kind of his personality to be pretentious so it makes sense and it works and I lurve him? But when characters just bust out the soliloquies randomly and it's SO not them...agh.
CRISPIN'S NAME IS MY FAVOURITE.
Okay first things first, let’s go to Panem. The Games are over anyway, right?? They must be.
I agree with everything you said. At times I’d read a book and stop at some scenes to picture how unrealistic they were. Katniss and Peeta making out for 10 minutes in front of the whole Panem? Sure. What about menstruation? How does Ginny Weasley handle it? 16 year old Tris lost her parents in the course of mere hours and not lose it? Hmm.
Great post, Cait!
THEY TOTALLY ARE. And, like, there’s a whole new government and people are happy(ish?) so let’s go to Panem. I want some stew.
Although I feel like the entire of Insurgent was Tris “losing” it over her parents. 😂 But omg why does nobody EVER have a period in books?!?
Your point about everything being wrapped up in a bow tie and everything ends happy ever after is probably not even relevant anymore because it seems like 99% OF THE BOOKS I READ END IN TRAGIC DEATH OR MURDER OR FIRE OR THE KINGDOM CRASHING OR A COMBINATION OF THE ABOVE. IS THIS JUST ME? Happy ending books are rarer than the yellow and pink spotted leprechaun that lives in the bottom of the Pacific Ocean and IT’S ANNOYING ME WHY CAN’T EVERYBODY JUST LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER. Perhaps it’s just the books that I’m choosing. Maybe my subconscious is secretly a sad miserable thing that wants to read about non happy endings and that’s why it always draws me towards the most depressing books at the library. HALP, CAIT.
Nope. Not just you. ALL THE MURDER AND MAYHEM AND FIRE AND TRAGEDY YES PLEASE AND THANK YOU. *nods* Ahem. I mean, I like the occasional happy ever after? But mostly I want brimestone. YEAH. I’M NORMAL, I SWEAR.
Nice set of distinctions, when unrealistic can be annoying and when it is necessary or even enjoyable. I really liked The Keys of the Watchmen and The Sword and the Maiden (by Kathleen C. Person) in which a teen gets transported via a magic key to medieval France. Historical fantasy. However, there is a lot of talk about the food, needing to eat, hating some of the food, feeling tired or bleary. When she is wounded, we read in detail what needs to be done to save her and to deal with infection. In Book 2, her wounds from the first book hurt, not in some glorious way, but realistically. From your piece I can see how these realistic elements brought me into the fantasy world and love it’s characters.
That was Perrin, not Person. I have a little fury myself over auto-correction sometimes!
Yay, I’m glad you liked it, Lucy! 😀 *gives you cake*
Ooh that sounds like a super realistic book! POINTS AND CAKE FOR IT. And that would make the book so much more alive right?! Like the remembering of old wounds too, omg such good details *nods*
Something that I hardly ever find in books is religion, which is a bit unrealistic to me. I’m not saying everyone needs to believe in God, but the majority believes in SOMETHING. Unless this is the main aspect of the novel, characters aren’t religious, which is okay, but a bit unrealistic if we consider the amount of religions in the world right now.
I feel like, overall, books can have unrealistic plots, themes and settings, but they have to follow realistic circumstances. And falling in love in two days doesn’t fall into this category AT ALL.
AHh, that is a good point! It seems like religion is ALWAYs on the “don’t talk about it” list, right?! Which isn’t necessarily fair. I think religion/beliefs is something that should come up eventually and more often in books…because most people do think of it.
Commenting to express my appreciation of the Shawn/sandwich GIF.
Also, excellent post. xD
I appreciate your appreciation. :’)
Aah, I find it unrealistic when teens of a certain age seem to be much younger – I find that more often than I do that they seem older. And it whines me the hell up. I hate it when a 16-year-old acts like they’re 12; immature and self-centered in a way that isn’t realistic for their age. Sixteen-year-olds can be immature and self-centered, but make it right for their age.
I would also really like to see more periods in books. Most girls have periods. Especially in fantasy. I want to know what happens when you’re running from the enemy in the middle of the desert, or you’re on some dangeroud quest and time is against you and BAM! You’re struck with cramps and soon after you’re bleeding, and you forgot to pack your fantasy-world versions of sanitary towels/tampons. Seriously, I want to see it. Most girls and women do manage to get on with life when they’re on their period, but they still talk about it; moan about it, or feel relief that it’s come and the PMS can stop, and what-have-you. Needs to be in fantasy books too. Yup.
I also like to know people eat! I don’t necessarily need them to go on and on about the various things they’re eating, just that they do actually eat. I think fantasies do that well, mostly. Maybe more in contemporary. And with school! I don’t need most of the story to take place at school in contemporaries, but at least mention that they were there.
Awesome post, Cait! I might, if you don’t mind, write a post about periods in books. Because I think it’ll be really interesting to look at in more detail! And I would of course credit this post as inspiration with a link! 🙂
Just ANY age getting wrong is annoying. 😂 Although I honestly read a book the other month and was going to say the protagonist was too immature but…I stopped. Because no? Sometimes being a teen IS about being immature, because goodness knows, teenhood is not a pleasant time and we are always a mess. SO YEAH. It’s a fine balance though.
I honestly don’t really mind about the non-period thing in fantasies? I MEAN I DO SEE IT. I can’t remember the book, but I did read one recently that actually incorporated it and I was impressed. 😂 But I kind of think, while I don’t mind either way, it sort of SHOULD be more mentioned because periods are life and nothing to be ashamed of. So books should acknowledge that. I look forward to reading your post!!
I agree with everything on the list! I do want to add another point, though.
How don’t these girls ever get their period? DON’T THEY SEE BLOOD COMING OUT OF THEIR BODIES EVERY MONTH OR HAVE PERIOD CRAMPS OR EVER FEEL CRANKY? WHAT KIND OF SUPERHUMANS ARE THEY?
HAHAH. NO, ALEX. IF YOU’RE IN AN ADVENTURE FANTASY WORLD YOU DON’T GET A PERIOD OF COURSE NOT. 😂 (But seriously now…that is the MOST looked over thing in all of bookish history.)
Response To Comment On My Blog: Thank you for your kindness, Cait and thank you for the soup. It was more of the mental than the physical but you’re still adorable all the same. I wasn’t even thinking about it, I don’t think so. I would like to write on my own piece. OMG. ART. You really deserve it, it’s like a reward. It’s a beautiful experience.
This Comment: It depends on the genre
! It can sometimes be quite annoying, but again it depends on the genre. 🙂
I think we can get away with more unrealisticness in like action/adventure books?! Because the adventure is ALREADY never going to happen, so disbelief is already easy to suspend. Not so much with contemporaries though!? 😛
Oh, yes. We do not want to read realistic dialogue. Although the long, uncharacteristically eloquent monologues might be pushing it. I mean, if some teen guy was in the habit of making long pompous speeches then, okay, I can swallow that. You know like Augustus Waters? He’s just like that. But ALL the teen guys, or all the teens? Um, no. Like Tobias? No. We ought not hear such monologues from him.
I was thinking about this recently. I wrote a short. . . thing? There’s a small paragraph set in a grocery store about the protagonist’s attempt to snag something off the bottom shelf while holding an armload of other goods. I found it realistic and relatable (as I am dumb and always tell myself I can carry all the things). But at the same time, I could always just open the scene with the main action and cut my word count down by omitting the whole episode. So do I throw out the realism and say “who cares about setting the scene; let’s just make a scene”? Or do I keep the realism and let the readers ease into the scene? I’ll figure it out, one day.
OH, TIME! Yes. I remember reading Scarlet by Marissa Meyer. I think they were on the train? Or jumping off the train? Something like that, and Scarlet was thinking about how she’d just met Wolf like a day or two ago and I was like “Hold on! Slam the brakes! A day?” It felt more like a week to me. How could they have gone through all that in a day? Scar and Wolf are my Lunar OTP. But I will admit their initial romance was a bit of a shaky, unrealistic whirlwind. What did make it more realistic was in the latter books when Scarlet felt like she needed to take a mental step back and re-evalute what they were all about? Does that even make sense?
I just left a comment and realized we had such a similar thought about Scarlet and Wolf! xD Haha! I didn’t even see that. But I totally agree with what you said. 😀
I honestly feel like I need to reread Scarlet because that was my FAVOURITE book of the series and I can’t remember my “uh oh insta love” alert going off… THEY ARE THE CUTEST THO OMG. hehe.
And YES, I totally agree about the soliloquies. Sometimes it’s just their personality, right? Like my sister and I always use HUGE words, even when we were little and we totally said things probably the “average” teen wouldn’t. (We were raised by books. 😂) And like, Augustus Waters! It was just HIM. But it gets annoying when otherwise “normal” heroes/heroines just bust out a soliloquy at a convenient time. Either do it all the time or not at all, maybe? Gahhhh.
Time is the one thing that’s really not realistic! I mean, we don’t read 8 hours of pages of a character sleeping or read about them going to the toilet and most of the time they barely even eat (unless it’s cake!). Obviously time has to be sped up a lot, but I’m okay with that. Us writers have to be concise and only write about the important bits!
~Sara
YES. Agreed! Plus it would be boring if we got told every time they went to the toilet or brusted their teeth, right? We don’t need that. We readers aren’t dumb. *nods*
I want more fantasies that are more realistic. Yes, I get you have to put your homework on hold to save the world, but you can’t DESTROY those beats without eating first. Some things that may add to realisticness (it’s a word) of the story may have been deleted because they take up space that could be filled with more interesting scenes, but not every character can avoid the “mundane” things in life and survive, let alone slay everything in their path.
DUDE YES. Plus you can’t expect to be go go going 24/7 with no rest/food because tHE HUMAN BODY JUST DOESN’T HANDLE THAT VERY WELL. 😂
Oh goodness…ABSOLUTELY, CAIT.
I agree with everything you said here. This is “how realistic” I want a book to be: I want it to be consistent with its world.
When it comes to love, insta-love bugs me. I love romance, don’t get me wrong. But seriously, in Scarlet by Marissa Meyer, Scarlet kisses Wolf the day after she meets him and she’s practically ready to marry him then too. Does that happen in real life? NO. Does it happen in books? ALL THE TIME. xD What even is this.
Or ages. I mean, c’mon. If a book is set in a society where people get married young and everyone is madly in love at 15, I’m okay with all the romance at a young age. But honestly? Where is it common that the whole “young love” thing really works out with a happily ever after? (I’m talking serious book relationships, the “I-would-jump-in-front-of-an-exploding-train-while-being-shot-at-for-you” kind of ones, not the “hey-I-kinda-like-you-let’s-go-eat-icecream” kind of ones.) The average married age (in real life) is 27 – why you teenagers getting so attached to one person who’s apparently “the love of your life and soul” before you’re even remotely an adult???????
(See, I have no strong opinions on any of this or anything.)
But then other books balance the fictional reality thing really well. Even though we KNOW Panem doesn’t exist and we’ll probably NEVER be reaped for the 1st annual Hunger Games, how many of us weren’t scared to death that WE WOULD be reaped and totally connected with the books on a freakishly awesome level? How many of us were sure it was gonna be okay? How many of us weren’t freaking out becuase we were badly out of shape and had no idea how to hunt or use a trident? (Is this just me? Sorry I’m so weird…) Suzanne Collins took a fictional world, something that OBVIOUSLY could never happen (or at least not now) and made it so believable.
I think that when it comes down to the little things, that’s where the fiction becomes unbelievable. When nobody sleeps or eats. When the good guys always win. When right and wrong is always black and white. Because honestly, things rarely happen in real life like they do in books. Not to say that things can’t work out, because happy endings are the best. And sometimes fiction seems better than reality. But as for realism, I think we should try to make books 1) consistent, 2) impactful and memorable, and 3) gratifying. I want a book to sweep me away and do it well.
No, it doesn’t have to be realistic…but it still has to be believable. You know?
Hehe, I’m glad you liked the discussion, Amanda! HUZZAH. I LOVED YOUR COmMENT ALSO. *gives you cake*
And for the ages thing, like I totally agree. I mean, I can’t EVER envision myself jumping in front of a train for someone I just met, you know? But then I am also an unfeeling INTJ Vulcan, so there’s that. 😂 But I think books do rush the relationships to fit it in amongst the adventure. SO I GET IT. But instalove really is frustrating. (And I guess, in the older-period-set books the younger ages but mature makes SENSE because they were back then. But not in the dystopians!! If the average marriage age is 27 now, WHAT WILL IT BE LIKE IN 100 YEARS??!? 😂)
I want to be swept away by a book, too! So I’m okay if there’s a bit of fairy dust in there to make the sweeping fun? But I neeeeed to be able to look at this book and say “THAT FELT REAL” or else it doesn’t really impact me so much?
*arrives fashionably late* I meant to comment on this BUT I have good reasons because I was busy adding back all the times when my MCs should be eating and such. Also when they should be sick from hypothermia. I mean … they can totally survive a bullet through their lung but THEY JUST FOUGHT IN THE SNOW. Of course they should be ill. XD XD
Seriously, though — your distinction between realism in the premise and realism in the consequences is the best.
PS: I feel that realism is underrated also when it comes to banter. I mean, we don’t normally have witty comebacks in real life until three days after the convo … but what are characters for if not to make those witty comebacks in time, I ask you?
*arrives even fashionably later to answer* I AM THE WORST. But to be fair I was off fighting dragons and writing *nods sagely* AHEM ANYWAY.
Dude, yes, your priorities are in order. Feed them peanuts. Shoot them. Whatever. BUT DOn’T LET THEM GET TOO COLD.
(My entire books would fail if witty banter wasn’t a thing because of unrealisticness. 😂 I LOVE MY WITTY BANTER. But usually IRL if someone does have a grand comeback, we all stop to applaud it and forget the rest of the conversation. 😂 😂)
Random question, but I was wondering if you read my New Adult? I’ve been wondering if it’s going to get to be a bigger genre. Because I like the idea of having a middle age, between YA and Adult. But I haven’t been able to find many NA books.
I have read a few NA books, but honestly? I hated them. 😂 They were all just sex sex sex (I could possibly just have read a few bad ones, but I think I read like 5 and that was all they were into). Plus people have been promising it’s going to be the next “Big Thing” for like 3 years and it’s NOT. 😂 (Although VE Schwab’s A Darker Shade of Magic technically would fit that category I assume, because the characters are only in their early 20s? I 100000% recommend reading those! MAGIC AND MAYHEM AND MURDER.)
Oh I’m sorry. Did you read Afterworld? That was a good NA, or at least I thought it was good. I guess I’ll just have to keep looking for more, I don’t think the sex will bother me because I’m a big fan of sex (lol).. I’ve been wondering if A Darker Shade was any good, I’ll keep my eye out for it! Thanks dear. 😀
Afterworld by who? 😀 I just like actual plots in what I read, hehe! 😂 I didn’t mean to say your taste in books was bad or anything, omg, I feel awful now. I honestly think the NA’s I read had zero plot and were just bad all over, but yeeeah. 🙁 A Darker Shade of Magic might not be your thing though, because there’s basically no romance in it?
Scott Westerfield. Sorry I misspelled the title, it’s Afterworlds. Yeah I totally understand, lol I was mostly joking. Sex in books can be very annoying and I do skip over it a ton. So don’t feel bad! Lol No that’s good! I do like a good romance but it has to be VERY well done. 😀
Oh oh I do want to read Afterworlds!! The only reason I haven’t is because it’s huge and I’m a wimp. 😂
I think it depends on the story, because if it’s about something out of this world, it wouldn’t need to be realistic, but if you are talking about real life issues, you need to make sure there are at least mentions of things that are real. Oh and I sometimes don’t like it when a certain character is made to look practically perfect, when no one is perfect. Why? Oh and I love your use of that Psych gif! One of my favourite shows!
OMG ISN’T PSYCH THE BEST!?!? *pineapply hi five*
And yes, I totally agree!! It’s like the experiences can be wild, but the reactions need to make sense. *nods*
I love fantasy but I also agree that some of them are realistic. like I know they have adrenaline and stuff but doesn’t your adrenaline would wear off actually and you’ll feel tired? but nope they could running around 24/7 non stop. And they don’t need food it seems. and toilet. but they can’t spend a day without kissing. that’s just so weird. but like you said, i wouldn’t mind a pet kraken. but keep it realistic please, like maybe sometimes we have to feed him with something, because i believe kraken need food, and couldn’t function properly without it.
YESSS. Adrenaline DOES wear off, and I’ve heard the after-affects is like a HUGE energy dump. Right??? Like you’d be beggared because you used it all up so fast. 🙁
And yes, we need to feed our pet krakens. Take them to the ocean for frequent fun seaside times. This is realistic. We are good kraken keepers.
Cait, this was a really lovely post. Well organised, beautifully displayed, hilarious and filled with many ‘head nodding in agreement moments’. Well done, as always! As a reader I do tend to scoff and squint sceptically at some moments in a book where things just come a little too easily to the protagonist, or as you mentioned when they ‘forget to eat’. WHO FORGETS TO EAT. And I think once we spoke about characters who are too ‘pumped with adrenaline’ to eat or whatever. WRONG. How is one expected to battle demons and swim across oceans on an empty stomach? But… as a writer I struggle to find the balance between what would happen to a character in ‘reality’ and would make a good story. Because in real life nothing really works out the way we planned and it would make for a pretty boring/hopelessly never ending tale of tragic woe. So yeah in attempt to make a good story I can understand why authors tend to skim over the pretty regular stuff but a dose of it here and there is much needed to keep the reader satisfied!
OMGGG THANK YOU SO MUCH. <3 Honestly that means a lot. AFJDSAKLD I SHALL JUST GIVE YOU CAKE NOW I THINK YES. Ahem. But ah, yes, back to the post.
But seriously who DOES forget to eat? HONESTLY NOW. Gah. And I know grief/adrenaline can take your appetite...but not permanently. Or then you have a real eating disorder and it could be dangerous and, hello book, you need to address that. Skimming over details is okay, to me, but not making characters act unrealistically to get the plot moving faster. IF YOU GET SHOT = YOU DIE. 😂 Heroes aren't bullet proof!
My thing is that they need to realistic in the fact that things can’t be to far fetched. I mean if you get shot in the chest point blank multi times. There is a GOOD chance your going to die! There isn’t any coming back from that. So as long as its believable I don’t really have an issue with it. I do agree with the way they talk though. There is a book out My unfair fairytale life (or something like that) and the character is supposed to be 12 but she sounds more like 15-16. The book is so cute and amazing but the way she talks etc just doesnt sound right for that age.
Love the post!
Yay, I’m glad you liked the post! And omg I agree about the point-blank-shooting, obviously. 😂 DEFINITELY GOING TO DIE. I find some fantasy books will shoot people up so much but they still stagger on? Gah. It’s not realistic, but sometimes it can be overlooked for the glory of a good story. 😛
Mmm . . . that is a really great question. For one thing, it depends on whether it’s Fantasy or Contemporary. I let a lot more stuff go with my Fantasy books (obviously). But another thing that influences whether unrealism (is that a word? I’m going to say yes.) is a bad thing is how well it’s done or the level of unbelievability. There was one book (supposed to be a mystery) where the MC made a HUGE deal about the fact that she couldn’t remember anything before the age of 5. REALLY?!? I kept shouting, “BUT THAT IS COMPLETELY NORMAL!!” God, that annoyed the crap out of me. A perfect happy ending in a contemporary can bug me too, especially if the book is about hardcore bullying or illness or traumatic events. When stuff like that happens and everything gets wrapped up in a neat, little bow, that can bug me too. Great post!
Unrealism should totally be a word. OMG SPELL CHECK ISN’T YELLING AT ME SO LET’S SAY IT IS. 😀 Ahem. But back to the topic at hand…omg I’m laughing at the before-the-age-of-5 thing. I mean, who does? I actually don’t remember anything before the age of 12. 😂 And yet I never had a traumatic experience so YEAH. I would suck in a YA novel. Everyone would think i was hiding something huge and I’d be like “Dude, no, my brain is just literally too lazy to remember back that far.”😂 😂
I want some degree of realism in books, but some things I like that they are glossed over for the purpose of a story. I remember complaining about how in fantasy novels no one ever seemed to need a bathroom, but then I read a book that went to painstaking detail to list every bathroom break, and I hated it. I learned my lesson 😀
YES I AGREE. 😂 We don’t need that much information, right?!? I think it just makes the story drag down. Details should only be mentioned if they matter to the storyline….even if it makes some things be brushed over.
I think that, at least in some ways, the real measure of realism in my fiction is the representation of the human experience as we can relate to it. Because really. You want me to read the story of a character who lives in a different world? Who does different things? Who maybe acts uncharacteristically for their age group or era or whatever? Who is maybe part animal? Or maybe has magic powers? Or is maybe capable of taking on the government with their three best friends? …Okay, I’ll buy it.
But you want me to believe that people fall in love in a day? HA. NEVER!
And so… yeah. It’s just… I think in a lot of fiction there isn’t going to be a lot of overlap in our experience, but it is where our experience overlaps, often universally—whether that be in love or family or life—where I need it to be real or else it will not be real.
Yesss. It’s like unrealism in premise/world/whatever = BRING IT ON. Unrealism in characters actions = NOPITY NO. They can be part owl for goodness sakes, that’s fine, but everyone still bleeds and needs to eat. *nods* And I totally like what you said about the overlap. SO TRUE.
I agree with all of this! I always feel silly saying “this fantasy novel was totally unrealistic,” but people do need to eat! And overly-mature teens, and eloquent soliloquies, and… argh.
THEY DO NEED TO EAT. Food = energy. No food = cranky heroes.
Surprisingly, I haven’t given this idea much thought before this post. I know personally that I enjoy realistic aspects in novels, but when I’m reading fantasy, for instance, I don’t want to think about periods, lacking of food while trekking through terrain, and boys who act more around 30 than 17. I just want fun and magic. That’s one of the best things about fantasy novels- the ability to take the completely unbelievable and meld into a completely realistic world. Although sometimes those worlds fail and are still unrealistic to my mind’s eye it, it can still be fun to get lost in them. I definitely prefer realism in contemporary though. Don’t give me the unrealistic in a novel that I’m supposed to relate to.
I so get that!! *nods* And sometimes I think too-much-information just makes a story tedious. I mean, we readers aren’t stupid right?!? We don’t NEED to be told they had to pee or bathe or whatever. And particularly in fantasy novels, tons of stuff can be overlooked because it was a different culture/society back in the olden days. People just WERE more mature because they had to be, and life expectancy was a lot shorter. You were like a kid = then an adult. Teenagerness didn’t really exist. 😛 CONTEMPORARY NEEDS REALISM THOUGH. It’s closer to home, so it has less leeway for suspending disbelief!
OH MY GOD YES. Dialogue IS SO NOT REALISTIC. Sometimes I just sit back and realize that NO ONE TALKS LIKE THAT IN REAL LIFE. And have you SEEN teenage boys? It’s not pretty. It’s acne and immaturity, In the end, I really want books to have that dose of reality in there. Like, I want all the dragons and magic and glitter but that doesn’t mean these characters aren’t supposed to be representing REAL people in an ACTUAL world. PEOPLE DIE, PEOPLE RUN OUT OF CAKE, PERIODS EXIST, NOT EVERYONE IS SUPER SKINNY AND BEAUTIFUL AND HAS STRANGELY GORGEOUS EYES OKAY. THAT ISN’T LIFE.
OMGGG I’M DYING HERE. IT IS NOT PRETTY. 😂 😂 I have a brother and ew basically to his teenage years. 😂 Plus all the teenage boys I’ve ever met have been SUPER immature and kind of just weird. Like being a teenager is not easy on anybody…honestly. 😛
But omg your comment is golden. I WHOLEHEARTEDLY AGREE.
I personally am fine with my books nice and unrealistic. Occasionally there will be something I’ll totally scoff at, but thats part of the fun, right? I’ll leave my realism for the newspaper and real-life and that gritty adult fiction where everyone is sad, One thing I would say though is something that seems totally unreal could totally happen in real life. Like realizing you have crazy connections with people you thought you would have never met except due to one moment, or when people talk without filler words or stuttering or anything. I mean, those people could just be fictional characters somehow come to life but who REALLY knows….. (not I)
Most books require at least A LITTLE suspension of disbelief right?!? And it’s okay because they are BOOKS and it is a STORY and fiction and yayayy. Who even needs reality? *dances off into meadow of unrealism*
This a neat discussion. I’ve definitely tried to address some of these things in my writing. My characters definitely get hungry and cold and tired. My poor character Mor gets insomnia in fear of having nightmares, but eventually she just passes out in exhaustion. After she’s been hiking in the snowy wilderness and then finally gets a place to rest she savors getting a bath and good food and washing her hair. I do have to say about the teenager being mature thing, that depends on the culture. Two hundred or so years ago when you were a teen you were an adult. You were only a child until you were like twelve-ish. So that’s kind of a matter of society standards.
Ah, yes, it is a matter of society standards for sure. *nods* Which is why I think the age-thing doesn’t matter so much in fantasies and HF and all that? But in contemporaries it isn’t so easy to believe. :O Particularly when people seem to be clinging to childhood well into their twenties. (AKA ME I KNOW OMG. 😂)
I actually find YA characters much more immature than they should be. They act as if the concept of having a conversation was never invented. They almost always get what they want as soon as they want it. They don’t seem to have any responsibilities (apart from saving the world). And maybe it is just me that demands too much, but I feel like – at least most female characters – are whiny little brats. We live in a time where “words hurt too”, where every third character becomes catatonic at some point, experiences depression or has an anxiety disorder. I am not bashing mental disorders here. (I’ve gone through all three of those myself and know how hard it is to deal with them..) But it’s becoming a trend. And it’s becoming a poorly executed excuse/trope in YA. Ask your grandparents or even parents, what responsibilities did they have when they were 16? How long were they coddled for? A few decades ago people that age were staging revolutions, were fighting wars, were giving their life for their country, had families, had responsibilities, had honour… I can’t help but feel like we have all turned into giant wusses. Our YA characters included. So maybe it isn’t realism what is missing, but perspective. I don’t know. :/
Hmm, like, I see where you’re coming from, but I don’t know if I fully agree. 😂 SORRY. I know people were “tougher” back then, for sure, and I think our society enables us to be softer and all that, but eh, if that’s how life IS today then wouldn’t it be not-realistic not to acknowledge that in books? But it’s all a matter of perspective for sure. *nods*
Coincidentally, I was just thinking about how realistic books should be before I opened this post. XD
I think that books don’t need to be strictly realistic, just as you said. My creative writing teacher in high school said that he makes a habit of telling people to re-write stories because they are too realistic.
What a good novel really needs is not to break it’s own rules for the sake of convenience. Suspension of disbelief refers to a reader’s ability to ignore inaccuracies and unrealistic things in a story for the sake of enjoyment. I think all stories rely at least somewhat on this What we as writers need to not do, then, is break that for the readers by throwing them something that doesn’t even make sense in the fantastical world we create. At least, that’s my judgement on it.
YAY. WE ARE CLEARLY BRAIN TWINS. 😂
I think ALL books require some suspension of disbelief, I guess the author just needs to choose how to use that margin they automatically have? Like if you push it too far, the book becomes ridiculous. But you can utilize a lot of it?! Or omg IDEK. I’M RAMBLING. 😂
Fantastic Post!
And I have to agree, finding that balance is tricky. Although for me it often depends on the type of book. For example I love the author Tera Lynn Childs because of her humour, however the stories themselves are always full of plot holes and things that just aren’t realistic. Yet, I let that slide, because I know her books are intended as nice, lighthearted reads and even with all the problems, I love them anyway.
However when other books aren’t realistic, I toss them in the corner of my room, never to be picked up again. All because something a character did or said went out the realm of credibility. I guess when I expect a book to be serious, it must corm to my serious rules of being realistic. Yet when its a book not meant to be taken seriously, it gets lee-way. Yet then again, who am I to say which books should be serious or not? Gah – now I have too many thoughts in my head lol
Thanks for sharing 🙂
Ahhh, yes, I totally get that about not really minding if one aspect of a book fails because the rest is so good. Totally acceptable. ;D 😂 BUT IT IS HARD TO KNOW WHEN TO GIVE LEEWAY AND WHEN TO NOT. omg. The reading life is so hard.
1. You are completely correct, time in Fantasy books is usually either one week to save the world, or one week + training montage + one week to the saving of the world. It keeps things pacy! But predictable.
2. Food! Very important and I loathe the characters who don’t eat (or sleep) for a week straight but still have the energy to do battle with their ultimate nemesis. I start shaking if I don’t eat every four hours. SHAKING.
AGH YES. That whole “you’ve trained with a sword for 1 week and now you are pro” is a bit frustrating though. 😂 BUT OMG THE FOOD IS SO IMPORTANT. Food gives energy. One doesn’t have the ENERGY to fight 3938 orcs without food. (I get super angry if my bloodsugar drops. 😂)
I love magic in my books. In fact, I crave for it <333 I don't really mind not seeing my characters stuck in traffic for hours or the girls not having to deal with their monthly periods. I mean, these can also be viewed as fillers and will take the attention away from the plot. If they are not necessarily needed to push the plot forward, then okay I can assume they're happening in the background, right? 😀 I HATE it when my book has an open ending or did not close the story threads satisfactorily. Same goes with movies. I feel so…cheated?
What I do want to be portrayed as close to real life as possible are existing cultures, disability, and mental health. The issues that are happening and can be debilitating that misinformation or false truth will do more harm than good. I know that these are works of fiction but readers may still believe that these books reflect reality. So, I think, that can be really dangerous and degrading.
P.S. Gosh I love food fiction too! Like in Game of Thrones’, the description of the wedding banquet was so detailed my mouth was watering the whole time. Even Harry Potter’s kidney pies, which sounds absolutely horrible in real life, sounds appetizing. YUMMY.
HARRY POTTER AND GAME OF THRONES HUUUURT ME SO BAD IN THE FOOD DEPARTMENT. I just wanted to eat the entire book basically omg. 😂
And I agree too about the fillers. It isn’t needed?! And like I think only things that are important to the plot should be mentioned. And we readers aren’t STUPID. Just because the author never says the character went to the bathroom doesn’t mean it didn’t happen, obviously. *nods* (I like open endings, but not ones where it makes the book pointless. hehe)
I’ll admit, I do love a bit of a realism in the books I read. But there seems to be such a lack of it as a general rule. People on epic journeys need to have more than a passing consideration for food, water and where the next loo stop is. Seriously.
But I don’t think dragons necessarily have to be unrealistic, aside from the whole not-really-existing thing as once you set up that they can get hurt, need regular feeding, have to train (or whatever) doesn’t that in itself make them realistic? Live creatures with wants and needs and all that. I’m thinking purely of the Dragonriders of Pern series and the Temeraire series here, but those dragons seemed real to me!
It’s when things are perfect in books that it gets irritating: perfect hair, perfect romance, perfect timing always, perfectly absent bodily functions getting in the way of plot. Flaws make things interesting.
And, like, how TIRING it is to just walk for 938 miles per day. :O Those epic fantasy journyes seem to be okay with walking their boots to pieces BUT YET THEY HAVE TIME AND ENERGY TO HAVE AN INSTANT BATTLE AT ANY MOMENT? NO. 😂
(I want to read that Dragonriders series.) (Also dragons aren’t even realistic, pfft, of course not. Dragons are real.)
Another great post Cait 🙂 And it’s a really interesting conversation! (I have it constantly with guy friends, but normally it’s about movies, not books!!)
I know that I also read to experience things I never have, as opposed to reality. (And I don’t like reality TV – with the exception of several Korean and Japanese reality shows – THEY’RE HILARIOUS, I”M SORRY FOR SHOUTING BUT REALLY. Where else would I see pretty people in weird clothes do stupid challenges to win important things like food??) Ahem.
I think most of us can agree that we don’t “really” want a lot of literary situations/devices to be real (I don’t want to be in the Hunger Games, or have to marry someone for political reasons, or have to betray my family, you know). What’s important is convincing us that the book is real and the characters are real while we’re reading. I know there are book characters that have seemed more “realistic” to me than people I’ve met . . . but that’s just really good writing for you.
But YA seems to take too many “realism” cues from Supernatural . . . (i.e., Adonis heroes who eat 2 tons of burgers and never even get indigestion . . .). On the other hand, sometimes it’s a little too “realistic.” When I have to read through pages, and pages, and pages, of the hero thinking about doing something INSTEAD of doing something – that’s just boring. But in real life, I would totally be the person who thought for pages about doing anything. I would probably plan out every scenario a couple hundred times too.
So I think it ultimately comes down to the author. A good author can convince us that magic exists and that people can fall in love in three days. Is it realistic? No. But I personally don’t care – if the writing convinces me!
See – I even took this long just to basically come to the conclusion that I agree with you. 😛
EEEP, thanks, Rebekah! And an eternally epic comment from you, THANK YOU. <3
Yesss, the balance is so hard to find. We, as readers, do NOT want to read a detailed account of them doing laundry/homework/feeding the cat, unless it's important to the plot. That's just good concise writing. And I don't even think we need to know if the character showered/went to the bathroom/is wearing clean socks. I MEAN COME ON. So I am 100% in favour of skipping over "realisticness" in order to tell a good story, in that respect.
I feel like it can be any premise of ever but the characters need to act realistically within that premise?!
*shares cake with you* HUZZAH FOR AGREEMENT. 😂
I agree with this so much! I mean, no, I don’t not need the minutiae of some character’s random day to day activities. Yawn. This is why some books ARE needlessly 900 pages. I think the key is this- if it is unrealistic to the point that it takes you out of the story and makes you think “wait, what even!?” then it’s a problem. Like Andonis-Teen. He is not okay unless he is a career in The Hunger Games. Like, if something makes logical sense, I am down. Even in a fantasy world. there are rules, and so the things that happen can make sense with those rules. But just random stuff that makes me scream “NO ONE WOULD EVER DO THAT IN THE HISTORY OF EVER” is when books get slapped with a low rating and a stern talking to from me.
YES EXACTLY. Plus wouldn’t Adonis Teen need to spend 39839 hours in the gym, if he was in a contemporary setting? Hmm? Then what about school and all the time he and his girlfriend spend getting coffee/ice cream (aka the favourite past time of teens in every contemporary book ever). HOW IS HE SO FIT?
I think if YA books were realistic about teenage romance the MCs would be madly in love, date for a month, and then hate each other hahahaha With romance in books I think you really can’t be too realistic about it or you’ll seriously bum people out.
Unrealistic dialogue/situations are annoying though. Like how often teens’ parents just agree to let them go off on long trips with their friends etc. Personally, my mom was incredibly lax, but most of my friends couldn’t be out past 5 pm. And parents in YA generally aren’t very realistic.
But I accept some unrealistic things. Like how many teenagers would accept their ‘I gotta save the world and maybe die doing it’ status? Like if books were realistic it would just be a lot of teens running away and crying. That would be me right now!
Omg I agree about the parents *nods* Especially the ones who are so super uninvolved in their kids lives they don’t notice that they’re drinking or mentally ill? I mean, IT HAPPENS YES. But there are SO many books that use that trope and it’s become disturbing.
I would run away crying too, tbh. 😂 So maybe it’s a GOOD thing that aspect is usually unrealistic!
This may seem totally hilarious, but I actually roll my eyes at a lot of contemporary romances BECAUSE of how unrealistic they are, when you’d think they’d be the opposite! I mean all those teenagers that never go to school, that are so well spoken and everything, and that act so mature when it comes to things. That’s not a real teenager sometimes! And yes, the food, like does no one eat in these times or what? Great post Cait!
Or ALL they eat is like coffee and waffles or something, which, dude: living the dream. BUT SURE NOT REALISTIC. 😂 One cannot live on frappes alone, contemporary teenagers. Ahem. (Although, tbh, my sister and I were those irritating teenagers who used huge words and were pretty well spoken when we were young. WE WERE RAISED BY BOOKS THOUGH. It’s not the “norm” probably 😂.)
THIS IS VERY VERY TRUE. I think about this a lot. It seems like there’s a fine line between totally realistic and mostly boring, and completely unrealistic and totally insane that most books don’t seem to find.
IT IS SUCH A FINE LINE. Omg. But it’s not too much of ask to ask authors just get their act together and find it right? RIGHT??!?!
lol omg that first GIF is shady.
I think SEMI-relatable. I’m not saying, I wanna relate all the time to a book. That would be a little overboard. But it’s nice, occasionally. I completely agree with all you’re saying. Especially getting punched yet no bruises?? I tripped over a bag of laundry once & bruised my whole knee, and it was literally looking all ouch-worthy for a whole week.
I do like reading books, where they say the boys have hot bodies, though. Maybe that’s me being picky, though. hahaha. One time I read some YA I can’t remember and the MC was describing the love interest and she made him sound so disgusting, I was like: “ew???”
I think sometimes authors try TOO hard to be realistic. I was reading another YA & the attempt at teen speak nearly gave me a migraine. “I’m, like, so happy to be here! This is like a billion warm fuzzies combined into one!” The more you try to be relatable, the more you fail tbh.
Perf post as always, Cait! 😀
I sometimes just LOOK at myself and I bruise, so YEAH I AGREE WITH YOU. (I mean, where even do half my bruises come from, omg.) Ahem. And also swelling? Books seem to always skip the part that one’s body is so annoying and lies to swell up for bruises, infections, bumps, ANYTHING BASICALLY. Gah.
And omg, yes there is a fine line between making dialogue realistic and making the reader want to stab themselves in the face with a book page. 😂 That’s why I go for unrealistic dialogue!
I’m just going to steer clear of Contemporary on this one (because that’s its own can of worms) lol.
For me (in regards to Fantasy/Sci-Fy/Paranormal) my problem with “realisticness” is often how HUMAN the characters act. Particularly when faced with sudden change such as sudden death/your boyfriend is an alien type thing. If it’s handled ~logically~ then great, the book has achieved “realisticness” in my opinion. However, even if you’re a wizard, you’ll probably be more than just a “cry scene” worth of upset over the death of your childhood best friend. And if you’re a perfectly ~normal~ human girl, and your boyfriend is an actual ALIEN, you’d probably either 1) not believe him (likely) or 2) freak the @#$^ out.
There are (of course) exceptions to this rule of thumb, (and also books that are just written so that these things aren’t noticeable because they aren’t PROBLEMS). Lastly, the biggest main exception for me is that in Fantasy (and sometimes Sci-Fy) if the character ISN’T human, then I guess they don’t need to follow the same grieving period, eating/sleeping ratios, etc, right?¿
This was really thought provoking over all, and super cool. xox
I’m glad you liked the discussion! And omg you’re right…there are so many angles to this question. 😂 IT REALLY IS A HUGE QUESTION. I guess, also though, sometimes reactions depend on personalities? Like I know I would handle a tragic event differently to, say, my sister. But I do think humans (regardless of the genre) will need logical time to grieve or accept things or whatnot. *nods*
I think my level of desired “realisticness” changed depending on the book I’m reading. I mean, if it’s fantasy I am pretty much down for anything – although I DO want that pretty bow that ensures me that my precious ship WILL sail for the next century and a half and that everyone WILL live happily ever after. However, if I’m reading contemporary, I feel like I am a bit more scrutinising of the reality of things. Like conversation. Funnily enough, I am more accepting of an open ending in a contemporary novel because it IS more true to love to have everything kind of up in the air. Even if I don’t actually appreciate it. I like knowing things. I don’t want to guess.
I actually laughed when you mentioned the 17 year old boys with perfect bodies because, uhm, 17 year old boys DON’T have bodies like that. I mean, when I was 17 all the boys around me were scrawny little things that were all bone and puppy fat. So the fact that these MCs are looking at their male love interest and talking about all their ~muscles~ is completely ridiculous. Seventeen year old bodies haven’t even finished growing yet! They certainly don’t have abs and biceps and whatnot. HAHA.
It’s not THAT much to ask just to know our ship will sail right? RIGHT??! *cries because always chooses sinking ships* But dude, I agree. Contemporary needs to be more realistic because it’s already set close to home. I actually am a fan of open endings? As long as it doesn’t make the book pointless. Like if NOTHING gets resolved or sorted = ughghgugh.
HAHA OMG I KNOW. I KNOW. I have a brother and him at 17? He was a clown and and idiot. -_- I feel like sometimes authors want to not remember how awkward and greasy it is being a teenager? I mean, I can understand it for like very PhYSICAL books, like fantasies. But not contemporaries or paranormals unless they’re spending 98398 hours in the gym and they AREN’T. Because SCHOOL.
I can definitely do without all the ‘uh’, ‘erm’ and ‘like’ every other word in dialogue. But I do like my books to be more realistic than not. I especially can’t stand John Green’s characters because none of them I have come across talk like actual people. I don’t always find it annoying – like I am okay with a nicely wrapped up ending 😉 But I hate when they go very over the top with how utterly ridiculous things get in the book. The author needs to find that perfect balance 😉
THE PERFECT BALANCE IS ALL WE ASK. Whyyyy can’t all the books be perfect, omg. *riots in the streets for this*
Ahhh I am so going to do a response post to this (and link to you, of course) because I have way too many thoughts are realism in books lol. Like you, I also love unrealistic premises, since I read mostly SFF, but I love when books are then realistic within those premises. I get annoyed when things within the premise are not realistic. Especially things like the punching-but-no-bruise that you mentioned. And don’t get me started on characters constantly passing out/getting knocked out (because that happens so often in real life -_-) and then waking up feeling perfectly fine.
I never thought about all the specific things you mentioned though. But now that you’ve brought it up, you’re right about the food thing! Also sleep. And sometimes showers/bathing. It’s like some characters just go weeks without doing any of these things lol. And I don’t read as much YA as you, but the characters being way too mature for their ages is also an issue I have sometimes.
The time thing I just kinda accept. And I figure you probably could form quite a bond with someone quickly if you were on this life-altering, dangerous, crazy quest or whatever together. The dialogue though, I agree that that’s the one thing that should definitely NOT be realistic. In real life there’s just lots of stuttering and faltering and repeating and very un-eloquent, nonsensical things. And I also like the adorable and meaningful soliloquies lol.
Oooh, YAY. I can’t wait to read it, Kristen!! 😀 (Can you tell me when it’s up so I can be sure to see it?! eeep) And YUS, I think the rule should be: have as many unrealistic premises as you want; but make the people act realistically within them. *nods* And omg, I passed out for the first time ever getting blood taken and I felt sick an nauseous ALL DAY. I mean, I’m also a wimp. 😂 But if people do pass out, I don’t see how they just get back up as right as rain. Fainting is not a nap. And isn’t it if you pass out for a certain amount of time you get brain damage?!? So yeah. 🙁 I want to see books acknowledge that gritty side of reality too.
hmmm i really dont care for realism unless its a realistic fiction. I don’t mind the fiction that is why i read fiction. It does have to make sense to where i understand it but… I go in looking for adventure love and magic. So if real isn’t there I am so okay with that. Real is outside my door and I really don’t like it much.
Omg I agree. 😂 Reality is overrated anyway.
*raises hand* (that was for reality TV…)
You are always spot on with your points in your discussions, Cait, and that’s one of the many reasons I love your blog (and YOU) so much!
We want to be able to suspend disbelief just a little bit, enough to be immersed in a story, but not so much that we are thrown out of the universe we’re trying to enter only to shake our head, roll our eyes and think ‘yeah, as if THAT would ever happen…’ Us readers are a greedy bunch, because we want magic and realism hand in hand, but not too realistic, because that would be boring 🙂
Great post! Have a wonderful weekend and happy reading.
Omg I’m glad I’m not alone for hating on reality TV 😂 Ahem, but omg thank you, Lexxie!! *flails happily* THAT COMPLETELY MAKES MY DAY. <3
It's the details that matter, right?!? Like we have no idea what it's like to raise dragons, so we're okay to take whatever the author wants to say on that. But we KNOW what it is to be hungry and need sleep *nods* And it's not to much to ask for the perfect balance, right?!? 😂
Great topic. I know exactly what you mean. I read mostly PNR and UF, so most of my reads are not truly realistic. For me, I want to see the author to stay realistic to the world that they’ve created. I don’t want to see the author change the rules of the world just to fit some issue they need to resolve. I’ve read a few books that have done just this and it is very frustrating. I would
oh oh so TRUE! Especially if they start bending the rules to make it easier on the protagonist?! NOPITY NO. It just feels like cheating!
I think you’re pretty much summed it up here – we need a balance of realism and … not. Because books that are perfectly realistic would be incredibly boring most of the time. But we don’t want to be rolling our eyes the whole time we read. It’s a really tough balance!
Yessss, I’m glad the post made sense! Plus if we wanted perfectly realistic books, why would we read, right??
I know I seem bitter but ugh, people need to understand that NOT EVERYONE IS IN A RELATIONSHIP!!! And not everyone WANTS to be in a relationship. And that scene near the end of a romance novel when the protagonists DO the DO. Ugh. And they’re usually 16/17 years old? Not everyone is like that, authors. seriously.
I had to vent xD
And those perfect guys? What the heck, they’re only like 5 of those in the world xDD JK but still.
And I do prefer skinny guys over muscular guys. No facial hair over stubble. There’s nothing wrong with that. The male protagonist that’s the closest to a guy i would like is Nick Hidaka from Holly Smale’s Geek Girl.
DUDE I 100% AGREE. It’s like they think that every reader ever is only reading because they can’t get a boy/girlfriend or something? No. We actually WANT to read books that aren’t about romance sometimes. >_> (And honestly the perfect guys bug me a lot because teenagers NEVER look like that without serious working out in a gym, and, especially in contemporaries, they just don’t!)
I want real dialogue and real actions. But I also want to be surprised. If things are too “real”, I might see the twists and turns a mile away. I need magic and a talented author!
Rebecca @ The Portsmouth Review
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Realism and suspense of belief definitely come hand in hand.
We can suspend our belief about witches, spaceships and time travel. But it is unrealistic when the MC falls in love with a guy after only a day of know him, and now shes smelling his pillows and dreaming about their children etc.
I hate, hate hate it when a story is only set over short about of time! It’s so annoying and so freaking unrealistic. I love it when there’s a decent time span, like 6 months or more. It makes the story more realistic in terms of character relationships and falling in love. If a story is sent over 2 weeks, I get so pissy about it that I don’t pick up the next book. Unless I LOVED the story and could excuse the unrealistic time frame.
I find it funny sometimes when a character is 16 years old but sounds mature and feels like 25 years old. But then I also get frustrated when a character is 16 years old and is so stupid, no common sense and pines over a guy ALL.THE.TIME. I always wish the mature characters were actually 18 years old where they might be able to pull that age off even though they still feel like they’re 25 years old. And then I wish the 16 year was more mature and stopped acting like a child :/ It’s such a hard balance to get right!
I do agree that it seems unrealistic when a story ends perfectly, but then I also hate it when I feel like there’s still more to be told because I felt like things haven’t ended yet… For example, The Lunar Chronicles. I want to see what happens next, I want a spin off story because I felt like the story hadn’t completely ended yet! But then again, Cinder’s story had ended so it makes sense.
Haha you’re quite funny. I loved reading this article, it made me giggle. Also, I too can’t STAND reality TV!!!! Seriously…
Jord @ Simply Adrift
You being busy with the NaNoWriMo means we get to continue GOING THROUGH THE ARCHIVES!! AREN’T YOU EXCITED!? THERE ARE SO MANY THINGS WE COULD DISCOVER.
The joys.
This post was fun and we agree with so many points. When teenagers get attacked by monstrous creatures some of them should really die horrifically for the sake of authenticity don’t you think?
One thing we’d like to add however is the fact so many teenage characters are dropped into worlds they didn’t no exist and our eyes are always rolling at how very easily the adapt to that. We think we’d have at least a minor crisis if we discovered worlds we never thought existed!
Depends on the genre. Seems like a cop-out, but the more far-fetched the story is in the first place, the more likely I am to forgive factual errors. For example, if it’s say, a superhero based tale, I don’t need a long drawn out explanation as to how the powers of flight happen when science says it’s impossible, just get me to the action already.
On the other hand, it can be disconcerting when I’m following say…an archeologist along (and have been for a few movies) and then he’s saved from a ground zero nuke blast by hiding in a fridge. One of the things I always loved about Indiana Jones was that he was human, an awesome human doing awesome things, but human nonetheless and he got his scar because he was human…but then yeah…the fridge. Ugh.
As for the teenage thing, I’ve only read YA dystopia (“Hunger Games” and “Divergent” specifically) and it’s hard to say what would be “normal” way for a teen to act in those worlds. Adolescence, as a phase of life is fairly recent (historically speaking) and it used to be that young men (at least, rarely young women) were expected to strike out on their own as young as thirteen, or at least take up an apprenticeship with a local tradesman.
“Harry Potter” seemed pretty well-rounded in that department (especially OotP which is the one I call “The One Where Harry Whines all the Damn Time”) because despite all the magic and drama, it was still a modern upbringing with school, etc.
I agree that the amount of realism often depends on the genre!! Magical books can get away with a lot more for sure. *nods*
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