Is realism viable?

[Devor]

I think there's another layer to this question than "realistic or not" and "style and tone."

Going back to the thieves who wouldn't run on the rooftop, I appreciate that kind of "realism" in some works. But I'm cool with a rooftop running scene, too, if I feel like the author knows what he or she is doing. Run across the rooftops, sure, but let me hear about padded soles, the sharp thud of jumping into the roof, let someone slip for a moment. Let me feel like the author understands what it means to run across a rooftop, and reference some of the challenges involved, instead of just skipping by them.

It doesn't need to be pure realism, but maybe something you can call a "softened" realism. A thoughtful unrealism. The unrealism that comes because you understand what it is you're making up a story about.

I don't need realism. But many readers have read stories that were closer to being realistic, and I think we should acknowledge that when we write stories that are not.

 

[BWFoster78]

Devor,

I think you nailed the crucial issue:

if I feel like the author knows what he or she is doing.

That's the thing I care most about. As long as you put me inside your world firmly, I don't care what that world is.

Let's take the example that someone else brought up of a knight not being able to perform some tasks in full armor. In a fantasy world, I can make up any facts that I choose. My characters may resemble humans, but there is nothing to say that they are. They can be as strong as I want them to be. Likewise, my armor may resemble medievel plate mail, but it can be lighter and more flexible if I want it to be.

The important point is for me to be consistent.

If I show the character strong in one scene, I can't show him weak in another. I can't place a limitation on his race that would prevent him from growing that strong.

If I show the plate mail as flexible, I have to make sure that it is always flexible. I can't have it all of a sudden take on the properties of medievel plate mail.

Be consistent and your audience will trust you. Break that trust, and they'll discard you.

 

[Svrtnsse]

In a recent scene I included a little creature called a night squirrel. It looks pretty much like a squirrel except it's fur is dark blue and it's tail flashes white when it feels threatened.

That isn't a realistic.

I think the reader will buy it though. They'll think it's an interesting creature and move on with the story. The way I'm trying to accomplish this is by describing it as something perfectly normal. My MC doesn't get upset that there's a blue flashing squirrel in his burrow, he get upset because there's an animal in his burrow and then he shoos it away. That's all there is to it, no whooping about with details or explanation about how magic it is etc.

Still, cutting out just that piece and removing the context the night squirrel might seem strange, but with the backdrop of all the other non-ordinary things that happen, it's not such a big deal.

 

[Gurkhal]

I say: Go for realism unless the story is hurt at which point you can take artistic freedom to reality.

Yeah, I don't really say anything new but I thought that I should add my voice to it.