Realistic yet interesting plots?

[Super Fantasy]

Is there a good way to create a plot that is not only interesting but also realistic?
I often have a difficult time creating or thinking of a plot that could be realistic yet interesting.
Any good ways of approaching this?

 

[Orc Knight]

First, we should probably break down what you think are uninteresting and unrealistic plots. Plots are, as a whole, just actions and reactions summed up in a story. Something kicks it off, the characters respond to it and suddenly you somehow have a convoluted fifty year running soap opera.

 

[Naruzeldamaster]

First, we should probably break down what you think are uninteresting and unrealistic plots. Plots are, as a whole, just actions and reactions summed up in a story. Something kicks it off, the characters respond to it and suddenly you somehow have a convoluted fifty year running soap opera.

I feel like there are many ways to a realistic and interesting plot.
One such way is historical fiction, like old western novels.
But I also think you can have unrealistic yet interesting plots.
Cause otherwise back to the future and such wouldn't exist.

 

[pmmg]

Fantasy by its very nature is unrealistic. One has to decide what level of unrealism you wish to allow into the story. You create the rules of real and unreal. The trap is, once laid out, its going to throw your audience if you break them, and readers are going to want story acceptable reasons why things can happen that way. The assumption will likely be, unless its shown to be different, life on earth is the guide.

Plots dont really fall into this definition. They are just the sequence of events. If they fall into the framework of the fantasy nature of the story, they should work out.

 

[Gurkhal]

I would also ask what you mean by unrealistic?

Do you mean plots that relies on elements that are not present in our world, on characters acting in a way that a human in our world wouldn't or something else?

EDITED: But, yes, if you want realistic plots you may want to look at historical fiction as these do, generally, not include the fantastical elements seen in fantasy and as such are more often considered more realistic than fantasy stories are.

 

[jhmcmullen]

Can I ask what you mean by "unrealistic"? Because you can mean, "A human wouldn't act that way," or you could mean, "That event wouldn't happen like that," or "That's inconsistent with other things in the story," or probably other things.

If you think the character or characters act in a way you don't believe, then the problem is that the writer didn't set up the actions correctly for you. (They might not have set it up correctly for anybody, but we'll pretend that it was just you.)

As an example of "inconsistent with other things in the story," the perpetual "Batman beats Superman through planning" story -- Superman, if written to the extent of his powers, walks over Batman like he's not there. So a decent writer will fill it with lots of details to make you say, "Okay, it could happen that time." Tom King has hinted that Superman lets Batman win; there might be lead-smoke grenades and Kryptonite involved, and Clark wants the same thing that Bruce wants but feels obliged to fight him, so he's not acting at full power. All of that is a way that the writer nudges you to say, "Yeah, it's implausible, but this one time it would work." In the same way, Dr. Strange saying, "I looked at millions of universes and this is the only one is which we win." Winning is extremely implausible -- they just said that -- but in this one case, it would work.

Sometimes (and I'm very guilty of this) you miss the clue that the author has given to say, "Hey, the character has changed and will now do X instead of the logical Y."

And, of course, fantasy and science fiction are inherently unrealistic, though they should have verisimilitude (in the sense I've stolen from John Gardner, in his "On Writing"), so the writer has to make you believe the conceit of the story and then that these events would follow from that premise.

So what are examples of "unrealistic" so that we can figure out which aspect of the "unrealism" sticks in your craw?

 

[Prince of Spires]

Realistic is very hard to define, and I personally feel that something feeling unrealistic in fiction is usually the consequence of bad writing, and not of an unrealistic plot. As an example, there are a lot of historic events that sound just as unrealistic as fictional events. Some even more so. So you can write most plots, and claim realism.

Just some examples, but we've had someone purchase the Roman empire at an impromptu auction. We've had an Austrian emperor assasinated because his car took a wrong turn and then stalled near a shop where the assassin was waiting. We've had the son of a former slave end up as emperor of the eastern roman empire. And just recently there was a bank heist in Germany where they basically tunnelled into the vault.

I could go on. Suffice to say that throughout history unrealistic stuff has been happening.

At the same time, all plots are unrealistic. Why? Because plots just don't exist in the real world. There are too many random events happening each and every day that would make for a poor story. The relentless cause and effect of plots is simply unrealistic.

So don't worry about it and just write.

 

[Gurkhal]

Realistic is very hard to define, and I personally feel that something feeling unrealistic in fiction is usually the consequence of bad writing, and not of an unrealistic plot. As an example, there are a lot of historic events that sound just as unrealistic as fictional events. Some even more so. So you can write most plots, and claim realism.

Just some examples, but we've had someone purchase the Roman empire at an impromptu auction. We've had an Austrian emperor assasinated because his car took a wrong turn and then stalled near a shop where the assassin was waiting. We've had the son of a former slave end up as emperor of the eastern roman empire. And just recently there was a bank heist in Germany where they basically tunnelled into the vault.

I could go on. Suffice to say that throughout history unrealistic stuff has been happening.

At the same time, all plots are unrealistic. Why? Because plots just don't exist in the real world. There are too many random events happening each and every day that would make for a poor story. The relentless cause and effect of plots is simply unrealistic.

So don't worry about it and just write.

Sorry if I'm a pendant but it wasn't an Austrian emperor. If was the heir apparent.

 

[Prince of Spires]

Sorry if I'm a pendant but it wasn't an Austrian emperor. If was the heir apparent.

I bow to your superior knowledge. Some details from my history lessons are a bit hazy. I blame having learned it more than 2 decades ago... WW1 and the events leading up to it aren't my forte.

 

[Naruzeldamaster]

Realistic is very hard to define, and I personally feel that something feeling unrealistic in fiction is usually the consequence of bad writing, and not of an unrealistic plot. As an example, there are a lot of historic events that sound just as unrealistic as fictional events. Some even more so. So you can write most plots, and claim realism.

Just some examples, but we've had someone purchase the Roman empire at an impromptu auction. We've had an Austrian emperor assasinated because his car took a wrong turn and then stalled near a shop where the assassin was waiting. We've had the son of a former slave end up as emperor of the eastern roman empire. And just recently there was a bank heist in Germany where they basically tunnelled into the vault.

I could go on. Suffice to say that throughout history unrealistic stuff has been happening.

At the same time, all plots are unrealistic. Why? Because plots just don't exist in the real world. There are too many random events happening each and every day that would make for a poor story. The relentless cause and effect of plots is simply unrealistic.

Then why do 'based on a true story' movies exist

 

[Prince of Spires]

Then why do 'based on a true story' movies exist

Why do you think they're 'based on true stories' instead of just 'true stories'?

To turn true stories into movies, you need to adapt the events and add the cause and effect that a plot requires. Events need to be dramatized, characters enhanced or added/removed, and boring bits taken out.

 

[Mad Swede]

I bow to your superior knowledge. Some details from my history lessons are a bit hazy. I blame having learned it more than 2 decades ago... WW1 and the events leading up to it aren't my forte.

Might I suggest that you should study them a bit more? If you want story and plot material for your fanatsy world then the run up to WW1, especially the politics, the associated intrigues and personal relationships (both between nations and within nations) are a gold mine. GRR Martin used the Wars of the Roses as the basis for many of the plots in A Song of Ice and Fire, but he'd have had as much materiel if he'd used late Victorian and Edwardian Europe.

 

[Mad Swede]

Is there a good way to create a plot that is not only interesting but also realistic?
I often have a difficult time creating or thinking of a plot that could be realistic yet interesting.
Any good ways of approaching this?

Read a lot, especially local news and politics. You'd be surprised at how many personal conflicts and vendettas there are in local communities, and how seemingly small incidents and disagreements can quickly grow into something much larger.

You might also want to read Dashiell Hammett's short stories. Hammett had worked for Pinkertons, and almost all his short stories are based on real incidents and events. Nothing in his short stories has much national signficance, they're all small local events, but the stories themselves have many layers, plenty of conflicts and often show the relationships between politicians, businessmen and crooks.