R is for Real

 You've probably noticed by now that in thinking about the gifts a writer might bring to her readers, I've been using the letters from the name of Christ. "R" wasn't the easiest one to identify with a gift, but it finally occurred to me that there is a gift--and a very important one at that--beginning with that exact letter: realism. 

Relating this to my own writing, I have to think in terms of fiction. So what does that have to do with realism? Well, for starters it means that I can't...