The Challenges of Realistic Fiction

For me, there’s never been a question as to what genre I would write in. I’ve always been a huge fan of realistic fiction, especially realistic fiction tinted with tragedy. I like to read about characters I can relate to in some way, characters who reflect pieces of my own life back at me. I like literature that puts into words what I’m feeling or experiencing.

That being said, I also love science fiction and fantasy. I admire authors like J.K. Rowling who can invent magical worlds that come to life and feel real. I like to be swept away into a world that doesn’t exist and end up believing that it does.

All genres of writing have their own challenges and hurdles. For me, I’ve found that realistic fiction is no exception. Although it is arguably less imaginative than fantasy, it provides its own limitations.

The writer must draw out excitement in what is often mundane.

Real life isn’t a series of thrill-seeking adventures and heart-pounding moments. If you think about the last month of your life, you probably spent a lot of time doing pretty mundane, average things, things that not many people would be excited to read about. In realistic fiction, the writer has to find a way to write about these mundane aspects of life and yet make them exciting. Furthermore, he or she has to figure out a way to make a realistic, average life seem more engaging that it probably is. Sometimes reality limits you; it can be difficult to “shock and awe” when the often boring world is your outer limit.

There is a tendency to write what you know.

Unless you are willing to do oodles of research, writing realistic fiction often means you write what you are familiar with. If you’ve lived a somewhat average, uneventful life, this again poses the challenge of adding intrigue to your work. Furthermore, it can be easy to fall into a rut. You’ve got to push yourself outside of your comfort zone, which can be challenging. I’ve found that it does get easier. As you gain courage and confidence in your writing, it will be easier to venture further from your actual life.

People assume that all of the events in your book have happened to you.

I’ve had so many similarities drawn between the main character and myself. People assume that when you write realistic fiction, you base all of the characters and the events off of your own real life. This is certainly true to an extent. However, it can be somewhat worrisome when everyone assumes your life is the same as your protagonist, especially if it isn’t.

“That couldn’t happen” becomes a major hurdle to your creativity.

When people read realistic fiction, they want . . . realism. So it can be easy to become paranoid about all of the logistics in your writing. I know that for my own novel, I had to do a lot of fact checking about the criminal justice system to make sure that I was writing a feasible story. You are held to a much higher standard of truth sometimes when you write realistic fiction.

Do you write or read realistic fiction? Is there anything you would add to the list? Feel free to comment below!