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3 Tips For Creating Works Of Realistic Fiction by Donald Turner
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3 Tips For Creating Works Of Realistic Fiction |
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Education
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1) Start by reminding yourself of a well-known phrase, which is almost a cliche of real life, i.e. There are always two sides to every story. The first requirement of "realistic" fiction is that the characters are believable. In other words, the reader recognises them from somewhere in his or her own experience, and says, whether unconsciously or not, Yes. Real people are like this. You may happen to believe that with some people, "what you see is what you get"; but no fiction writer can afford to present characters of whom this is true. My own view is that in "real" life, we can never fathom all the deep motivations and drivers behind the personalities of others; as often as not, it's difficult enough to honestly identify and face our own. The psychologist Carl Jung was very aware of this when he described the principle of The Shadow; the dark side of ourselves which we project onto others and are most ready to criticise or fear when we see it "out there." Writers who fully meet the challenge of this in their fiction are those who create the most "realistic" characters. For "realistic" perhaps we can also use the word "truthful." And those who read psychological thriller fiction, at least, want to know what's going on beneath the surface. The truth lies through and behind the complex, strange and subtle. 2) Then consider all the limitations and conditions of the "real" world of the senses that surrounds us every day. This can be a very enjoyable challenge for realistic fiction writers; just as much so as for those who write fantasy fiction, who still need to create a world with consistent rules and laws. A creative writer can have fun with this simply because the role of a novelist is in itself an impossible one. We play God, as a novelist; certainly not a privilege any of us can enjoy in real life. It may even be why we become fiction writers in the first place; perhaps we are all failed megalomaniacs, and the fictional world is the only world over which we can have meaningful control. But we have to respect and acknowledge the limitations of the senses, and ensure that our godlike status as a novelist never compromises the laws of real life. 3) Be aware though of a very strange and almost sinister fact, which gives the lie to the word "realistic": art follows life, doesn't it? or can it be true that life follows art? Because sometimes it does; and I have come to treat this seriously. Be careful what you create from your imagination; real life can sometimes start to follow it. Not that I am suggesting, of course, that Thomas Harris went roaming round in his Hannibal Lecter personna having created "Silence of the Lambs"; but just hold in your mind that, even in real life, strange things can go on behind the scenes. writing jobs
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