Real Life V The Book World
The more I write, the more I realise there is way too much to life to completely understand. Human nature is weird, people are weird, and weird things happen all the time. I swear, if I wrote about some things that actually happened or conversations I overheard, people wouldn’t think they were realistic.
When I write, I have to ask myself if something is realistic or if it’s just convenient. Would a character really do that? Or do I just want them to? I can’t sacrifice a character for the story, everything has to be true to them. Readers will always know when something is forced.
Through asking these questions, however, it’s occurred to me that people make decisions in real life that make completely no sense. Yet if I put that in my book, people would go crazy with it not being realistic. It’s a fine line to balance on.
Which leads me to list all the things I have learnt from observing people and then writing characters.
- It’s okay for people to talk about the weather to each other in real life, not in books.
- In real life, someone can jump to a conclusion. In books, they have to spend sixty thousand words mulling it over.
- When talking in real life, people don’t generally have an ulterior motive for everything. In books, you can’t trust anything anyone ever says.
- In real life, you sometimes fall sorta in love with someone. In a book, you either fall head over heels or nothing.
- In books, nothing is ever easy. In real life, sometimes good things just happen.
- In real life, if you’re in a hurry, you can still make it on time. In books, every single thing that can block you – will.
It’s a funny world where odd things sometime happen. How many more can you add to the list?
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