There’s a particular kind of courage in writing about the world as it actually is. Although our imaginations can take us to fantastical places, realistic fiction asks something different of both the writer and the reader. You open a book and find not an escape from your world, but a deeper entry into it. It’s like a mirror held up to reveal something at a new angle. Perhaps it’s something we sensed on some level, but hadn’t yet found the words to describe.
Realistic fiction is a genre of storytelling grounded in plausible reality. It’s about human characters living out human stories as they navigate the same world we live in. There are no magic wands or sci-fi gadgets to save the day, just as we’re not given any to solve the problems in our actual lives.
The stakes are quieter, perhaps, but no less urgent. A marriage fracturing in silence. A parent and child trying to get back to each other. The moment a person realizes the life they built is not the one they actually wanted. These are the kinds of stories that tell us something true about who we are, and remind us that we are not alone.
In this article, I will explore what makes realistic fiction such a powerful and enduring genre, and I’ll offer you a Story Weapon to help you simplify aspects of your story.
Realistic fiction focuses on the internal lives of complex characters navigating a world identical to our own without the use of supernatural elements. By keeping the plot simple and focusing on authentic human connections, writers can create powerful narratives that reflect the beauty and drama of real life.
Character focus in realistic fiction
Many people turn to fictional works to escape, not dig deeper into this world. So, why limit the possibilities for what you can explore in your writing?
Here’s what American author Jess Walter had to say about realistic fiction in an interview for The Rumpus:
It’s once I discover the people inside that the story really gets going, and then the formal invention becomes less important. It’s just the way in; it’s the door; and then what’s behind it is always some kind of people, which I think probably makes me more in the tradition of realistic fiction because that’s usually what I’m interested in, the people.
Realistic fiction focuses on the characters themselves, rather than magical events or supernatural forces. It takes the opportunity to slow life down long enough to see below the surface – the grief underneath the same old argument – the love enduring through the silence – the fear that has been masquerading as anger.
One of the most wonderful aspects of realistic fiction is that it reminds us of the possibility for adventure and opportunities in our own lives. We needn’t escape to find beauty in faraway worlds, we can turn to literature as a reminder of the steps we’ve taken in our own journeys and the people we’ve met along the way.
Film director Richard Linklater, whose oeuvre is very much the world of realism, explains it well.
Everything that I see is all this drama, [so much so] that you would think my life, our lives, have no drama. That’s not the way I feel. My life feels very exciting to me and I’ve never been involved in a chase or a gun shootout. My life is exciting to me. And what’s the most exciting thing that’s ever happened to me? Connecting with another human being . . . If we can put that on screen I think people will care.
“Worldbuilding” is much less complex
Your story has to do much less heavy lifting when it comes to convincing the reader that the world of the story makes sense. We already live in that world; we know what a cellphone is without explanation, just like we know about cancer, taxes, and movie theaters.
With all that space saved from having to establish the premise, there’s much more room to flesh out and explore the internal worlds of the characters.
If you have a pressing need to talk about a certain relationship dynamic, or a type of person, or explore how you might feel in an entirely different body with real-world problems, there’s no need to create another realm. The real world offers plenty of beauty and the beauty you can add to it is the rich characters you create on the page.
There’s a lot of magic in the real world, and realistic fiction can be a great way to remind us of that. Think about great stories like To Kill a Mockingbird, The Fault in Our Stars, The Great Gatsby, Pride and Prejudice, and East of Eden, to name a few.
Some of these examples can also be called historical fiction, which adds another dimension to this conversation. I’ll get into that more below. Both historical fiction and well-researched modern fiction can teach your reader something new about the world. Incredible things have happened before and incredible things continue to happen; there’s room for countless stories in realistic fiction.
Your story weapon: Keep it simple
My guess is that you likely already have a story idea or premise that you want to explore. It could be quite nascent, perhaps even just an image or an experience that has its hooks in you.
The important thing to remember is that realistic fiction is rarely about constructing a complicated plot, but rather, it is about exploring complex characters. The tendency for novice writers in realistic fiction is to manufacture elaborate plots and create unnecessary characters in an attempt to generate drama. All this does is keep your reader at a distance from what you are attempting to express, which is the character’s inner lives.
The key is to keep your story as simple as possible by trusting that the narrative fireworks are all internal. A glance. A quiet betrayal. The decision to move a parent into assisted living. Am I doing the right thing? Am I a terrible person? These can point to the engine driving your narrative.
Remember also, that your characters are functions of your dramatic question. This means that they each exist as a means of exploring what you’re trying to express. Therefore, be miserly with your characters. Don’t invent a new character to create some side drama until you have investigated the possibility that you could give that essential drama to an existing character. You will often discover that when you do this, you will be led to a more surprising and dynamic version of your realistic fiction story.
Realistic fiction asks for a deep attentiveness to human experience in your writing — a skill that can be strengthened through deliberate practice and thoughtful feedback. Bring greater depth to your story in one of my next workshops: The 90-Day Novel, The 90-Day Memoir, Story Day.
