How Close to Reality Should You Get in Fiction?

This author writes about real life, so I say it’s okay to make your situations real, and your characters act like genuine people. All right, so our characters have to be heroic, there are people in this world who are courageous when they are placed in certain positions.

Your neighbor could be a hero/heroine if he/she pulls you or a child from a burning house. What if he/she calls the police after seeing someone breaking into your house, and he/she thinks there’s a need to do more and they run to your house with a gun or a ball bat or something to help fight off the robbers. Is that a hero/heroine, or is that a stupid move on their part?

That depends entirely on the end results. Does the hero/heroine drive off the bad guys, or does he/she get shot trying to help. To get shot would be dumb and not very heroic, so in that case it would’ve been better to wait at the curb for the cops and still be a hero. If the character is able to drive off the invaders, he/she is a hero/heroine again. It all depends on how the person handles the circumstances.

Being a writer, I am going to make my characters a bit larger than life, so in this instance they will have the knowledge to handle a situation of this type. I may have it built into their background that they are able to act the way we want them to. Because of these skills there are people in the real world who are actually like these make-believe heroes.

To make a story that your readers won’t find fault with, your research into the skills you give your characters should be accurate and as realistic as you can make them. Then again, your character could just have the natural instincts to survive. In this case, you have to get into this person’s head and know what he’s thinking as he acts to make him real.

Thank you for reading my post, and I hope I was able to help other writers in some small way.

Best always,

Sandy