Realistic Fiction
“I dream of an art so transparent that you can look
through and see the world.” - Stanley Kunitz
Realistic fiction. During the course of writing and, more importantly, rewriting a novel, the demands of realism will conflict with the demands of fiction. On the macro level of the novel we are committing an act of fabrication, and on the micro level we are concerned only that the elements of the story be palpable, convincing, “true.”
When I reread sections of a novel-in-progress, often what stops me is a sense of over-determination. The characters seem to be speaking and acting as if the whole story’s been revealed to them. If I want the reader to reach through the artifice and finger the world, then I have to remember that only the writer knows the entire story. Elemental, for sure, but the division of imaginative labor is subtle.
As the writer, the plot is my problem, and I can’t enlist characters to do the heavy lifting. My characters, if afforded their full portion of humanity and integrity, not only don’t have awareness of the overarching design of my novel, they couldn’t care less about it. They’re far too busy living their dramatic lives to be concerned with my book. They move through the present moment obsessed with the past and dreading the future – a future that is as unknown to them as mine is to me. Each character’s actions and inaction is being fueled by her own filled-to-the-brim, singular consciousness, with enough directives and self-defeating impulses to last well beyond her fictional lifetime.
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March 5, 2013 at 1:14 am
I like your story on humanity and integrity. I can improve my skills from this blog. You are doing good job for fresher.
February 4, 2013 at 7:28 am
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February 4, 2013 at 6:28 am
You story of your novel is based on humanity and integrity. I read this novel twice. You add wonderful character in this novel.
January 23, 2013 at 2:36 am
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January 21, 2013 at 1:03 am
Thanks for sharing this story. I was searching for a good article about this topic Fiction. Well, I guess I found it.
December 28, 2012 at 3:55 am
Writing realistic fiction is the goal of every fiction writer. Because experiencing realistic fiction is the desire of every reader.
December 27, 2012 at 5:59 am
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Rachel, your point is applicable to my work too, even though I’m working on a memoir. I am learning that I have to distance myself from my self – that my narrative voice is actually a “character,” separate from me. And since I am writing in the present tense, even when I’m 7 or 11 or 17, I need to make sure I am limiting that “voice of experience” so that the age of that “character” at that time is free to be what it is. At 7, I only know what I know at 7. As the writer, it’s up to me to connect the dots between the chapters…not up to my narrator.
January 29, 2010 at 4:07 pm