Can contemporary, realistic fiction mix with fantasy? The quick answer is: Of course! But the more difficult question may be: How?
How does one create a balance between realistic cities and settings verses making up a new and interesting world? Between believable and likeable characters verses amazing, heroic personas?
Are these elements mutually exclusive?
These questions have been on my mind a lot now that I’m deep into writing a spy thriller, set in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. and in Belgrade in the 1990s. The plot follows the run-up to the 1999 Nato bombing, but I take fictional liberties to help explain why I think Serbia got attacked. And, I’m considering infusing my novel with a healthy dose of fantasy.
I’ve started by asking two intelligent writers their thoughts; one is a memoirist, the other a novelist.
Honesty and Truth in Memoir
When I wrote about a bipolar delusion in which the main character believed that she was a bionic spy for the Illuminati who had inadvertently perpetrated 9/11, it was a memoir, called Adopted Reality.*
The most frequently asked question is: Is it really true?
I asked memoirist Kathy Pooler to give some insight. I asked, Was it inappropriate for me to try to pass off my delusions as true, within the memoir genre? Here’s an excerpt from her response:
I have worked in psychiatric units as a nurse, so I fully understand how real the events were to you from your psychotic break. The intensity and drama pulled me in and gave me a sense of the terror you must have felt. Having been drawn into your experience also made me appreciate and admire how hard you had to work to recover. Therefore, I was able to celebrate in your recovery and gain a fuller understanding of the impact your illness had not only on you but on your family.
Like I said in my review, your memoir read like a psychological thriller.
Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.
Four Ways Authors Can Integrate Fantasy
Kathy’s responses make me think there are a couple options (actually I’m sure there are plenty more, but this is just a blog post, not a book!) for getting the reader to “go with it.”
1. Show You're “In On It”
Writers can let the reader know they, too, are “in on it,” which was what I tried to do when describing the delusion.
Without breaking out of the bipolar experience that the main character was entering, I subtly hinted that I the writer knew that all of this was crazy talk. (Perhaps I didn’t do this enough, hence the “But is it really true?” question.)
2. Be Convincing
A writer can help his audience “suspend disbelief” by going into the fantasy entirely. Everything is seen through the non-real lens, so the reader trusts the writer to stay-with-it.
Stephanie Meyer spends pages and pages in the Twilight series justifying how it is that vampires and wolf shape-shifters can exist in the “real world,” attempting to convince readers to go along with her on the journey.
3. Use a Dreamscape
The writer creates an alternate reality or dreamscape (Alice in Wonderland), one that takes up the largest part of the book.
4. Infuse the Real World With Fantasy
The storyline is set in the real world, but infused with non-real aspects.
An existential fable with magical elements
For me, the fourth technique interests me the most. Who could the magical character be? What is her purpose? How will her powers further the theme and the storyline?
I chatted with writer, Corie Skolnick, author of ORFAN* about her use of magic in her novel about a young adoptee, Jimmy Deane, who remarkably starts a relationship with the long-dead film star, James Dean. I asked her why she incorporated this magical character into her novel.
I wrote the character Jimmy Deane as an allegorical lodestar for adult adoptees who have felt “alone” and misunderstood. I wanted to normalize a radical (“creative”) solution to extreme loss, (plus, in Jimmy’s case, abuse and more loss), and to delineate the difference between the adaptive and creative response, and a maladaptive and destructive one. I also wanted to empower the adoptee to make a conscious choice between these choices.
In other words, the magical James Deane character serves as a psychological delusion, an emotional outlet for the main character’s pain (Jimmy Deane), and he helps to further the plotline in a satisfying way for (this) reader.
All of this gives me much to consider when it comes to my own work-in-progress. How far will I take the fantasy?
What do you think? Is this okay? Have you considered incorporating fantasy elements into your realistic writing?
PRACTICE
In what ways have you, or do you plan to, incorporate magic, or fantasy elements into your fiction? If you write strictly in the paranormal or fantasy genre, what advice can you give to writers who want to infuse their reality-based storyline with fantastical components?
Thanks everyone!
*By purchasing from this affiliate link, you do a little bit to help support The Write Practice. Thanks!
My story is set in Cuba, 1980, a true dystopia. My character loses his father to prison, gets word his older brother is dead and his remaining family are now persecuted by the local arm of the Cuban government. I use what appears to be the older brother’s return as a means to illustrate the processes of grief that this shift in circumstances causes. As Tomas works with his brother to solve a mystery, he also works through the steps necessary to discover the truth of loss he has tried to deny.
Magical realism works for me here…..
Tonii,
Ah ha, yes, I see. What a great way to use magical realism–not only for Tomas to process his grief like you say, but to uncover secrets. I love that this “paranormal” element is an integral part of the story-telling.
Laura
i’m into book II in my fantasy that is underwater, yet it deals with real environmental issues while wrapped in a romance. The tiger shark shifters have to keep the corals alive by finding their lifemates and I try to incorporate what’s happening in the environment at the time. Book II delves into the rash of shark finning in japan and the tsunamis effect on their lives beneath the ocean. It gets a bit trrickl placing humans and shifters in the same story and making the world around them work.
But I love it
Cora Blu
Creative!
Very cool Cora! I’ve worked in environmental/sustainability issues since 1999 and it always warms my heart to hear about other writers weaving environmental issues into their work. I get especially riled up about shark finning, which is one of the worst atrocities mankind is still committing to this day against other living species. In fact just today I reminded a friend going to the Chinatown parade in San Francisco not to eat the shark fin soup.
What’s the name of your book?
Cora,
Thanks for sharing the premise of your Book II–I love the idea of using fantasy to highlight real world issues. And, I can totally relate to that trickiness–like for me, I’m constantly wondering if I bit off more than I can chew with the story that I’m trying to tell. Best of luck to you!
Laura
Great topic and very interesting author. Thanks! My middle grade novel starts out totally realistic in Cambridge, MA and then Amina (the protagonist) eats a magic olive and is transported to the life she would have had if her parents had never left Palestine to live in the US. The story in Palestine is also realistic and without any magic. I think it works, and Amina’s decision about how to use the magic to be here or there symbolizes her bicultural identity struggle, which, of course, she wins!
That sounds like an amazing story! I’ve read stories that use the tiniest bit of magic in order to allow characters to do things and/or realize things they never would have before, and I’ve always been impressed with how well that bit of magic fits in with the rest of the otherwise realistic setting and events.
Giulia,
I love this idea of “the tiniest bit of magic” — but with an express purpose that just makes the story “work.” And, if done correctly, then yes, the reader just goes with it …
Laura
Yes, I’ve read several books where it works. And then I’ve read some paranormal series where after a the few half dozen books in the series, the author starts using too much of the magic and it almost becomes impossible to suspend belief. Sometimes less is more 🙂
Nora,
I love this “device” that you’ve chosen–that What If question is such a prevalent one for so many of us, and I think yours works on a personal and political level–it helps young readers see what their lives might have been like if they hadn’t gron up in the U.S. Very cool!
Laura
This topic is fascinating. I’ve always enjoyed novels that blend reality with fantasy. YA is rich with this–vampires and werewolves stalk among us and so do fairies, mermaids, fallen angels and goodness knows what else these authors will dream up. And I’ve eaten up every word of it since I was twelve. I’m currently writing a realistic fiction piece, but the paranormal is the genre I’ve secretly longed to write about since seventh grade. Thanks for the post!
Guilia,
That is so interesting that you love to read fantasy, but are writing realistic fiction. So, yes! You should definitely take a stab at paranormal!!
Laura
I intend to. If I ever finish the realistic piece LOL
As a kid growing up, fantasy and science fiction were all I ever touched. To me,
“average” day life was just too boring. I wanted wands and fairies and space craft and aliens. I wanted things that lit up my little world. Funny thing, as I grow up, I realize that hasn’t changed. Now that I am pursuing writing, I’m learning how to write those fantastic worlds myself. I think about it from the point of view as a child. What would really get me going? What kind of story and characters would make me hold on to that book for dear life? As an adult, I also like to question everything. For example, our scientists are always ready to tell us what we can or cannot do. I look at their “declarations” and ask, is that so? Then I let my imagination run wild. What if we can do what they say we can’t? What kind of world would that be? The little kid in me says it would be a very fun world.
I’m working on a world set into the future involving a secret military composed of human beings who have supernatural abilities. They can manipulate anything that is material and even create things out of nothing. The laws that they operate by are not recognized in normal human civilizations. In this universe, there is a group of people, a business conglomeration, who desires to exploit these human beings. Among the strange group is a human being who is far stronger than any of the others. His simple desire isn’t power or fame, but the ability to live like a human being. He is spending his entire life trying to defeat the conglomeration that is trying to exploit them. He doesn’t see monsters or business ventures, he sees men, women and children. As noble as his campaign is, he faces more adversity than anyone else and comes closer to death than anyone else. In this world, human beings are interested in those who are “not human”, while those considered “not human” are interested in being human.
To me, fantasy and science fiction is always funner. I really enjoyed the point made in the above article about how truth can be stranger than fiction. Believe it or not, the reason I got into science fiction and fantasy as a child, and continue to as an adult, is because every now and then, I see things in life that make me realize that there’s more out there than meets the eye. It’s my desire when elaborating on the craziest ideas that I can perhaps seed a kernel in everyone’s mind, a kernel that will slowly sprout and grow, creating a mind more open to greater possibilities and truths that are normally hidden from us in every day life. Possibilities that are a part of everyday life, even if hidden. After all, we can’t see something if we’re not looking for it.
Wow your story sounds epic! When I was younger I always wanted fantasy and science fiction too. Actually, I could not even bear to read anything set in the past or the present because it was too familiar and known for me!
Rachel,
I love this outlook on life. It is so true, there’s so much more to our “existence,” so much more that we don’t understand. What a great method for getting deep into your creativity–by touching on what would have excited you as a child. Very cool.
Thanks for sharing your work-in-progress, too!
Laura
I’m with you, Rachel. If I wanted reality, I’d step outside.
I’m re-reading “Les Miserables” right now, and noticing the minute details and striking realism of Hugo’s work. He was writing about fictional people and places, but put in so much that was real, it drags you right in and makes you believe him.
My novel-in-progress is set in a fantasy world, but I need to work on putting in more real-life experiences, bringing the unreal into the realm of true life.
Abigail,
I can see what you mean … yes, including some of those gritty, real life experiences, even in the fantasy world, can help the reader connect and truly relate to even a fantasy/pretend character. I agree!
Laura
I always struggle with the balance between too much realism and too much magic for fear that I will lose readers who crave the other. I really like the ‘Writer is in on it’ approach, like letting an internal monologue of an unstable character run free because it shows that fantasy that we have all seen in real life. I am thinking of our imaginations when we are young or our fears of the dark, all the irrational yet very present things we feel. The best place I’ve seen it done is in The Yellow Wallpaper where the character details her hallucinations which even though the reader knows they are not real, they are still chilling because we can all relate.
Carmen,
Yes, those hallucinations can definitely reveal the innermost fears and desires, something we all can relate to. I just keep on thinking of how amazing the human mind can be–the lengths it goes to help the body “deal with” and understand the real world. … And of course, you have the existential questions of, What is reality? … Which takes these issues to a whole other level!
Laura
Good topic. In my memoir I have a scene where my father sexually abuses me, I go off in my mind to an imaginary mother and father who speak with me and calm me down. I lived in that fantasy world during the many years of abuse I received. Later I will find that coping method was a gift from God that kept my sanity until I could finally find the place to heal.
(((((Heather)))))
I am so sorry that this happened to you.
From a coping standpoint, isn’t it amazing the ‘creative responses’ we can have to trauma and abuse? How fragile and yet resilient the human mind is?
I’m so glad that you’ve been able to heal, and am looking forward to your memoir…
Laura
I was just working on a project where we were talking about how many liberties to take in writing. Really enjoyed your views on it.
Erica,
Thanks for commenting–Yes! I’d love to learn more about your particular “brand” of liberties …
Laura
My novel takes place on a world with many advanced qualities such as cities and technology but in a universe I created with various dimensions, time qualities relative to these dimensions, solar systems, magical and non-magical races, gods and goddesses which interact with the mortals on a regular basis. I go to great lengths to describe how the technology works and how it exists in tandem with deities as I felt it relevant seeing as how this world is not Earth so it would not have the same technologies as Earth. I also give a creation story on the specific world and the supernatural things associated with it. I try to explain on a logical, rational level how things work in this world and why. There is a media element such as television and news services and I explain how they work as it differs from Earth technology which uses satellites. The overall theme is good vs evil and magical races vs mortal races without supernatural powers. A more subtle theme concerns the industrialization of the world and its effect on nature and those magical races inhabiting the world. This is a world in the middle of a great change with the fate of the two main characters determining which way things will go.
This sounds utterly fascinating, especially the notion of a creation story. So interesting. When you have such a grand landscape for your story-making, so many themes emerge–lessons which totally relate to the “real world,” today.
Thanks for sharing,
Laura
I think it’s important to differentiate between Magical Realism–in which the fantastic elements exist as part of the world in which the character lives (such as Harry Potter or Twilight) and Psychological Fiction–in which the character is out of touch with reality and the fantastic elements are imagined (such as parts of The Bone Collector or Red Dragon.)
When writing a “real world” character who is suddenly confronted with the fantastic, the reader is going to want to know if what is happening is “real” or just in the character’s head, because that will determine what the rules of the story are.
As readers we tend to make assumptions based on things such as how a book is presented (if it’s billed as a Horror novel and the main character sees a ghost, we tend to assume that the ghost is “really” there–if it’s marketed as a Police Procedural, we assume the character is dreaming.)
In general, I think that an author should be clear on the metaphysics of the fictional world from the onset–changing the rules of the game in the middle of a novel tends to kill willing suspension of disbelief. If I start a novel expecting a straight detective story and the author brings in a vampire at the end to explain how the victim was killed in a locked room, I’m going to feel cheated.
There are exceptions. In Samuel Delany’s “Dhalgren”, for example, the ambiguity of the character’s relationship with reality is one of the major themes of the story–we don’t know how much is real and how much is hallucination. Phillip K. Dick virtually made a career out of exploiting that ambiguity in stories like “Time Out Of Joint” and “A Maze Of Death”.
Be advised, that’s a very fine line to walk, and in my opinion it’s much better to let the reader know “this is a fantasy novel” or “this is about a character who is out of touch with reality” from the first page.
In my own work, the fantastic elements are simply part of the reality in which my characters live, and my narrator just accepts them as real without trying to convince the reader. My work has alien intelligences and human/plant hybrids and living metal centipedes, just as my work has cars and houses and ordinary human beings, and they are all equally “real”.
Misha,
You make an excellent point about genre, which provides the reader with some context as to what to expect when it comes to the metaphysics of the story.
Yes, I agree–making sure one’s reader is properly informed is important. However, I do love books and movies that keep me guessing the whole time–like is this happening in her head? Or is it real? What is reality?
Thanks for commenting!
Laura
In general I concur. When I reviewed Bryan Allain’s Actually, Clams are Miserable for Story Cartel, like many others I expected something along the lines of the Imponderables series, where humor would be used to educate. When I found no education in there, the humor was lost on me.On the other hand, a sudden turn of events in the middle of a story can work rather well, if it’s adequately foreshadowed. Finding the right genre for a story can help, but I can also see a good reason for defying genre, or mixing two genres so well that specifying either one would mislead.
I’m sorry. I’m sure your book is very entertaining, However (from the e-mail I received) I really hope you’re not blaming 9/11 on someone with bi-polar. That’s where I draw a line. Everyone wants to blame a mentally ill person. It’s easy. But don’t do it, it’s cheep and untrue. Really, untrue.
Melissa,
Oh no! That’s a complete misunderstanding! I was relating a summary of my memoir–it’s actually backwards. After the death of my uncle in the North Tower, I entered a bipolar delusion in which I *believed* I was responsible for 9/11. It was the mind’s coping mechanism for processing an emotional overload as a result of too many life changes in too short a period.
The post above was discussing how I described the delusion while letting the reader know that I was “in on it,” as in, the writing gave hints that this was a delusion, not reality.
I hope this clarifies things!
Laura
In other words, when asked if the story is true or not, the answer is “both.” The events were real to you at the time, but not to anyone else. What you described really happened, in that your delusion was an actual delusion, but it does not represent what actually happened. … Unless you’re a friend of Walter from Fringe or something. 🙂
Very hard to define “true” in this context, isn’t it?
Joe, yes, I agree–it is very difficult to define “true.” My delusions, as I understood them at the time–where 100% true, but were they true for everyone else? Um, not so much. Although, there was a man … who did say he was a member of the Illuminati … It was definitely a confusing time.
Thanks for commenting!
Laura
I am trying to blend a fantasy framework into a memoir. The first read of the first draft of the first chapter of Looking For Mr Rabbit http://youtu.be/XRBs4rkEZVo?a #book #LookingForMrRabbit #Memoir
I think this is a good post. To answer the question about what will I say to new writers that are tring to incorporate fantasy in the reality in the book the’re writing if I was a strict fantasy rule-making writer, I would say this: They need to make the rules of the realistic setting and make the rules in the fantasy that they want to write. And to fuze them or incorporate them, they need a small or mager detail, event or whatever to be able to incorporate it. The gravity of how they do it is up to them, but they all choose how the readers feel about it, and it can be a trump card or a big setback (or bad memory to the reader). All in that sense, they need enough tact and know-how to do it right. But writing fantasy is up to the guy or lady. Their understanding of it is essential and any gentleman or lady can be famous if they develop or gain imagination in the sense they will need.
I love that “magical realism” is a means for a book. I started one year ago, and had no idea if I should even continue. This is helping more than you will ever know! My writing has to do with someone (either me, a family member or friend) had at one time or another, seen certain musicians in concert at one time or another since the 60s until the present time. The magical end of it is that these “famous friends” come into our lives to have a chat about live, love or whatever we decide to talk about at their visit. Some of the conversations are comical, sad, loving, true, fiction and every individual “star” comes into play at their own time in the book and once we get comfortable with the realization that this person is in fact in our home, backyard, car, etc…they fade away. Too ridiculous???