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1. Get Real, or Not

2. "Do We Expect Too Much Realism in Our Stories?"

3. Janice Hardy

4. As a whole, the purpose of the article is to convince the reader that literature does not have to be realistic in order to be good. In “Do we expect too much realism in our stories?” Janice Hardy argues that, although one should expect “the basic plausibility every story needs,” (para. 2) that the “desire for realism” (para. 2) is not always applicable, especially if the book is fantasy, science fiction, horror, or any other speculative genre. In those cases, suspension of disbelief should be easier to achieve as the genre is not designed to mimic how things would occur in the readers’ lives. Specifically, she mentions “Divergent”, a dystopia novel, as an example of a work criticized for having an unrealistic setting. In defense of novels with impossible aspects, she points out that it is not “supposed to be real life” (para. 4). Rather, the books ask “what would happen under these circumstances?” (para. 4), making the probability of it less important, or at least, what’s on the surface of it is not as significant; Hardy does not go into detail about internal consistency or elements of truth in fiction. Some people might not like a book that is fantastical or imaginative, but for the author, not having to worry about reality’s rules allows for “an experiment” (para. 5) to be tested within the story world. This sort of approach focuses more on human nature and character reactions than the scientific logic of the situation. By not allowing some unlikely plot points, writers and readers may miss out. The author of the article finishes by discussing trends in reading, how people like to read a “what-if type story” (para. 9), but still complain about its lack of believability.

Hardy, Janice. “Do We Expect Too Much Realism in Our Stories?” Janice Hardy’s Fiction University. 12 April 2013. Web. 24 May 2014. .