Fiction has to make sense. Real life doesn't.
Fiction has to make sense. Real life doesn't.
Hello, and welcome to Nadi Abdi’s blog on Writing, Reading, and Politics. I’m your hostess, Nadi Abdi, author of Power of the People: The Demon Cleaner book one.
Today, we're discussing this quote, “Fiction has to make sense. Real life doesn't.”
Someone commented that in a thread and it blew my mind. I haven't been the same since. Somehow it hit me harder than the old adage "stranger than fiction.” I feel like I suddenly felt all the plot holes in real life, things that happen scenarios people either find themselves in or put themselves in that, if in a movie or novel, the writer would get dragged for being too unrealistic. Meanwhile, it was ripped from the headlines.
Horrible neighbors who commit acts of violence and harassment that are absolutely illegal, but when taken to court, the judge says, “There's nothing to see here.” A superintendent's child bullying another child to death with no legal recourse. The Nex Benedict case is absolutely something that should never happen in real life. After they were injured due to bullying, the school planned to suspend them instead of the students who injured them. Sounds like some extreme fictional drama. And yet…
These stories sound made up if you miss them in the news.
As someone who keeps up with various events and follows a lot of activists, the headlines I've seen have blown the best parts of my mind. I could post anecdotes from myself, friends, and family. You could, too.
Real life is a mess.
It's a whole ass disaster movie, nonstop. Nothing does what it's supposed to do. Nothing fits where it's supposed to go. That's about the only thing that's predictable.
I saw a video recently a husband posted (I'm guessing it was him. Could've been either.) of his wife rolling down the side of a mountain. Literally rolling. Bouncing around. Limbs flying everywhere. The comments were accusing him of complacency because he wasn't doing. We have this idea, largely brought on by books, movies, and other media, that there's something he could do. Grab her arm, leg, something. But, no. Unfortunately, no.
Anything he would've tried would've ended with both being hurt and no one knowing where they were. That's reality. A mess.
I feel like we (I'm definitely including myself) think we live in a world that makes more sense than it does. I think the saying, “ignorance is bliss,” really speaks to this because when you look at what's really going on, at how people really function, the glitches that really happen, it shatters all bliss.
As a fiction writer, I try to write the truth of the world I'm working in with as few glitches as possible. Obvious issue aside, the fact is people don't behave in rational ways. Hell, even physics doesn't always behave rationally. The falls and accidents people have survived is nothing short of real life plot holes.
Vesna Volovic survived a 33,000-foot fall from a plane. A man was shot, stabbed, and pushed off a cliff and still lived to testify against his attackers. But if I put this in a story, I gotta hear about plot armor for the rest of my life.
I guess what struck me was, as a fiction writer, as a crafter of made-up worlds and scenarios, I have to be more perfect, well planned, and thought out than reality. Reality can be out here, throwing spaghetti around all willy-nilly, but when I try it, I'm unrealistic. I think that bothers me on some level. Why do I have to follow the rules of life when life itself doesn't? Why do my characters have to be smarter, run faster, and jump higher when we know good and well they'd be caught from talking too much. (We've all seen First 48.)
A man in his 40s launched a 15-hour standoff with police starting at 4am on a random Saturday around the corner from my house. Now, I know what you're thinking. What 40yo is up at 4am? That man and for reasons known only to him. Well, and the police. This was weeks ago. Imagine being 40 and waking up at 4am for no reason. Shit sounds like a hate crime.
Things going the way they should is the most fictional part of fiction. Our source material is trash.
That’s it for today. Thanks for reading. Come back next week. We’ll discuss more about writing, reading, publishing, and everything in between. I’m Nadi Abdi. See you then.
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The Demon Cleaner: Blog, Substack
I vaguely remember a movie about John Dillinger who held up a bunch of people at gunpoint but it was a fake gun made from soap or something. The movie reviews included how unrealistic it was that he could fool 3 people with this. The movies response was that they toned it down because in real life he fooled like 20 people.
I am sure I got that story entirely wrong but the sentiment is the same! I know after 2020 I apologized to many books and movies where I said "surely that wouldn't happen"