Thursday, April 21, 2011

R is for Reality

There's no such thing. Isn't that funny? Seriously, we all live in our own realities and we think they are true, and you know what?  They are . . . for each individual.

In a court of law, a witness on the stand promises to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, but what happens is that person tells the truth according to them. It's not wrong. It's just reality. =)

For writers, this is a wonderful thing to play with. Our job is to draw people into our reality, cause them to laugh, cry and root for our hero. Great writers do this with ease.

The only advice I have is to be sure to make your reality an exciting place to be. There's nothing more boring than a boring reality, but then, that's just me.

19 comments:

Wendy@FabNouveau said...

Hi Melissa, please check out this post of mine on reality...I don't know if you may have come across it:
http://fabulositynouveau.blogspot.com/2011/04/i-is-for-imagination.html
In short I fully agree with you.

Old Kitty said...

I love living in other realities than my own!!! Now if only I'm capable of transcribing these on paper! Oh but I do try!! Take care
x

Chantele Sedgwick said...

I agree. I've read books that the new reality is just blah. It doesn't pull me in, and I don't really care to read about it.
I love interesting realities. Something new, but something I can relate with! :)

anthony stemke said...

Reality is powerful stuff, you got to handle it carefully. The truth is often an elusive thing. That's why fiction is popular. You can bring order to a story.
A lot of funny comedians are actually sad depressed people. Reality, be careful

Roland D. Yeomans said...

Philip K. Dick (we have BLADERUNNER, TOTAL RECALL, and THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU because of him) said reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.

Reality I find is stubborn like that, LOL. Roland

the writing pad said...

Reality ... umm ... think I've heard of it but try to avoid where possible (in fiction, as well as life!)
Good R post :-)

Unknown said...

Good R word. Boring realities are no fun at all.

Laura S. said...

That's why it's so fun being a writer. When our own reality is boring, we can delve into our stories and make up compelling new realities!

Melissa Ann Goodwin said...

Unreal! :-)

KM Nalle said...

Perception is reality is so true. Thanks for stopping by my blog the other day! Happy R day.

Liz P said...

I agree with you. It can be difficult to fathom, but there are infinite realities (or as you said, no true reality) simply because we are all unique, have different experiences, and see the world differently. Even something as simple as color can cause disagreement (I "knew" the shirt was purple, but she "knew" the shirt was blue).

Laura Eno said...

Definitely! There's no such thing as black and white.
Thanks for the follow and you have excellent tastes in background! ;)

Cat Lavoie said...

Great post! I love discovering and creating a character's reality. Thanks for the follow! :) Have an awesome weekend!

Samantha Vérant said...

Ha! Welcome to my reality--where crazy rules!

Amy Wood said...

You make an excellent point. Nice choice for R. Thanks for stopping by my blog. Look forward to seeing what else you'll have up.
http://ifbloggingburnedcalories.blogspot.com

Blaze McRob said...

Samantha and I are in the same wonky reality. Ain't life grand!

Shannon Lawrence said...

Ah, so true! I read a quote saying similar this week: "We don't live in a world of reality, we live in a world of perceptions." Gerald J. Simmons. It's certainly fun to play with perceptions!

Good luck with the rest of the A to Z Challenge!

Unknown said...

Playing with reality is a writer's greatest joy -- especially when we've crafted an unreliable narrator!

Have a wonderful holiday weekend!

junebug said...

Reality is an interesting concept. I often say, "In my world..." I fully grasp that two people can watch the same event and have two different truths about what happened.