May 23rd, 2010 at 12:03am
I think it depends on the degree of realism in the entire story. It should be even; for example, if the entire world is unlikely (made-up creatures, or the laws of physics can be defied) than battles could be as equally unlikely. Depending on what kinds of characters are in it as well, human or non-human, these can also contribute. But if the world in the story is quite similar to our own, than battles should reflect that.
Morally gray characters can be fun. :D Writing about their inner conflicts and eventual self-loathing. Ooooh, it's fun. ;] But of course it doesn't matter whether they are in a story or not. A story can be perfectly fine with pure evil and pure good. Lord of the Rings had it, as well as some morally gray characters as well.
You, my friend, are a rambler extraordinaire. I kept waiting to find out what was the ending point of this and what exactly it was that you wanted to discuss. It took a while, but I got there. We got there.
I think that if you're using things that are real in a fantasy (like certain weapons or locations) then, yeah, I think it's pretty important to make sure that those things are realistic - even though it's part of a fantasy novel. Similarly, if you're writing a fantasy but you're including things that aren't fantasy and you haven't consistently changed the rules of that world, it's important to make things realistic.
There's a certain level of "realistic" that needs to be in fantasy work, I think. Because even if you know it's not real, as a reader you still want to be able to kind of fall into the novel - and, as a writer, you have to make sure the work is written in such a way that your readers kind of forget that it's just fiction. Does that make any sense?
Something you said in here is something that I really really stand behind: It has to make sense and follow the rules of whatever world they’re writing about. I'm all for crazy and cooky things happening in fiction (especially in fantasy or sci-fi) but it has to make sense within the world you're creating - meaning that the rules of your story have to remain constant. So...agreed.
Morally "gray" characters - I think it depends on how it fits within the story. Since this journal is about realism, I guess I'll focus on that. I think that when people write villains with some tiny redeemable quality, they do that in hopes of making that villain relatable - because even if you want your character to be evil, you still want them to have "fans," right? Kind of like the whole Joker issue - Joker form the Batman comics. He's a pretty...unflinching character but even though he is one of the only truly, wholly evil characters, people still love him.
So, yeah, I think it's possible to create a character who is pure evil and still have that person be an...admirable character. But it's tough, so most people just cop-out and stuff in that one "good" think about the character. - which is what you're talking about right? Villains that are almost evil but there's moments when their humanity peeks through. I've seen a lot of good stories ruined that way, unfortunately. :( I don't mind villains that have their good moments, but I love villains that have no humanity left - those psychopath/sociopath villains that don't have a soft spot for anyone or anything. I find those kinds of characters to be the most frightening.