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Why does realism matter?

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Something annoying: The author of this io9 article about a panel discussion on fantasy highlights a Lev Grossman quote, then goes nowhere with it. Here’s the quote:

“Why does realism matter?”

Simple, isn’t it? and nice.

But it’s true. Why is realistic fiction useful? If I want to understand the horrors of war, the pain of divorce, the disappointment of seeing a business fail, I don’t need to read fiction. There’s non-fiction on that very subject. I could read the real thing not a fake version made up by someone.

So forget about justifying the utility of fantasy. How do people justify the utility of realism?

Let me answer my own question: Because it’s beautiful. Because it’s powerful and affecting and we love it.

And that’s no different from fantasy. We’re comparing best to best, right? We’re not comparing the best examples of one genre to the worst of the other, right?

The best fantasy is powerful, affecting, and beautiful. (Maybe that should be “and/or” because sometimes the powerful and affecting parts are not at all beautiful.) It’s not all that different from other kinds of fiction. Sure, it contains elements that the author made up, but all authors make things up. Novelists aren’t trying to write non-fiction, and I don’t see any reason to force fantasy to justify it’s utility in ways that other genres don’t have to.

“Why does realism matter?” Because we long for it, the same way we do for fantasy.

In unrelated news, I broke the 9K mark on my epic fantasy, and the world is still collapsing around my main characters. In fact, there’s more collapsing to go. Fun! But I’ve already started worrying about how long the book is going to go (which is dumb but I’m a worrier).

My #FridayReads is still The Name Of The Wind

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Jeez, that book is slow.

Yesterday I sent a short story for an anthology over to the editor. It’s a little long, but maybe it will work for them anyway. At the moment I can’t see what else to cut from it, but in about two weeks I’ll probably think it’s twice what it should be.

Anyway, the story is called “Don’t Chew Your Food” and as I mentioned before it’s set in the world of Don’t Rest Your Head an indie horror rpg by the folks at Evil Hat. If you play with character sheets and dice, you should check out their site. My story is about a celebrity chef and… well… eating. Can you tell I’m reducing, as they used to say?

I was also paid for a short story I wrote for a different anthology, although I’m not sure if it’s meant to be talked about in public. It’s a shared world anthology with a growing background, and my story is about a mage who specializes in love magic.

Fun! Short fiction, it was nice to hang with you for a while. Don’t be such a stranger, okay?

Today I’m walking across the bridge to work on the new newest book, an epic (hopefully) fantasy with the working title A Blessing of Monsters (aka “Fantasy with gate magic”).

No, it’s not a Twenty Palaces book, but I can’t sit around doing nothing until I hear the official word, right? Must work work work.

Anyway, I’m turning off the internet for a few hours so I can get a long walk in, plus writering. And today I’ll remember my house keys. Happy October.

Jumping ahead of the usual NaNoWriMo question

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I’m not doing it.

I never do it. Some people actually seem offended when I say that, but NaNoWriMo doesn’t make sense for me. The daily wordcount isn’t that high and it’s what I ought to be doing anyway, right? Every month, not just November.

This isn’t a condemnation of the event itself. If you want to register and write along with other people, I think that’s great. Have fun and remember that you should keep going once December arrives.

But for me, no.

Some stuff about today

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Went to the U-District early this morning (as my son reckons things, at least) to attend the live broadcast of local NPR-affiliate show “Weekday.” The first hour was an interview with actor and storyteller Stephen Tobolowski, of The Tobolowski Files. He talked a little about playing a pedophile principal on GLEE, being naked on CALIFORNICATION, and about his play “Two Idiots in Hollywood.” Great show.

The music was provided by “Awesome”. I suspect we’ll have one of their CDs on order by the time I return home, although their music wasn’t really to my tastes. Fun, but not for me.

After the show, my wife and son went home and I visited pals at their theater. They run Wing-It Productions, and if you’re in the Seattle area, you should go to one or two of their shows. They’re great.

Neither of my buddies could duck out for impromptu lunch, so I swung by Half-Price Books and picked up a bunch of old computer games I shouldn’t have bought, then ate lunch, then… Jesus, is it really so late?

I pretty much blew off the whole day, and I have NW Bookfest to attend tomorrow.

Crap. I’m supposed to be a writer, aren’t I? Writing things? Double crap.

Well, maybe I can accomplish something right now…

This is how today went:

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Me: “Hey, book.”

Book, still sprawled out all over my life like the non-rent-paying couch-surfer it is, looks up. “Hmm?”

Me: ::Punches book in the face so hard it flies through the window, over the city, and lands in an open grave. The impact is so powerful that the piles of dirt on either side collapse onto it, burying it completely.::

Me, an hour later: ::Saunters up to grave, a celebratory burger in one hand, a marble tombstone tucked under the other. Drops tombstone in place and takes out broken, petrified femur stolen from Dorothy L. Sayers’s coffin. Kneels down and carves “A KEY, AND EGG, AN UNFORTUNATE REMARK” at top of headstone with bronzed tip. Below that line, carves “Agent has called this one to judgement.”::

Me: ::Walks away, eating burger::

(Actually, I haven’t sent it to my agent yet. I have to prep a nice little thing to accompany it it first.)

Sorry I’ve been so quiet here

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I’ve been pushing to finish A Key, An Egg, An Unfortunate Remark and clocking some serious family time.

Plus, my brain has been incredibly boring lately.

Day camp for daddies

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Per my son’s long-standing request, he is in day camp this week. It’s spendy but not too too spendy, and his best buddy is there, so we’re letting him hang out all day with other kids.

Which means that this stay-at-home parent and writer has an opportunity for some extra work time.

It’s also an opportunity to follow interesting blog posts into the comments, or to open lots of interesting articles from links on Twitter, or visiting Facebook for some unknown reason, or reading webcomics, or… The list is nearly endless. Plus I have dinner to make, laundry to fold, and composting to do.

I’ve often said the Internet is a temporal gas: it expands to fill the free time you have. Therefore I’m turning off my internet and starting work (jeez, it’s already past 11 am! I meant to post this an hour ago.)

Going offline

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I have an avalanche of emails to go through and lots of online stuff to manage, but I’m going offline for most of today to do some writing. If I owe you an email or a twitter response, I’ll try to get to it later this afternoon.

Time to take some Tylenol and go.

Revisions today, along with a book

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I was working on A Key, An Egg, An Unfortunate Remark today, trying to make up for my low productivity yesterday (doctor’s office visit and unfamiliar neighborhood can complicate things). But what do I find when I show up at my local library?

My hold on A Dance With Dragons has come through and the book is right there on the shelf waiting for me. Do I stop revisions so I can start the new book?

What I figure is that I’ll end my work session a little early, as soon as I finish this chapter… no, I forgot I needed to add this character to this scene… hey, this is turning out pretty good, I should make a note to change that other chapter… and now I need to fix the thing with the safe… and why don’t I wrap this part up here.

In the end, I worked until well past my usual writing time, just because I was enjoying it. (The revision is 1/3rd done. I send it to my agent after that.) But! I get to walk home with the book and read it all the way, now that the sun has come out.

Only three weeks to read a thousand pages! I know I won’t be renewing this baby, so time to get cracking.

State of the books/trailer/shorts report

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Thanks to a comment I received yesterday, I realized that I’ve been putting people off for months now about the status of the books, the trailer, everything. And that’s not fair. So here is a quick rundown of where things stand on the projects I’ve been promising. And since this is long, I’m going to put in a Continue reading