Get Real: Top Tips For Writing Realistic Fiction

Realistic fiction almost sounds like an oxymoron, but when you think deeper, you can certainly write fiction that sounds like it’s out of everyday life.

The best place to start writing realistic fiction is to draw from your own personal experiences, but there are plenty of other amazing tips that will help you write top realistic fiction, too.

If you’ve been considering writing contemporary realistic fiction books, here are some ways you can make your manuscript shine:

1. Draw From Your Own Personal Experience

One thing people don’t realise (or realise too well) about writers is that they are always drawing from their own personal experiences to create stunning fiction. This is even so when they are creating characters for, say, a sci-fi or historical fiction novel. 

But, for the sake of realistic fiction, it’s the ultimate way to start your manuscript. Why? Because it stems from a real life occurrence that may have changed who you are as a person. Everyone has a story to tell, and perhaps your realistic fiction stems from something that happened in your life?

This being said, you may know of a story that took place and want to fictionalise it - this is also fine, but you should always incorporate realistic elements and even those from your own life experiences into the characters.

2. Make the Characters Realistic 

A realistic novel doesn’t contain characters that are straight out of the Mad Max series: they are real people with everyday names like John or Jess or Michael. A realistic novel is built upon an extraordinary real-life situation that creates a fascinating narrative, but this doesn’t mean the characters themselves have to be all over the map (unless, of course, you can make them believable!).

3. Write Believable Dialogue and Make it Relatable 

The thing that makes realistic fiction so realistic is the fact that it’s always relatable. Even if a person from one side of the world is reading a story about someone from another, it’s the human elements that make their story so relatable.

What kind of everyday wins or losses make your novel characters so realistic or relatable? What is it about their situation that could make them resonate with someone who may not even know much about where your character is from or what their life situation is like?

Getting to your reader’s heart through human situations is one of the ultimate challenges and rewards of realistic fiction writing.

4. Incorporate Plot Twists and Make the Settings Real 

Realistic fiction needs to be based in the places you stemmed your story from. Sure, you may not want to use an actual place’s name so that you don’t cause great controversy, but what we mean is that you want your readers to feel like they are actually within the location you have chosen to set your story.

Describe the landscape, describe the architecture - tell it how it is even if you’re not using the places’ actual names.

5. Develop Your Characters: Your Story Doesn’t Need a Fairytale Ending 

Because life more often than not doesn’t contain a fairytale ending, does it? If something tragic happened at the end of a story you are drawing inspiration from - say it! 

This is often why writers have problems with realistic fiction: it can be too grim, too uncompromising and frankly too unrelenting, but it’s that kind of daily disappointment that makes it so relatable for so many people. 

In this sense, too, it can be very inspiring and worthwhile to read.