In this installment of Insights from Jacquie, I want to get real … about realism. 

Storytelling isn’t effective if your reader gets distracted, and unrealistic plots, places, faces, dialogue, costumes, snacks ¬— what have you — can take them right out of the story. 

They might then: (a) stop reading; (b) gleefully pick through the rest of the story to see if you boneheaded anything else; or (c) rant about it in a blog. Not what you had in mind. 

Though we’re talking about the written word, there is no better example to illustrate the point than a Hallmark movie, and you can apply it to your own fiction, even if it’s not a screenplay. (You can easily distract your reader in non-fiction, too, but we’ll save that for another entry.) 

‘Falling’ for Realism

I love Hallmark movies. Love them. I love the (lonnnnnng) “Countdown to Christmas” and “Finding Mr. Christmas” (poor man’s “The Bachelor”) and anything with the word “fall” in it, including titles like “Falling for Fall” or “Fall into Love.” 

But you gotta face facts — there are a lot of “things that make you go hmmm” in these movies. 

There’s one in particular that makes me actually yell at the TV set, especially when there’s someone watching with me, but also when I’m alone: It’s the fake snow. 

The fake snow is no longer painted-white Corn Flakes like in old movies — the kind that sticks to the actors’ hair and lashes or accumulates on the fur collar of their always-stylish wool coat. 

I actually think it’s light. Maybe you can tell me the actual mechanism — I don’t know. But it looks like the reflection from a disco ball, and it’s soooo not real, like, for sure no one’s going to have to shovel the drive. 

I want to see light snow, not a light show! And it’s distracting. 

No matter how much you’ll continue to watch “Falling for Vermont” or “Haul out the Holly” after one of these unrealistic scenes, you’ll find yourself paying more attention to the little (or big) misses than the story, and then we’re back to scenarios (a) – (c) above. 

Respect the reader (or viewer) enough to pay attention to these details. You’ve got a great story to tell, so let that story enthrall and delight! Keep on keeping it real!