“If you’re not interested in the gritty realism of a story in which your favorite characters could die horribly at any time, it’s because you’re a naive comfort-reader who can’t handle hard-hitting fiction.”
No, friend. I just prefer to read stories featuring characters I find interesting, and if they drop out of the narrative, I no longer find the story compelling.
“The real world features graphic sex and senseless violence! If you can’t handle merciless realism in a piece of writing, you’re kind of a delicate snowflake.”
The real world also contains yeast infections, bowel movements, jury duty, and standstill traffic. A narrative dense with attention to these things is going to lose my interest very quickly. “Realism” is seldom a selling point in fiction.
“If the real world were a book, it would never find a publisher. Over-long, detailed to the point of distraction - and ultimately without a major resolution.”
~ Something Rotten, Jasper Fforde
