Realistic Fiction

While I never considered any piece/genre of literature to be easy to write, I certainly used to believe that some were much easier than others. In another way, I thought genres like fantasy, fiction, and realistic fiction were easier than nonfiction to write. My reasoning behind this idea was that authors did not have to do as much research and get all their facts correct. Authors (with realistic fiction, for example) could be more creative and just “make stuff up.” While realistic fiction is, yes, as the name would suggest, realistic, I find that naturally I write things that would happen in real life and so I found this genre less difficult.

The last article especially really opened my eyes to the fact that, no, realistic fiction and other genres can require just as much research and background information as nonfiction works. The author, Stacy DeKeyser, explains that “some stories’ facts are contained in small, telling details” and in order for a story to be considered realistic fiction, a lot of thought must be put in. For example, as she explains, if she wanted her character to take a trip on a train somewhere, she would have to come up with a cost (that would be based on fact and research) as well as the time length of the trip, the process, etc. These things, clearly, do require lots of information and work on the backend as they say. Authors that write realistic fiction do not get applauded nearly as often either for the work that they do that really helps make their stories come alive and captivate and engage readers. It really does take a lot of time, thought, energy, effort, etc. to create a sound and truly realistic realistic fiction story, for example.

I also really liked what Keyser stated in her piece when she said that students (along with their teachers) should try “flipping the author’s process.” In other words, instead of conducting research and then writing about what was researched, try taking a favorite part/aspect of literature (a novel, short story, children’s book, even a poem, etc.) and tracing back one or more of the facts explicitly or implicitly included in that text.

Another aspect of this piece (as it was my favorite out of the three for the realistic fiction module) that I found valuable was the backward approach (which I just briefly touched on). I think this is a fascinating way to approach stories and I would have never thought to do something like this. This can be used in the classrooms to branch out for whole other lessons. Books can serve as the anchor for other discussions, grand conversations, and effective and meaningful lesson plans. For example, when reading “Goodnight Moon,” the students could go into tracking the moon and its patterns/different phases and maybe even start a whole unit on the universe, planets, etc. In this way, books can be a great starting point for education.

Elements of realistic fiction (traditionally) include characters, setting, events, and time and I found this helpful in the readings because this could be used as a style of graphic organizer or basic layout for students to draw from when reading and writing. In other terms, they could use these basic key and important elements of realistic fiction to brainstorm to create their own stories and knowing these elements of a story they are reading will help them with organization of plot, storyline, etc.

All in all, I found the readings in this module very helpful (especially the reading by DeKeyser about the backward approach) and I can’t wait to start reading more of this genre. I never realized just how involved this genre was to write, how important it can be when used in lessons/lesson planning, and how enjoyable and relatable it can be for students. I have no doubt I will teach/incorporate this genre when I teach too and I simply cannot wait to start.