How much of your book should reflect reality and how much of it should take your reader away from the pressures and stresses of life? This has not been an easy question for me to find the answers to since I started my novel…

I’m a logical realist, but in contrast, I also like to get lost in the world of Harry Potter, and I don’t question how the magic of the Wizarding World could happen, because it is not intended to be representative of anything real.  As I write my novel, I find myself trying to achieve something that is somewhere in between the two. My book is not set in a fantasy world with places like Hogwarts and The Leaky Cauldron, but it is also not intended to be entirely representative of the real world and all the hardships that we face, as this would produce a pretty tedious, boring, bland, dull, I could go on, but you get the gist – a lacklustre read at best. 

My book needs to be relatable for my readers – even the world of Harry Potter has glimmers of reality, with the portrayal of social injustice, corruption, and the complexities of human relationships, which illustrates the importance of striking a balance. But I am also aware that people read fiction to get away from real life, to spend a short while in a make-believe place. It’s an escape for many. 

My novel is a cosy mystery, this genre is meant to take the reader into a charming and welcoming place, often a small town, where people feel safe enough to leave their doors unlocked at night. In reality, not many of us live in a such a desirable location. Readers who choose a cosy mystery want to become immersed, surrounding themselves with the friendly and gracious characters, a few quirky or bizarre ones thrown in, and an enviable sense of community that this fictional town can offer. 

My plotline is a task I am still grappling with and…my gosh, it’s harder than I was prepared for. The main obstacle is the realist in me, which is fighting against my imagination. I have an idea but when I start to think it through, I find myself saying ‘no that would never happen’ or ‘that wouldn’t be possible because….’ It’s easy to get stuck there, which can be quite de-motivating. I’m learning to reassure myself that it is okay if I veer away from logic and common sense, and am learning to be a less rigid thinker. 

I know that someone is going to be murdered in my novel and my main character will start investigating (in an unofficial capacity). But setting up the murder…how!!?? To illustrate how this pans out in my head, here are a few examples where I have come up with a murder concept and then challenged this with my need for realism, and then ideas on how to overcome the obstacle by changing the way I think: 

• Could the victim be attacked walking home from the bar one night? I start to wonder, wouldn’t the town have CCTV, in which case the murderer would surely be caught on camera?How to overcome? Maybe the town in my book doesn’t have a lot of CCTV – I try to rationalise – it’s a small town so maybe they don’t worry about security, but then I remind myself, no need to do this, just move forward with the notion that they don’t have a lot of CCTV. 
• Could the victim be poisoned via a gifted bottle of wine, maybe from a secret admirer? But I start questioning how the perpetrator could tamper with a bottle of wine without making it obvious they’d opened it before gifting it? Wouldn’t the lid be loose? Wouldn’t my victim suspect something was wrong?  How to overcome? Maybe the victim just didn’t notice the lid wasn’t as tight as usual when opening, or maybe it was a bottle of homemade wine or some other delightful beverage.
• The poison idea is one I am exploring a bit more, so I consider, what if the victim gets poisoned whilst out somewhere in the town, perhaps at a wine tasing event in the local winery – but I again start pondering – how could the perpetrator get away with that if out in a public place? Wouldn’t someone notice? And wouldn’t this make the perpetrator pool quite small?  How to overcome? Maybe nobody noticed…simple as that. Or maybe it was a very busy event with a lot of people present. 

I should mention that I need to establish a great mystery around the victim’s murder, the police and town need to be somewhat flummoxed, otherwise there would be no reason for my main character to take on investigatory activities. 

Thinking about such a morbid topic does not come easy for me, but the crime itself is honestly such a small component of the story, it is merely setting up the rest of the book. I have to come up with a murder that is not too dark or gory, whilst still being a serious crime that needs solving. Fortunately, I don’t know any experienced murderers to consult with, but jokes aside, even googling on this topic feels a bit uncomfortable. Typing into Google ‘Ways to poison someone’ or ‘How would someone purchase rat poison’ feels pretty wrong and I do not welcome any constructive feedback on this topic, that would take this blog down quite a dark turn wouldn’t it! But such questions do demonstrate my draw to ensuring the plotline is realistic. 

Finding this balance between reality and fantasy is all part of my journey through the early burrows of the writing rabbit hole, and one I suspect I will battle with, all the way to the end! My novel will be woven with frequent glimmers of reality, reminding the reader that my characters do live in a similar world to them, but one where life is a little bit sweeter, and drizzled in honey!