Certainly mundane tasks such as doing the laundry, going to the bank, or tending a garden are too boring to include in a high-fantasy of epic proportions. Or are they?
I think sometimes the little realistic things are easily left out of fantasy. Perhaps because they are considered boring, and the writer thinks a reader doesn't want to hear about fantastical hero cleaning his room. But at some point, leaving this stuff out becomes unrealistic.
It is hardly common to read about fantastical hero taking a shower after his seven day journey on horseback, or about fantastical heroine washing and mending her only set of clothing after a particularly gruesome battle.
Maybe these things are a bit boring, but they add a bit of needed realism to any fantasy story. What are your opinions on mundane activities in fantasy? Should they be included, or should they be shoved aside to let fantastical hero put his sword through more baddies?
Is Washing the Dishes Fantastical?
9 posts in this topic.
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I think that they could definitely be mentioned! If you want to try and create a realistic setting that the reader can put themselves into, we should know the details of their life. I say it'll be okay as long as you don't concentrate on it too much, or incorporate into the plot. For instance, maybe the MC's mother is washing dishes during exposition time.
Does this help? -
Whenever I include mundane every day activities I am usually picked at. Hehe, it's not easy making simple chores interesting to the reader.
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Yeah, I try to keep in the simple things for realism but it's easy to go overboard on them. And they are hard to make interesting for the reader.
Anyone have any tips on making things like chores interesting for the reader? Or any other items related to the topic to discuss? Discussion is fun *nods*
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I have experimented with witty metaphors to mixed effects.
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Is there a major plot point in washing the dishes or is it just to make it realistic? One can go overboard with show-don't-tell and show those sorts of things. Telling can be good to let the reader know those things are happening without boring them with mundane details. Just say "after doing the dishes, Joe Blogs..."
Stories do need slow points and fast points, but there are much more interesting ways you can have slow points than washing dishes, for example a deep conversation. Of course that could happen whilst they're doing the dishes.
Is realism so important anyway? Imagine if I tried to show: "I got up, went to the toilet, had breakfast, brushed my teeth, went to the gym, had a shower, had morning tea, wrote, had lunch, wrote, went for a walk, picked up my sis and bro from the bus stop, had afternoon tea, read a book, cooked dinner, ate dinner, went onto YWS, listened to my iPod, brushed my teeth, went to bed."
Realistic sure, but would you really want me to go into details and do a whole scene on one of those, or several of them? I can assure you nothing worthy of prose happened. Or would you rather I just list them like that so you can get on to tommorow when I have a car crash (I hope that one doesn't actually happen)?
Mundane things can be a backdrop to something else that's happening, but they can't support a scene by themselves. No conflict. -
I love these sorts of little things in fantasy novels. The mundane can be wonderful too! I think the main thing about it, though, is that oftentimes fantasy novels can already be pushing the word count, so why spend more words about the mundane?
Though I do love it... -
Snoink wrote:oftentimes fantasy novels can already be pushing the word count
Tell me about it.
Honestly though, I think these things can be good, but if you're going to have someone doing the dishes, why not have them talking to someone or thinking at the same time. Anything that will put a bit of tension in there.
At the same time, if you're going to have people conversing, why not have them doing a mundane task at the same time. People usually don't just talk unless it's a serious, important talk. A background mundane task will add that touch of realism. I just don't think they should be the main topic of a scene. Then again, you could portray it as a mortal conflict between the character and the caked on dirt, as a metaphor reflecting a larger plot to do with cleansing oneself of past sins perhaps. -
Of course there's a need for balance with the mundane and the actual story. Because, no, nobody is going to want to read ten pages of the main character doing their chores if they have nothing to do with the plot.
But I'm with Snoink. I love seeing things like that in fantasy stories. They just need to be worked into the story in a way that is important to the plot. They could be talking to someone, thinking, or it could even be a metaphor as Hippie said. Mundane tasks could be used as great plot points. I wish more people tried to work with them.
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