As an author, I’ve had editors challenge me on things I’ve written in my books. “That can’t happen.” Or “That’s not realistic” they will write.

Funny thing is that often I’ve watched movies or television programs and my husband and I will comment, “That’s not real life.” Or “It could never happen like that.” One movie I watched the main character had a physical brawl with people and then within a few hours was running around and saving the entire spaceship. Unrealistic but I thoroughly enjoyed it. The magic was that you forgot the short space of time in which all those things happened which would make it physically impossible for a human to do all he did.

I’m trained as a psychotherapist. When I’ve written scenes with a counselor I’ve had editors say, “No one would talk like that.” Um, well, I would and there are not specific rules on just how a therapist or patient interact. The therapist listens and offers challenge, encouragement, and possibly resources or information to help the patient. Mostly the individual needs to heard and understood. They are often chagrined when I inform them that of my Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology.

The reality is that if I were to give a character all the things that happened to me in quick succession, the reader wouldn’t buy it. Life is truly stranger than fiction. And stories that move too quickly with too many crisis moments in them exhaust the reader.

Imagine how that feels to live it though. Reality is many of us go through moments in life when we are being hit from every side and it can feel so overwhelming. Sometimes reading a character going through difficulties and emerging triumphant in the end can be the boost we need to persevere through our own real-life struggles. That’s why fiction can be such a powerful escape, and coping mechanism. And really good fiction might even show us a little about ourselves we didn’t realize before and help us face our challenges differently.

I’ve been hit with many minor crisis’ recently and they’ve threatened to throw me off my game. A good book can provide respite from that maybe while I’m riding my exercise bike to relieve stress and get healthier. Nothing wrong with reading a wonderful story while I do that.

The reality of fiction is that we all tend to enjoy it—for my husband and I watching old television series and finding things that wouldn’t truly be legal, like breaking and entering a home to gather evidence of a crime, we can still enjoy the escape and it becomes fun to find the flaws. I hope that when you read a great book you don’t make it a game to find the flaws and can relax and enjoy the story unfolding as you read. At least that would be my prayer with the books I write.

And maybe, even though my characters might face circumstances that you would deem unrealistic, you’ll find that the underlying messages of the stories will resonate with you and leave you better for having read the book.

Think of Scripture with the wonderful history that unfolds and even stories  told within it. Who would expect a fish to swallow a man whole and spit him out three days later? Or the sun to stop? Or a donkey to talk? God is in the business of doing things that defy expectations or reality, so I think it’s okay for an author to ask a reader to accept some of those as well.

What do you think? Do you find life stranger than fiction at times?