Things that are common in fiction but not in your real life

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by shalym

Actually, Liz Taylor had Violet eyes.
https://www.livescience.com/33149-di...olet-eyes.html

Shari

No, she didn't. It was only certain lighting made it seem so. She had blue eyes.
Really violet eyes are really red, due to total lack of pigmentation. Albinism. Actual violet eye colouring doesn't exist.

Brown is the natural and common colour and can be quite dark. It's actual colouring. Everything else is a mutation.

Green and Blue eyes are due to similar mechanisms and in some areas of Ireland and Scotland nearly 90% are blue or green. Though world wide both are rare. Grey is also rare and actually a similar mechanism to Blue. They are due to lack of the colouring of brown eyes and don't actually have a green or blue pigment.

Amber and hazel. More common than green/blue/grey. Amber is a solid colour and unrelated to hazel, which are very variable.

Cats can have two eye colours. In humans it's usually due to an injury, see David Bowie.

[arjaybe]

Some great shots of human irises.

[guanaco]

It seems to me that this happens more in tv shows and movies than in books.

A man wakes up, brushes their teeth first, and then has breakfast. Typically, while he is drinking coffee, he realizes it is late, so takes the last few sips of coffee, kisses the wife and runs off without brushing his teeth again.

In my case, I get up, have breakfast, drink coffee and only then I brush my teeth.

[hildea]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

Thought this might be a fun topic. I'm not talking about things that are actually incorrect, impossible or sci-fi/fantasy, but things that could be real and seem common in general fiction but you never or hardly ever see them in your own day-to-day life.

Something that's (fortunately!) not common in fiction, but still more common in fiction than in real life: Some male authors write female characters who have inner dialogues about their bodies, especially their breasts, which are, um, unrealistic, to put it mildly. (Here's one example, by Stephen King.)


In historical romance: Dukes who are young, good looking and unmarried.

Originally Posted by kacir

On Reddit a lot of women are complaining that men can't accept NO! as an answer. A lot of men think that when they are persistent enough and try to impress the female required number of times she will relent. Does not work in reality.
Yet, it is the main plot of many, many romances and romantic movies.

It's the main plot in many romantic movies, but modern written romances are better, at least the ones I've read. Here's one thoughtful post about a related subject: consent in sex scenes

[Tarana]

Originally Posted by hobnail

Reminds me of Lord of the Rings where they hardly ever ate. Stuff going in and stuff coming out seems to be overlooked in a lot of books.

When you don't have Second Breakfast, it's like not eating at all.

[hobnail]

Originally Posted by hildea

Something that's (fortunately!) not common in fiction, but still more common in fiction than in real life: Some male authors write female characters who have inner dialogues about their bodies, especially their breasts, which are, um, unrealistic, to put it mildly. (Here's one example, by Stephen King.)

Meh. It's just as bad with romances written by women authors (not that there are many written by men). The men find women attractive because of their beautiful hair, or eyes. In one book the guy was attracted to a woman because she smelled like tamarind. And it happens almost in every book that's not a light romance. But the books are written for women and if the authors knew and wrote about what the guys are really interested in/thinking about the books wouldn't sell.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by hobnail

Reminds me of Lord of the Rings where they hardly ever ate. Stuff going in and stuff coming out seems to be overlooked in a lot of books.

Not only did lembas sustain them all magickally, it also led directly to the creation Discworld's dwarf bread, a win-win.

I tend to agree with @issybird's comments

things you can take for granted but would be excruciating to read about in detail

OF COURSE people eat and excrete, but what would repeated explicit mention of that achieve in a book? Douglas Adams supplied the answer:

Those who are regular followers of the doings of Arthur Dent may have received an impression of his character and habits which, while it includes the truth and, of course, nothing but the truth, falls somewhat short, in its composition, of the whole truth in all its glorious aspects.

And the reasons for this are obvious. Editing, selection, the need to balance that which is interesting with that which is relevant and cut out all the tedious happenstance.

Like this, for instance. ‘Arthur Dent went to bed. He went up the stairs, all fifteen of them, opened the door, went into his room, took off his shoes and socks and then all the rest of his clothes one by one and left them in a neatly crumpled heap on the floor. He put on his pyjamas, the blue ones with the stripe. He washed his face and hands, cleaned his teeth, went to the lavatory, realized that he had once again got this all in the wrong order, had to wash his hands again and went to bed. He read for fifteen minutes, spending the first ten minutes of that trying to work out where in the book he had got to the previous night, then he turned out the light and within a minute or so more was asleep.

‘It was dark. He lay on his left side for a good hour.

‘After that he moved restlessly in his sleep for a moment and then turned over to sleep on his right side. Another hour after this his eyes flickered briefly and he slightly scratched his nose, though there was still a good twenty minutes to go before he turned back on to his left side. And so he whiled the night away, sleeping.

‘At four he got up and went to the lavatory again. He opened the door to the lavatory . . .’ and so on.

It’s guff. It doesn’t advance the action. It makes for nice fat books such as the American market thrives on, but it doesn’t actually get you anywhere. You don’t, in short, want to know.

[hildea]

Originally Posted by hobnail

Meh. It's just as bad with romances written by women authors (not that there are many written by men). The men find women attractive because of their beautiful hair, or eyes. In one book the guy was attracted to a woman because she smelled like tamarind. And it happens almost in every book that's not a light romance.

I see I was unclear: I didn't mean that it's unrealistic for characters to be attracted to other people's bodies, including breasts I'm talking about the situations where a male writer writes a female character reflecting on her breasts in situations where that's unnatural. Most of the time, I don't think about my breasts any more than I think about my elbows, in other words I'll only consciously notice them if I'm in discomfort or pain. I'll certainly not have an inner monologue about how my elbows -- or any other body parts -- rub against my clothes while walking, to paraphrase one example of the writing I'm thinking of. I'm pretty sure I'm not unusual in that regard.

Originally Posted by hobnail

But the books are written for women and if the authors knew and wrote about what the guys are really interested in/thinking about the books wouldn't sell.

I see we're reading different books Glancing at the most recent handful of romances I've read, I find both male and female characters (written by both male and female authors) who are first attracted to bodies, and other male and female characters who are first attracted to mind/personality. (No nonbinary characters or (to my knowledge) authors among that last handful.)

[Quoth]

It's thought that up to 1/3rd of Romances might be written by men. With female pen names or initials.

[meeera]

Yellow looks terrific on a lot of people who don't have pale skin, which is the vast majority of the world's population, so I don't see why that's odd.

Tomato soup and grilled cheese is a common quick comfort food in my house - tomato soup is quick and easy to make with cupboard ingredients (tinned tomatoes, spices, an onion etc), and the meal as a whole is tasty and filling and includes several food groups.

Pinching your nose - sure, I would have thought most spectacle wearers would recognise this? It's not pinching your nostrils shut or anything, it's a sort of pinched-hand lifting-your-glasses action. Less of a stress action and more of a frustration thing.

[meeera]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Also strangulation. I've been knocked unconscious by it. But in real life the attempt might not cut off the air enough, so victim doesn't become unconscious. Or they get brain damage or die.

As someone with judo training, I'm good with non-lethal strangulation if the strangler knows what they're doing. It's not that complicated. And it doesn't work by cutting off air.

[meeera]

Originally Posted by hobnail

Meh. It's just as bad with romances written by women authors (not that there are many written by men).

I haven't yet read a novel by a woman author where a male character is constantly obsessed with their own secondary sex characteristics.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by meeera

As someone with judo training, I'm good with non-lethal strangulation if the strangler knows what they're doing. It's not that complicated. And it doesn't work by cutting off air.

Though usually in books and real life the stranglers don't have Judo training.

I agree, yellow is great on darker skin, which the normal, natural human colour. Though a tanned paleskin is unhealthy and unnatural, risk of skin cancer.

[meeera]

Originally Posted by Quoth

I agree, yellow is great on darker skin, which the normal, natural human colour.

Weird hill to die on. All existing shades of human skin are natural (except perhaps a certain orange). Paler skins evolved naturally in higher latitudes because the paler people made more Vitamin D.

[Witty Username]

Originally Posted by meeera

I haven't yet read a novel by a woman author where a male character is constantly obsessed with their own secondary sex characteristics.

My all-time favourite example of a male author's bad but funny writing:

“She was wearing a tight halter-top, exposing a well-toned midriff. Her thighs were wrapped snug in spandex shorts that ended halfway to her knees. Max lowered his line of vision to take in her breasts… ”