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I'm trying to make a character, and I'm first creating their world, but I'm can't figure out whether I want it to be all magical or more realistic. Helluva Boss did this great. It took place in hell, and showed us the demons of hell. Another example is Death Note, it is realistic but has some elements of fantasy, mainly the death note itself. Jujutsu Kaisen, and Persona have lots of fantasy or horror but still makes it realistic. Unfortunately when I make my world I'm not sure why but it feels a little unrealistic. Let me give another example: Identity V. Identity V basically is about a detective trying to find a girl, but things went more deep as he progresses, and this is where all the magical stuff takes place.

I don't understand what makes it realistic but other things are still fantasy or magical. I asked discord writers, and they said that its the character, not the world-building. but I still need more advice about this. Any comments?

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  • $\begingroup$ Real darkness can only be found inside people. It's not weather patterns or extreme geography or magic or technology. To make a dark world, remove some measure of love, hope, or kindness from most of the people. $\endgroup$
    – Tom
    Commented Mar 5, 2022 at 5:41
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    $\begingroup$ Please clarify your specific problem or provide additional details to highlight exactly what you need. As it's currently written, it's hard to tell exactly what you're asking. $\endgroup$
    – Community Bot
    Commented Mar 5, 2022 at 5:48
  • $\begingroup$ "when i make my worldbuilding im not sure why but it feels a little unrealistic" .. there may be some inconsistencies that sneaked into your story, you expect to combine a lot. Magic and humor, magic and realism, shadiness and humor.. Maybe you want to unify too much different things in a single story. And you don't have to plan everything. Let it roll on.. humor will pop up when it is appropriate. If you set out to write a "funny story", it could become too artificial. $\endgroup$
    – Goodies
    Commented Mar 5, 2022 at 15:06
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    $\begingroup$ Welcome Crimsoir, general advice isn't something we can do on this main site because it will open up long discussions. This sounds like something that might be handled better at the writing.se stack. Please find one specific problem in your world or character that can be answered. Take a look at this checklist to word your question properly for this site. $\endgroup$
    – Vogon Poet
    Commented Mar 5, 2022 at 15:48
  • $\begingroup$ you may want to try reading Pratchett's discworld series, specifically the nightwatch books, which manages to be all what you want, it even has murder mysteries. $\endgroup$
    – John
    Commented Mar 6, 2022 at 0:24

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I would say that internal consistency and lack of obvious handwaving are the keys to realism.

Internal consistency refers to the world and characters. Your world should have a reasonable and logical explanation for every phenomenon appearing in the final text. The same goes for characters: They should act in accordance with their position in the world and they should have personalities that match the world.

Obvious handwaving includes plot armour, plot necessities, and so on. Plot twists that exist only for the sake of plot twists can also be seen as obvious handwaving.

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Magical Realism

The realism comes not from the world but from the people living in it, and the stories you tell about them. So don't worry about realism until you start writing the stories.

Your world might be similar or different to our own. In either case, for realism the characters should be fleshed out with vices and virtues in equal measure, and react to the fantastic world elements in ways you would imagine real people reacting to them. In 'realistic' works there are no extreme heroes or villains. In 'unrealistic' works you can have more exaggerated good or evil characters.

The 'realism' will reflect the types of stories you tell. Real people are more concerned about their own day to day lives than the over-arching events in the world.

A good example is the difference between Star Trek vs Star Wars. The worlds are similar. The are both space operas with similar technology. But the events in Star Trek are often smaller and we get a closer look at each individual character. It is more realistic in this sense.

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