Is My Novel Too Unrealistic?

Certain genres are full of imaginary worlds. That must be fun to write; not fun for me, mind you, but for some writers. I stick with the real world and the unexpected things that can happen within it.

An overused writing cliche is, "write what you know", but what fun is that? Being an expert in a particular subject can make for a really boring novel, because the temptation for the writer is to insert lots of minutia about their field of expertise, which will only be captivating to readers of the same ilk. I'm not interested in reading an instruction manual. Wow, this author has really explained how to rebuild a carburetor! Look at all these pages! Granted, some authors have been able to do it right; I'm thinking John Grisham, who is (was) an attorney in real life. Luckily (?) for me, I'm not an expert in anything. I have a basic knowledge of a few things, but that's as far as it goes. I guess I could explain in great detail how to process an insurance claim, but you know, that's not even interesting to me.

When I started writing my current novel, I didn't intend to delve into the music industry. My main character was a singer in a local bar band, which doesn't require a PhD to portray. I've spent my life around music and local singers enough (one singer was my best friend) to learn how it all works. I know how to play guitar, to a degree, so the finer points of changing strings and tuning and plugging into an amp are quite straightforward.

But then my story took a turn. The main character was discovered by a record label rep and offered a contract, so off she went to Nashville.

That's where my "expertise" ended. While I've read plenty of biographies of famous artists, I don't recall any that got into the nuts and bolts of starting out in the business. I've been able to intuit some of the subpar performing experiences they had, e.g., Reba McEntire began singing at rodeos (I actually saw her in that setting before anyone knew her name), so that much I get. But what I don't get is everything else.

What's a novelist to do besides try to research, which I did with little success? You make things up. I (boastfully) admit that the things I made up are wildly entertaining; in fact, those are some of my favorite scenes in the story ~ a bizarre publicity photo session with a French dandy, an arranged collaboration with the hottest writing duo in the business, who turned out to be arrogant doofuses. I'm not saying those things couldn't happen, but I'm pretty sure they never actually happened to anyone (well, maybe the arrogant doofus part did). 

Those things I'm okay with. They're a sprinkling of fictional spice. It's when I began to detail the touring aspect and the recording experience that I had to rely on guessing. Yes, I've recorded music ~ at home ~ which I'm pretty sure is quite unlike recording in a professional studio. And I know absolutely nothing about the mechanics involved in a tour, except for the glimpses I've gotten of stage setup whenever I arrived early for a concert. I had to watch a video of the inside of a tour bus to semi-know what it looks like. I read an article written by a touring musician to learn about the obscure things that were involved.

I'm not about to abandon my life to sign on as a roadie for a major act, so I'm reduced to winging it. 

Bottom line, will someone who actually knows those worlds read my novel (yea, yea, fat chance; but it could happen) and write a scathing review detailing how unrealistic it is? It's conceivable that a person who's even tangentially familiar with the music industry could spy my book online and find its premise relatable enough to give it a shot. If so, I'm pretty sure they're going to be disappointed by my delusional premises. 

On the other hand, why should I care? I'm nobody; I'm just an "imaginist". You think it's so easy, why don't you, reader, try it? 

Just don't write entire chapters on how amplifiers are assembled.