While I was documenting myself to create a romantic work between two women, I made a little detour and read a Manga (Love Hurts, by Kiriko Nananan) that made me wonder if the idea I initially had for my story is too idealistic to the point of bordering on childish. It’s just that the manga portrays interpersonal relationships in such a raw way (compared to what I’ve been consuming until then), that perhaps the impact it gave me was even greater than I expected.
I understand that there are those who prefer an escapist work, experiencing more of a dream than a one-on-one copy of real life. I also know that there are those who don’t see much value in escapism and prefer art to function as a mirror of reality. I personally found myself somewhere in between.
What I would like to know is which side I should lean more towards in order to do the best work possible.
Idealistic in the sense that I like it to be so toxic it’s unrealistic. Not to lose all believability, but in a “wow the stars really must have aligned to make these two people meet and fall in love with each other when they’re so fucked up together” kind of way. I don’t really like reading happy fiction, it’s kinda boring.