Characters---In Real Life

I've been thinking lately about how often I read the terms "That just doesn't happen In Real Life." "Guys like that don't change, In Real Life." "No one likes girls like that, In Real Life" "Teenagers don't date outside their social circle, In Real Life."

A lot of times, I find myself thinking, "Yes, it does." I've seen a player fall in love and change. I know it can happen. I've seen the bitchiest girls, the girls who sleep with everyone, the shy reserved girl, all be surrounded by friends. I've been one of the popular-ISH (meaning I was friends with the popular girls but wasn't one of them, make sense?) girls that dated that metal head on the other end of the spectrum. I wasn't ostracized for it. It didn't matter. These things can happen.

Then I find myself reading books like Shiver for instance, where the guy is a sweet, poetry spouting romantic, and I think "those guys don't exist in real life." But, do they? Am I certain they don't, just because I've personally never encountered one in any fashion? No, I'm not certain. I'm the type that needs to see something to believe it, but I never completely rule out possibilities.

But at the end of the day, how much does that matter? I read fiction because it's an escape from reality. It's entering another world where anything is possible. I don't want it to be 100% authentic all the time. Real Life isn't that exciting.

I want to believe a player can change, whether it's a male OR a female. I want to believe we aren't confined to dating within our own social status. I want to believe that some guy out there memorizes and spouts poetry, and I want to believe there's a girl out there that eats it up. I want to believe that chivalry isn't absolutely dead. Even if it's only for a brief moment, I want to believe these things are possible.


I deal with reality everyday, I don't want to read about it too.

I'm curious, what do you look for when you're reading?