If reflecting reality were the ultimate goal of art, I should sell all my mirrors at an art auction, make a few hundred million dollars off about fifty dollars in glass and metal foil, and retire as a world-famous artist.
Ideal Realism
Rather than grittiness, I see realism in how long it takes to walk from point A to point B, or in the equipment and technologies to which the characters have access and can carry, or the odds that they can reasonably face.
Laurus Review
If you are fascinated by faith, and constantly inquiring of history, like I am, then Laurus deserves a place near the top of your reading list.
Why Fantasy Authors Should Go Backpacking More Often
The point at which I'm driving is this: most depictions of people walking from place to place in fantasy books are terribly unrealistic. For a start, very rarely do they carry any gear with them, though they often are described as preparing gear, or having gear. But how are they carrying it? Where are the sore shoulders and sweaty backs and the sense of being about the float away when you finally take off your pack at the end of the day? Then they proceed to cover thirty miles in a day, and are promptly ready to get up and do it again the following day.
Cartography
One of the distinguishing features of the speculative fiction genre in its published form is the maps. Avid readers of fantasy and science fiction are known to pour over the maps included in the books they read, maps describing fantastical worlds and universes in vivid detail. It was perhaps inevitable, therefore, that I would at some point be obliged to create maps to go along with the stories I've written or am in the process of writing.
IGC Publishing 