. . . in our young adult novel? We definitely want to be realistic in the psychology of our characters, but how important is it to have the setting and initial plot-starting problem be realistic?
Well, definitely somewhat important. But, at a certain point, especially when writing for a younger audience, there is the possibility of a trade of realism/plausibility . . . for magical-ness.
And we have had to try to intuitively gauge how much realism/plausibility to trade for magical-ness, in some aspects of our story.
And, personally, I like the idea of generosity as something that governs a good piece of writing. You want the piece of writing to seem generous.
And again, especially when writing for a younger audience, a certain amount of generosity seems to entail . . . a certain amount of magical-ness.
Which means (if I may be permitted a double negative): There’s not no magical-ness in our story.
Difficult Things 