to quote Stephen King in his book, Lisey’s Story. To explain said quote, another from the same:
“…an item in a feature called This Odd World. It was headlined DOG FINDS HIS WAY HOME - AFTER 3 YEARS. It told the story of a Border Collie named Ralph, who had been lost while on vacation with his family in Port Charlotte, Florida. Three years later Ralph had shown up at the family manse in Eugene, Oregon. He was thin, collarless, and a little footsore, but otherwise none the worse for wear. Just came walking up the driveway, sat down on the stoop, and barked to be let in.”

King’s character, a writer - big surprise - named Scott Landon tells his wife this anecdote while bemoaning that his editor has sent him another request for edits on a part where there is a chance meeting between two characters after a long time. His editor notes, “Plot creaks a bit here, old boy.”

Landon’s answer: “Reality is Ralph.”

The idea is that reality sometimes stretches the fabric of the believeable. But does that mean a writer can do the same? No. Landon goes back and makes the suggested changes, even though his first reaction is that “Reality is Ralph.”

Writing the novel is a balance between reality and harmony. Harmony is, essentially, the hanging together of the thing in a way that floats the writing above reality. This is the arena of theme and meaning and substance. Meanwhile, reality need not have harmony. “Reality is Ralph.” Doesn’t need to have harmony, although sometimes it does cross over into the mythic and achieves a certain harmonic.

What we as writers need to realize is that novels are not Ralph. Novels go above and beyond Ralph. Though a dog on the porch, barking to be let in, as if he hadn’t just survived God-knows-what in the last three years, all in an effort to return to the family he apparently loved - that goes a bit beyond Ralph in itself. At least, that is, if a good writer got a hold of the story and ran with it.