You have an audience that is fairly well grounded in the real world. You serve them and yourself best by making everything as real as possible.
Tamora PierceThe bravest person I know is afraid of the dark. She sleeps with a night lamp always, but if her friends are threatened? She suddenly thinks she's a bear twelve feet tall and attacks whoever scared her friends.
Tamora PierceYou mortals are like fish swimming in a globe of glass. That globe is your world. You do not see beyond it.
Tamora PierceHe was overconfidentโ, she told him. โAnd I won so the gods must have thought I was right. Otherwise theyโd have made me lose. You know how trial by combat works.โ โYou won because you were goodโ he corrected her. โI find it hard to believe the gods sit forever about the Divine Realms betting on jousts and trials by combat.
Tamora Pierce