What did realist authors strive to do?

a. depict life as it really was

b. use imagination more

c. use figurative language

d. depict the beauty of nature

Realist authors wanted to A. Depict life as it really was. They would usually use show names of real places and describe real houses including the most minute details. Not only this, they would always try to imitate even the language of the locals as much as possible. Such examples would be Mark Twain, or Henry James.