Grammar, Lovely Grammar

I learn the strangest rules of grammar. For example, in Feather Brain, Lucas says, “I pretended that Kyle was a Tyrannosaurus Rex and that I was something smaller and much more clever.”

Grammar rules state that if you wish to be something you actually could be, like an astronaut, you can write, “I wish I was an astronaut.” But if it is something you cannot be, you must use were instead of was, as in, “I wish I were an Oscar Mayer wiener.”

In Feather Brain, the correct sentence would be: “I imagined that Kyle were a Tyrannosaurus Rex and that I were something smaller and much more clever.”

My editor and I agreed that sounded dead stupid for a ten-year old boy, and ignored the rule.

What I want to know is, can I bend the rules of grammar in a fantasy world? If, in my fantasy world, my character really could become a dinosaur, then she could “wish I was a dinosaur” and still be grammatically correct, couldn’t she? I look forward to arguing that one with my editor!

Maureen