For all that I'm a writer and therefore relatively creative, I have a highly logical side of my brain. You might remember that I considered becoming a veterinarian instead of an editor/writer. Science fascinated me. (Math...uh, not so much.) One of the most challenging aspects to writing, I think, is meshing that creativity of a writer with the logic of real-life situations and people.

Sure, I'm writing a sci-fi romance with superheroes. Anyone reading it is going to suspend their disbelief somewhat, or they'll be rolling their eyes through the whole thing. Or throwing the book at the wall. But despite the fantastical characters and extreme situations in my book, events and reactions and solutions have to make sense.

I do that mostly by putting myself in my main character's shoes. If I were a mid-twenties woman with giant bat-like wings who found out that she was a result of a government experiment...how would I react to discovering there were others like me? How would I react to being "outed" on national television? How would I react if a really hot guy started paying romantic attention to me, despite my unflattering daytime disguise? I take my reactions and colour them through my main character's eyes, using bits of her personality that maybe are a little foreign to me. That's how they become real.

Actions and reactions and solutions to issues have to have the same ring of truth. If they don't, it grates on me. The last few chapters of TOPAZ, for example, started setting off my lack-of-logic alarms. It's not that the events were so out there they were implausible. In fact, a beta reader mentioned that she didn't see a problem as she was reading it, not until I specifically asked her about it. Then she agreed that yes...there was an issue. When you're caught up in the story and invested in the characters, you are willing to overlook some problems with logic. But I don't want to write a book that after you finish you say, "That was really good. Except...wait a minute...that last part didn't make sense." I'd rather write a book where you leave off that second sentence.

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TOPAZ status: I've rolled it back seven chapters to Chapter 28 and I'm trying a different direction for the climax of the book. We'll see how it goes. I'm hoping it will alleviate the logic issues I mentioned above AND provide a more satisfying character arc for Jason.