This article first appeared in Periphery Drafts #12.

Plot builds momentum and gives the reader a reason to turn the page, while human behavior drives the reader’s emotional investment. Why did she stay? Why did he lie? Why did a PI with a pathological fear of living a “false life” in a “fake existence” risk getting trapped in the Omninet to stop a mad AI?

The “What Happens Next” Treadmill of Doom

My friend Dmitri Del Castillo helped me get to that last question. Better yet, he helped me answer it, too. When I was first drafting Accidental Intelligence, I was (unknowingly) stuck in the “what happens next” treadmill of doom. If you’re a pantser, you’ve either experienced this or are going to experience this at some point. I have spoken.

It was Dmitri who pointed out that Mason Truman’s hatred of the Lost—people who fully lived a virtual existence in the Omninet—was similar to my own hangups about recreational drug use.

Understanding the Why

Understanding Mason’s fundamental hangups—especially his coping mechanisms for dealing with threats to his own sense of identity—is what helped me shift my writing from simply observing and explaining what was happening to Mason to writing a story about what can drive someone to risk everything. 

Readers remember people, not events. Why the characters do the things they do is the most important question in fiction.