Authors, have you mastered the elements?

I’m not talking about weather, although it’s a bear, right? Heat, fires (my home state, California, has been burning), and heat waves have baked the country. As global warming attacks around the globe and climate change does more and more damage, it’s impossible to keep up with all of Mother Nature’s revenge against us.

No, I want to discuss other elements, i.e., have a more esoteric discussion about the elements of writing fiction. (Readers might not care too much—one can argue they shouldn’t h...