Behind the Scenes of the Rymellan Series: My Toughest Story Problem

When I started posting about “Behind the Scenes of the Rymellan Series,” I said I’d tell you about “the most difficult story problem I ran into when writing the first three books.” The problem I’ll discuss will sound trivial on the surface, but it goes to the core of world building.

As the keeper of the Rymellan world, I have to ensure that everything the characters say and do makes sense for Rymellans and their society. When writing a Rymellan story, I constantly ask myself, “What would Rymellans do?” Maybe I should get a WWRD bracelet.   (see WWJD)

So what problem tied me into knots for a couple of weeks? I didn’t know how to answer the following question:

Why did Laura Finney become Lesley’s mentor?

I knew that Finney, as we called her then, played an important role in Lesley’s life. Long before I wrote Priorities, the story in which the question is answered, I knew that Finney had become Lesley’s mentor when Lesley was at the Military Academy. But I didn’t know why. I had to figure it out, because I’d reached the point in Lesley’s life when her relationship with Finney would be established.

At the time, Finney was a commander, and commanders are busy, powerful people. Why would one take a personal interest in a cadet? Why would an Interior officer mentor a cadet who wanted to be a fighter pilot? Everything I came up with felt contrived for the Rymellan world. Okay, Lesley was living in Finney’s sector, but so was Mo. Why would Finney mentor one and not the other? They both wanted to enter the fighter pilot training program.

Okay, the military had identified Lesley as a cadet with the “right stuff,” and it was going to provide her with a mentor. But Finney wasn’t participating in that program. While she occasionally lectures about the Chosen Tradition at the Military Academy, she isn’t an instructor there. She’s also Joined, has three children, and as we later found out, heads a group that investigates potential Chosen Violations—in addition to everything else she does. So again, why take on a mentoring role for a cadet she didn’t really know?

I came up with more explanations that were all inadequate in some way. None of them fit the Rymellan world. I discussed the problem with my partner, something I rarely do. It was starting to keep me up at night. So I decided to do what I usually do when I run into a story problem: keep writing, and believe that the answer would come.

It did, and I thought it was pretty cool, because it involved Lesley getting into trouble, which is unusual for her. It also had a lot to do with some personal history between Finney and Commander Morton. It made sense. Yes, a commander who didn’t belong to the Military Academy’s faculty normally wouldn’t offer to mentor a cadet, but Finney happened to be there when Morton was chewing Lesley out, and Finney and Morton…well, we find out the reason for their animosity toward each other in The Accident.

When writing in a fictitious world, small details are important. When it comes to the Rymellan world, I have to be careful. I could easily write myself into a corner, and doing so within Rymellan society could mean the loss of a character. But that’s part of what makes it so much fun.

Behind the Scenes of the Rymellan Series: My Toughest Story Problem is a post from: Sarah Ettritch