I write, to a large degree, the adventures or experiences I'd like to have … or at least to read. For me this has always included a healthy dose of sights - my characters going places I'd like to see. Consequently, my characters usually have a substantial background in art and history, and a vocabulary of elements and colors.

As I was crafting Elize, my straitlaced scientist, none of that fit. Why would she know Islamic architecture? How could she explain and/or appreciate Majorelle blue? Between her family and her education there wasn't a reason. She wouldn't and she couldn't. 

My first draft had her blind to the world around her, which made Morocco ominous and unappealing, not to mention drab. Not fun to write and NOT the experience I wanted to read! If she couldn't SEE, then what was the point of being in Morocco?

I returned to her biography, walking as Elize through her life experiences. I also threw down the book and picked up my bins, exploring South Texas's great birding sites and visiting Elize's home town, alma mater and closest shore, at South Padre Island.