Aegelis asked Rick Tabor:

Hi Rick! How would you say your science experience helped or influenced fantasy writing?

Rick Tabor Hi Aegelis,

I was hard wired with creativity, and many would say almost too much so. It came with my DNA, and I'm not sure who I inherited it from, as neither my mom nor dad were particularly creative.

That being said, creativity alone requires disciplined writing skills to communicate a creative concept. As it turns out, writing the "teachings" of patents, scientific papers, business concept documents and research and development reports, require a great deal of logical, disciplined writing skills. Over the years, and with the help of many helpful but ruthlessly detailed scientist-reviewers, lawyer-reviewers and mentors, I acquired these writing skills. Think of a red hot ingot of steel being beaten into shape by a blacksmith. That was me.

The other very important skill that my technical background "forged" into me was a careful attention to getting all of the facts straight and providing citations to prove that my facts were indeed accurate. When Children of the Scroll was first introduced to a group of beta readers, some of the readers suggested that I provide citations to some of the key research that I had done. As a scientist, I though that this was a reasonable idea, and did so. However, I received feedback (not the least of which was from Kirkus Reviews) that these citations were distracting. I have since removed them and future prints of the book will not have them. The good news is that people generally seemed impressed with my ability to interweave my research into Jewish legend with a fictional plot to form a believable story.

Thus, in this latter case (my ability to conduct research) my readers have "forged" a new skill into my fictional writing - leave out the citations!

I hope that this answers your question, Aegelis, and I wish you success in your own writing journey!

Thanks and best,
Rick

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