Why?

I have been having a difficult time answering the question of "why?" that my novel asks. Thankfully it's not something that my current draft necessarily needs to answer. However, it needed to be answered eventually and neither of my characters could do it. While writing through their eyes, I wasn't able to look at the big picture, because I was focused on their perspectives (and they don't know the answer either). Since I have been done writing for over a week, last night my mind was finally able to see beyond their knowledge base. I have always known the cause was Science Fiction-esque in nature, and that meant it had to be plausible. While watching Ancient Aliens last night (a guilty pleasure of mine) my mind brought me back to something that I wrote about three years ago, and I realized that it answered "why" perfectly.

I have been reading How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card (my favorite author) to try and get a grip of writing SF. One thing that I've been reminded of both reading it and the Complete Handbook of Novel Writing is that in order to write, first one must have talent (which is innate), next one must know the craft (which thankfully can be studied and learned), lastly one must have perseverance. The past few days I have been working on my knowledge of craft: what works, what doesn't, hard and fast rules, and rules that can be broken. It's a balancing act. One that I hope with my editing checklist I can achieve.

Tomorrow, I start editing. Wish me luck.