, in her lecture on the Odyssey Podcast, says that people (especially Americans) love to read details about how things work. So, if you know somethin’ about somethin’, and can work it into a story, you’ll make it more interesting to many readers.
The things I know somethin’ about (apart from what I read about, like history and astronomy, and stuff nearly everybody knows, like childrearing) are law, teaching and theater. So I’ve been thinking of ways to work them into SFF stories.
Right I’m working on the background for a new story that takes place in the not-too-distant future, when there’s been I’m-not-saying-what change in the law, as a result of I’m-not-saying-what change in technology. Now, in law school they teach you how to read a statute, and in law practice you have to read a mess of them. So I wondered what the actual wording of the statute would be.
I took a crack at drafting it. After completing seven separate subsections, I stopped. (I did manage to keep myself from drafting the "Definitions" section, but it was a struggle.) Then I tried my hand at creating a federal form that would be required under the statute. I have no idea whether the text of either of these will appear in the story itself.
The thing is, it was fun. I really enjoyed it. I feel like Alan Strang admitting he gets turned on by horses, or T. E. Lawrence admitting that he likes killing people…
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Kenneth Schneyer 
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