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I always tell new writers not to rewrite as they go along in first draft because perfectionism sets in, and I still maintain if you’ve never completed a book save the rewrites until you have at least a finished rough draft. But for those who have a book under their belt, here’s the exception to my own rule. Yesterday I had a complicated action scene. It wrote well, read well, but reality intrudes. How real guns work. The shape of the claws on a tiger. Size of people involved, and logistics. Where is everyone in relation to everyone else? I knew something wasn’t quite right, but I just couldn’t spot it in the rush of adrenalin that often accompanies a productive day. I had thirteen pages, and they read well, but something nagged at me. So I went to Jon and spoiled it for him, because I needed to spoil some big surprises to talk out why I felt I’d missed some stuff. I knew that I needed Jon to help me physical out the scene. Play act it with me. What did I do before I had Jon? I borrowed friends or crawled around on the floor by myself just me and my imagination. Anyway, Jon and I acted out some of the fight. We discovered quickly that some of the injuries just weren’t possible. Wrong angle, wrong weapon, whatever. So the injury to [SPOILER] is out. Jon also raised the question on whether if you shot through someone’s hair would the hair singe? Good question. I’ll have to find out. And my question is why is it that if gunpowder blow back can put traces of bits (I don’t mean the microscopic bits that show up in a GSR test) under the skin of the face like a scar almost, why doesn’t it do that to your hands, which are always close to the gun when it fires? Again, I’m going to have to research and find out if the idea of burnt powder under the skin like a permanent mark is movie myth, or reality. I’ve also got to see how close to the eyes you can fire a gun and not get retina burn. The deafness I already know is a problem. Or the potential ear damage anyway. Scenes like this are why a mock up gun, one of those weighted to look real but painted bright neon colors is really useful. I never, ever roll around and pretend fight with a real gun, even unloaded. I go by the rule that all guns are loaded, all guns are dangerous. They are not toys. That’s why they make the mock guns. A really good replica air-gun will work, but the weight is often wrong. Anyway, I need these questions answered. I will change the stuff we know needs changing, and move on with the book. I can go back later when I have my answers to singed hair, gunpowder burns, muzzle flash, and shooting a gun that close to an ear. I think in the real world you’d probably loose your hearing or have it permanently damaged, but since these guys heal better than normal, I guess I could squeak that one by. The trick here is that I know I’m squeaking by. I know what might happen for real. I don’t guess, and if I bend reality I know I’m bending it. It drives me nuts when I’m reading along, and find that a writer obviously didn’t do any research. I’m okay with a problem here, or there, but when it’s blatantly obvious that they treated the material with no respect, it just ruins my enjoyment of the story. Research, research, research.