Chaos Theory

I might’ve written about this before, so apologies if that’s the case: in writing the sequel to First, I’m trying to embrace chaos theory. In my mind it means that if something bad can happen, it should. I know at times I tend to write safely, meaning that at various junctures I’ll make things go smoother than they should. We try to do that all the time in real life, but in a book it’s not exactly an engaging strategy. Let me give an example. I came up with a situation in the new book where a judge issues a ruling suspending activities by a certain entity. We’ve been taught in these situations to sit back and let the lawyers do their thing. That was where I started heading in the narrative as I wrote the scene, but then I realized this was an opportunity for chaos. If the characters do the exact thing they shouldn’t do, that introduces a whole new thread into the story. Plus, it’s more fun. After all, this is supposed to be near-future sci-fi. Who wants to read about a bunch of lawyers and their endless parade of court filings? Bring on the chaos.