The "Fires of the Djinn" is probably over my head.

I'm trying hard to make it believable, but I'm not sure it's possible. I'm 30 pages from the end of the first rewrite, and I've made it better, but it is still a stretch.

I like writing in the "real" world, but I am always aware that it is only a facsimile of the real world. Maybe all writers feel that way. It is the facsimile that readers want; the real world is what they live.

Thing is, I still think Firefighters Versus Terrorists is a neat premise, and likely to be timely, so I had to try. It probably contains some of my best writing....but is still difficult to pull off.

After the holidays, I'm diving into research with the goal of adding enough verisimilitude to hopefully make the whole story plausible. Plausible is probably the best I can hope for.

The point of the second rewrite will be to make it as realistic as I can. But there are elements to the plot that probably make that impossible. I should have stuck to ground level POV, instead of making it "big." (Astronauts, big wigs, L.A. and San Francisco, Jihadists, etc.) The "big" part came from that agent telling me to do that and to write "100 kickass" pages. 

If nothing else, this has been a good learning experience. It still possible I can pull this off. I'm giving it time and doing my best.

I've decided to go with the plot as is, because the changes I was contemplating probably won't make the story any more plausible, which is the reason I was thinking about the changes. So no point.

Hopefully, readers will give me the benefit of the Suspension of Disbelief long enough to enjoy the story. What I can do is try to ramp up the tension, make the action scenes vivid. The overall plot arc is what it is.

Writing "Said the Joker, to the Thief" was a reminder that in fantasy, everything works, as long as it is internally consistent. Writing "I Live Among You" was a reminder that a straightforward first person narration eliminates a lot of the space and time problems.

It's probably time for me to figure out my strengths and weakness, and do the first and avoid the latter.