» People often say “write what you know.” Well, how do you do that when your story is about aliens?

Look to the details.

In the opening of Dream Guardian, Jewel’s plagued by a neighbor playing horrendous music at ungodly hours, and she damages her ceiling pounding on it with a broom handle trying to get him to turn it down. A long time ago, when I was living in my very first apartment after college, I had a similar problem. The guy on the other side of the wall (the entrance to his apartment wasn’t in my hallway) liked to blast acid rock at 3 AM — and not just on weekends. Since I had to get up at 6 AM for work, I was not amused. One night I flipped out, grabbed a hammer and started pounding on our shared wall. All I got were dents I had to patch with joint compound.

And what about the restaurant where Jewel works, waiting tables and singing opera arias between courses? Too weird to be a real place? Think again — you don’t think I make up stuff like that, do you? The Victor Café is a real restaurant in South Philadelphia.