What Would You REALLY Do?

Every now and then, I get submissions that I stop and ask myself, "What was this author thinking?" These are situations when the characters are doing things, saying things, or the plot takes a twist that, if it happened in the real world, people would not react positively.

I know that authors are trying to come up with unique plots, or they want to create a conflict that truly stands out. However, we always have to ask ourselves, how would this really play out in the real world? In many cases, I have found that these situations come down to ethical and moral situations. Let's lust highlight a few. For each of these, ask yourself, how would you react if that happened to you?

• You are somehow involved in a criminal investigation. Let's say something bad has happened and you are really scared the "bad guy" is going to come after you. Now, the detective in charge of your case (sure, make the guy hot!) recommends going out to dinner and then makes advances on you.
• You are a college professor, and you are thinking dating one of your students is a great idea.
• You are in a struggling marriage and are pissed off that your spouse is having an affair. So, you take off with a friend on a cruise and think having an affair for you is OK.
• You find out that a colleague has been skimming the till at your business. They claim it is due to some financial hardships.

This is just a few, but I think you get the idea here. The reality is that, while these scenarios might set up a great storyline, we would probably have a negative reaction about this in the real world. Think about these again. We have situations of people crossing the line between the personal and professional world. Today, we are talking about SERIOUS lawsuits and criminal actions. In the case of the professor, this is a violation of a contract. It doesn't matter if people are of legal age, or even if the professor is tenured, there will be ramifications. 

I know this is an older example, but remember how we all reacted when we watched BEVERLY HILLS 90210 and Brandon Walsh had the affair with his college instructor? 

The last two are all ethical situations. How is it that when the spouse is having an affair, it is bad, but now it is right in your situation? What about the stealing situation? Would you really think it is OK and just tell them you will help them out? I seriously doubt it. You would fire the person!

Look, I don't care if the scenario would make for a great storyline, you have to always ask yourself how the readers will really react when they read that plot. It doesn't matter if your writing is good, those elements might be all it takes to earn yourself the coveted REJECTION LETTER!