Conception & research for The God Particle

As interested as I am in the scientific ideas in The God Particle, a novel ultimately works when you create believable characters, knock their lives out of balance, and then join them as they try to make things right again. I read a lot of serious fiction, because for me, creating authentic, compelling characters is the most difficult part of writing a story of any length. When you as a reader fall in love with a character, or hate one, or have any strong feeling about one of them as a real person, that is magic. And it's difficult to write about.

In this section, you'll find a multi-part essay about the experience of developing the "what if" questions for The God Particle. There are significant plot spoilers in this section, so if you haven't read the book you might visit this page when you have. If you read part or all of this essay, I welcome feedback. If you have opinions about the characters in my story, or the plot--what you liked or what you think I can improve--pleaselet me know.

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