Magic doesn’t work for me.  I am working on an urban fantasy, but I can’t explain things away by having my characters wield magic.  I need a scientific explanation that sounds plausible.  I guess this is why writing science fiction romance works better for me.  So does creating adventures on other planets.  I can’t get into vampires, werewolves, demons, or ghouls in contemporary settings that are so popular today.  And yet I enjoyed the Harry Potter series and all the creatures therein.  A character wants to transport himself somewhere else?  He apparates.  No explanation necessary.  

In creating my own work of fiction, I need a more solid back story.  So I use technobabble, otherwise known as pseudo-scientific jargon, that appears to be a reasonable explanation for the process at work. I have to figure everything out.  How do the heroes defend themselves against the bad guys?  If they can shoot lightning bolts from their hands, how come?  If the evil trolls can cast a spell on people, how does it work?  So in chapter two when a battle erupts, I have to pause to figure out exactly how my hero remains unaffected by the evil being’s touch, the means through which they confound their victims.  Is he wearing body armor?  Does he coat his skin with a protective chemical substance?  If he closes his pores, how does he sweat in the heat?  So this chemical would have to be permeable.  And so on. You see, a Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan, I am not.  Give me Star Trek any day.  Now bring it to Earth with a bit of humor, like Star Trek IV; mix in some evil guys bent on conquering the world; combine sexy futuristic warriors with a sassy American female; add a weird theme park setting, and there we are.  You’re in my universe.