One problem about writing about a girl in high school is that I haven’t been in high school since 1986.

In the manuscript I’ve been working on, my main character pulls a fire alarm at school. She does so on impulse, in one of those it seemed like a good idea at the time impulses. I realized that I didn’t have her get in trouble for this.

Now, when I was in school, you would get in trouble for a false fire alarm, but only if they caught you. And odds were good that if you were smart and fast, you’d get away with it.

These days that seems unlikely. Don’t you think? Do all schools have cameras? What about low-income schools? And every fire alarm in every school?

She could in trouble, but it simplifies things if she doesn’t. All it has to be is plausible that she doesn’t get caught.

Is it distracting if she doesn’t?

But if she doesn’t, how much trouble? How does that take away from the plot line?

I could reconsider her actions, but she needs a way to get out of one situation and into another. Contriving another way to get her from point A to point B would add a snag. I feel she pulls that alarm.

Ever read stories where the character does something that makes you stop and shake your head, pulls you out of the narrative because you know that it could never happen that way?