The amazing author (and io9 reader!) Greg Cox faced a huge dilemma recently. And he solved it, thanks to science! No, wait. Sorry, thanks to his invaluable experience with toy model kits!
Over on Facebook, Cox explains that he was just writing a scene involving a mad scientist, and “I’m trying to decide what color to make his bubbling potion.” At last, inspiration came from a surprising place: “I flash back to facing the same dilemma when painting my plastic Aurora monster model of ‘Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde’ when I was a kid, many, many years ago.”
The younger Cox went with a deep, ominous purple—so the more grown-up version made the same choice.
This just goes to show: You should always honor your childhood decisions. (Well, unless they involved putting soy sauce on everything you eat. Then don’t.)
Charlie Jane Anders is the author of All The Birds in the Sky, coming in January from Tor Books.Follow her on Twitter, and email her.