Geez Deb,

It's so good to learn that I'm not the only person plagued by plot bunnies!  Granted, my plot bunnies usually sport fangs and are of a Vampiric nature, but they still manage to find joy in the carnal world of mankind.   They can always find trouble in the form of a woman.   ( For anyone who wonders what I mean, I tend to write in the form of the Harlequin 'Blaze' style books.  And yes, I have a desire to publish someday.)  I blog with a bunch of Harlequin authors and I take my inspiration form them. They are truly a group of wonderful women with incredible minds!  I have the desire to be just like them when I grow up… LOL…(read this as when I'm 80) as I am still a child at 41.  "you can make my body age, BUT I REFUSE TO GROW UP!" And that I feel, is the mantra of Richard Castle.  That being said lazer tag anyone?

What was said about episode 2 is true, but I was going for his inner motivation. Library trips explain a motivation to write, not necessarily to write crime – though you can extrapolate. But while it is pretty fair to say his interest in mystery comes, generally speaking, from the same that attracts crime readers – a sense of order, closure (and which, I think, requires very little or no real exposure to crime), what is intriguing, and perhaps not so well explained, is her interest in the same. 

In the spirit of providing solution rather than just posing questions, I'd say it would be logical if she empathizes with his imagined scenarios as if from a real-life colleague. It can't be vicarious living because she doesn't need that- which could be if she were occupied with more boring cases. I don't think this is what is being envisioned, but any other option, I feel, is very weak — except — that she is fascinated by things other than the crime element in his stories. That would mean, then, that she is fascinated by his art, his vision of life, the very 'childish' spirit that appears to rub her off the wrong way — which would make her more of a kindred spirit than what we are led to believe, altered by tragedy, but yearning for those carefree days. Of course this doesn't quite square with his side as a family man of sorts, but I've always seen this as a 'softener' for his character more than anything else. That it has taken more of a life of its own is inevitable but is also because I feel this other side of the equation is not quite crystal-clear — even if the superficial dynamics (the quick repartee, the button-pushing one-upmanship meant to convey sexual tension) are well executed. Sorry for the long rants, guys.