I am a wise mentor-type figure

On the Amtrak to New Haven, where I'm visiting a friend. Was going to go through more pages of my book, when the woman next to me said, "Excuse me, is that fiction?"

I said, "Yep, I'm a novelist."

"Oh, wow, do you mind? I've been working on a novel for years, and I just have this practical question about…"

And then we spent the next two and a half hours di…