Jennifer Crusie's Blog, page 167

Layering Characters

That sounds vaguely dirty, doesn’t it? No? It’s just me then.

Continuing my undoubtedly erroneous assumption that you’re all fascinated by what I’m doing as I get to the end of Nita, I’ve been layering characters throughout the story. I write in acts, so Nita’s first act is Nita before she’s forced to accept the supernatural and meeting Nick, second act is Nita learning to deal with the supernatural and falling for Nick, third act is Nita trying to deal with all the crime, supernatural and otherwise, while Nick cycles through multiple identities, and fourth act is Nita harrowing Hell because she’s tired of this crap and she wants to save Nick (who saves himself, but still, good goal). Obviously, Nita is front and center in all the acts, as is Nick. However this book has more characters than a fruitcake has nuts, and sticking with the analogy, we want the nuts spread evenly throughout the cake, arcing merrily as they go.

So take Mort, for example.

Mort gets in the car in the first scene, stops by breakfast, then calls Nita later in the act to say, “Get to Motel Styx.” In Act Two, he goes out to the Nature Preserve and then has Chinese in the bar with the family. Then he disappears. For the rest of the book. I love Mort, but if you have a character who disappears, you do one of two things: cut him completely or figure out what he’s doing during the rest of the book and find out how that affects the plot. Mort’s going to find out that the woman he loves is a poisoner, so that’s going to have an impact. I need to layer Mort.

But there’s also Fenella. You don’t remember Fenella? I loved Fenella, she was the anti-Marvella at the Historical Society. But she only showed up in the first and second acts and although I had more planned for her, she was obviously inessential. Fenella is no longer in the book and the book does not miss her.

The team members–Jeo, Rab, Button, Max–are active throughout, but I still need to go back and look at just their scenes to make sure they make sense and arc. So one of the things I’m doing is starting at the beginning of the book and just searching for “Button.” Then I can read just her scenes and see how she changes and grows more confident. Same for all the others (although not all characters have to change). And then there are the romances. Button and Max have a traditional romcom romance, simple and snarky, so that’s fun and easy to arc. The other romances are mostly hinted at or sketched in briefly–I don’t need any more subplots–but I need to arc them in the background, too. And then we get to the antagonists . . .

So I’ve been searching for supporting character names to make sure they’re in all four acts, each with his or her own layer of characterization, doing things that are not only important to the plot but also important to their (admittedly minimal) character arcs.

My next search is for Joyce. Yes, I’m going to arc a cat. I’m a pro, I can do that.

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And Now, a Word from Our Antagonists

One of the tricky things about writing romance is the antagonist. I’ve found two approaches, which I have discussed in more detail than anybody wanted elsewhere: the lover as antagonist (Moonstruck) and the outside antagonist that brings the lovers together as they fight (Charade). Nita’s book was supposed to a mostly outside-antagonist book, but as I wrote it, the lover-as-antagonist aspect became stronger. And now that I’m on the final pass throughs, I really have to get my antagonist approach together.

The first thing I did was list all the people thwarting my heroine besides the love interest. All but one of them are minions of the real antagonist, but I still needed the basics to make them real people on the page: goal, motivation, action designed specifically to achieve that goal. No “I got up this morning and decided to be evil” stuff. Good, strong human motivations, even if they’re demons.

A lot of them started with “greed,” but the problem with that is that I then have to go deeper and figure out why they’re greedy. “Money is good” is really not enough of a deeper reason. “I need something (respect, love, power) and money will get it for me” can be a reason; “I lost something I need and money can help me get it back” is a good one. But it’s really that “need” bit that’s key. Lots of people want more money, but for a lot of us it’s “want” not “need.”

And for four of them, the motivation is power: they all want to be the next Devil. The key there is not assuming that of course everybody wants power, that it’s a generic goal. The key is why do they want it. One has a clear political purpose. Another wants to regain something essential that he lost and that’s the only way to do it. The other two, well, right now they just want to be Devil, so part of my day today is figuring they’re specific need instead of just their want. I’m thinking aging might be one of the reasons; running out of time to achieve the highest honor in Hell’s government. The other guy right now is just evil, but I’m thinking he’s a retro guy: women are getting too much power, humans are being treated as equals, it’s time to Make Hell Great Again. Not that I’d use that slogan.

I think that the strength of any conflict is in the strength and complexity of the antagonist, and that rests entirely on the depth of his or her goal and motivation. So while I’m thinking that this may be a lover-as-antagonist book (in which case I’m good because I know Nick’s goal and motivation), I’m still going back to get the antagonist and minion antagonist needs, too. After all, Nita can’t defeat them until she understands why they’re trying to defeat her. And I can’t finish the book until Nita defeats them.

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Happiness is An Alligator

Guess what the “F” stand for.

I had a rough year last year.  Many things imploded on me.  So at the insistence of my daughter, I went back into therapy, except I went for the wrong reasons and ended up with the wrong therapist, and that became another implosion.  I was not happy.

  However, half the job of becoming happy again is recognizing you have a problem and doing something about it, so I found another therapist, a great one this time. And she gave me a terrific coping strategy.

“You’re in a boat on a lake,” she said, “and you’re surrounded by alligators. There’s a big one on the shore, but your immediate problem is that there’s one trying to get into your boat.  That’s the book that’s due next week.  That’s your alligator.  Deal with that, and then we’ll figure out the rest.”

I went home and got an upsetting e-mail.  Ordinarily, that would have knocked me off balance for hours.  This time I looked at it and said, “Not my alligator” and went back to work on the book.  All week long, things happened that normally would have stressed me out, but they were not my alligator, so I just kept working which made me happy, and most of those other alligators went away on their own or went to sleep until I could get to them.  And I turned my book in on Friday, right on schedule.  

I have a new alligator now, and we’re getting to know each other, but the best thing about him is that he’s my only alligator, my Gator of the Week. I can handle him.  The rest of them in the lake and that bastard on shore, the therapist and I are talking about them, we know they’re there, but once I get home, they can go back to sleep for awhile.  Right now, I have this alligator in front of me, and I’m pretty sure I can take him.

My recommendation for happiness this week?  Find your alligator.  

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Cherry Saturday, January 5, 2019

Today is Spaghetti Day, a pasta that is close to my heart because, hey, memories. No matter how bad a cook your mama was, I bet you had spaghetti when you were a kid, even if all she did was open a can.

Of course, now you can make spaghetti out of vegetables with a spiralizer which I kind of want to try and kind of don’t. For one thing, I’d have to eat vegetables.

But spaghetti with chopped tomato, sautéed mushrooms and onions, a little basil, maybe a little oregano if I’m feeling frisky, maybe some sliced black olives if I want to pretend I’m in the Mediterranean, that’s a good lunch. The kind with the thick sauce with everything but the kitchen sink is good, too. And of course, there’s Spaghetti and Eyeballs, the food that dares you to eat it.

Spaghetti. You should have some.

If you want the Spaghetti and Eyeballs recipe, it’s here.

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Advice for the New Year

Do not leave a box of Pepperidge Farm cookies on your bed with three dogs and then go run errands. (In my defense, the dogs weren’t on the bed when I left and I forgot the cookies were there.)

In other news, I turned in Nita to NY. The first third was good thanks to all your feedback, the second third was iffy, and the last third was all over the place, but by damn I got it to NY. One tired person and three fat, burping dogs here now.

ETA: And Jen just told me I can have another two weeks so YAY, I get to go back and fix the stuff I know needs fixed. She’s swamped with mss so everybody wins.

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This Is A Good Book Thursday, January 3, 2019

Welcome to a brand new year of reading. And god knows what else, of course, but reading will get us through it.

So what was your first book of the new year? And what else have you read this year, huh?

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Working Wednesday, January 2, 2019

I’m finishing a book. What are you doing?

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Three More Days . . .

Sing that to the Les Miz music, I have been.

I have three more days to finish up Nita and get it electronically to NYC (good old Dropbox) so Jen can print it out and take it home with her and then write me next Monday and say, “What the hell were you thinking?” She’s usually great rolling with whatever I send her, but a dead hero might be the line she cannot cross with me.

I am now at the point where I’m skipping all over the place trying to layer in things and avoiding the last few scenes I haven’t tackled yet. Most of these, I realized, I hadn’t tackled because I knew they were going to be awful, so possibly it would be better to just get rid of them in a throwaway line and move on. I also need to go back through and add people and motifs I drop and pick up again. Still don’t know if the socks are necessary, but I think they are.

And some time tomorrow or Thursday, I’ll print the whole thing out and marvel, as I have done every damn time, that I wrote a book. A whole book. Me. Every time I can’t believe it. Every time, I think it’s a fluke. And a miracle. Me, I wrote a book. Unbelievable.

Happy 2019, everybody. I’m gonna finish a book this year.

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Happiness is a New Start

I don’t know about your 2018, but mine could have been better. Could have been worse, of course, but in general, it was a tense slog. And now we’re down to the last two days, and I’m thinking, “Bring on 2019.”

I do realize that things are not going to miraculously turn around on Tuesday, but there is something about putting up a new calendar (that’s a pretty blatant turning point). I am not making resolutions–screw resolutions–but I am thinking about fresh starts, looking at the things that are constant in my life and thinking about them in new ways. The fact that they’re constants doesn’t mean they never change, it just means that they’re part of me, and I shouldn’t take any of them for grated.

So here’s looking at the things we love and do and need with fresh eyes in a fresh new year. In fact, here’s to the new year, may it be not quite so interesting and filled with a lot more joy.

Happiness to you 2019, Argh People.

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Cherry Saturday, December 29, 2018

Today is Tick Tock Day, a lovely holiday that reminds you that you’re running out of time. Since I’m dealing with heart failure and a deadline next Friday, I am officially ignoring this day.

You, of course, may panic to your heart’s content.

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