Jennifer Crusie's Blog, page 204

Businesses on Devil’s Island: More Names, Please

First, I forgive John McCain for Sarah Palin.

So I’m doing some world-building in service of the plot, and I need some more business names.  In particular, I need motel and B&B names.  Inn Fernal and Motel Styx (again, thanks to Lorna) now play a big part, and I added luxury hotels The Deville and The Elysian, but I need a couple more motel names and a couple more B&B names would be good, too.  

I also have a women’s sewing circle that right now I’m calling Stitch and Bitch since that’s such a common, normal name for that kind of group, and the stuff that goes on there is not.  I have a kind of Radio Shack store that’s just called Crome Communications right now; if anybody has a better idea I’m all for it.  The stuff in bold below is already in the book, but a lot of the rest of it is going in as I start filling in details.  

And then as long as I’m asking questions, let’s say somebody is trying to take over control of the island from behind the scenes.  Obviously, one of the basic moves would be to put somebody in as mayor and on the town council and to infiltrate the police.  I also have this person buying up hotels and motels for a particular reason.  He’s going to make a move on the amusement park since that’s the center of the island economy.  What else would he need to acquire to pretty much control the island so that he could do what he wanted (behind the scenes) without interference?

And as always, we thank you for your support.

Here’s the list we had before:

The Morning Star Newspaper (Dame B)

The Devil’s Playground (the big amusement park on the island)

Main road of the park: Good Intentions Drive (thank you, Anne)

Incu Bus (bus line in the amusement park) (thank you,Fi Mac)

Food:

Hell Fries

Fish Styx with Tartarus Sauce

Persephone’s Pomegranate Pops (juice bars, thank you, Kim)

Park Shops

Hell’s Handbaskets (souvenir store, thank you, Nicole)

Hell Freezes Over Ice Cream (thank you, Nicole)

Park Entertainment:

Matt Demon, comedian

Rides

Highway to Hell (Roller Coaster that goes underground, thank you, Philby)

The Leviathon (huge roller coaster, thank you, thank you,Michael)

Seven Deadlies; Park Rides (thank you,Nicole Massey)

Night Mares (park ride) (thank you,Fi Mac)

Pair O’ Dice Gambling in the Park (thank you,Nicole)

The Hell-icopter (thank you, Katrina Snow)

Bars, Clubs, Restaurants:

Hell Bar

The Underworld (Bar in a basement)

Satannica (club)

Hell’s Belles (gentlemen’s club/strip club)

Shady Hades (club)

Enki Panki (singles club)

BeelzePub (bar)

Beelzeburgers (thank you,Michael Mock) including the Seven Deadly Burgers (thank you,Nicole)

The Long Spoon (restaurant, thank you, Philby)

The Golden Calf Steakhouse (thank you,Michael Mock)

The Third Circle All You Can Eat Buffet (thank you,Michael Mock)

Fresh Hell Deli (thank you,Micki)

Snowball’s Chance (ice cream parlor, thank you, KJ)

Sweet Temptations (candy store, thank you, Nicole)

Grace Restaurant; beneath it a bar called Fall from Grace (thank you, Georgia)

Dia-Bowl-Us (bowling alley, club)

The Orpheus Theater with the Eurydice Bar in the back

Stores:

The Devil Wears Praxis (Tailor)

Demonista (Women’s Clothing)

Erishka Gals (Women’s Clothing)

DemoGorgeous (Women’s Clothing)

Lara-Lyssa (women’s clothing designer)

Chamber of Scissors (women’s tailor)

Luci Fur (coats and fake fur)

Imp (Children’s Clothing) (thank you,Michael Mock)

Idle Hands (Craft Store)

Hell on Wheels Bike Shop (thank you, Camilla)

Hell Bent for Leather (Leather goods) (thank you,Dame B)

Shades (Curtains and Upholstery) (thank you,Micki)

Paper Dispensations Stationary (thank you,Michael Mock)

Service

Charon’s Taxi Service

Yama Glamour (beauty salon)

Asphodel Meadows (retirement home)

Cerberus Vet and Kennels

BeelzeSuds: (Laundromat, thank you, Nicole)

Good Intentions Paving Contractors (thank you,Nicole)

Save Your Sole Cobbler (thank you,Fi Mac)

Tia-Mat (Laundromat) (thank you,Michael Mock)

The Primrose Path (Nursery) (thank you,Jane Birdsell)

Vanity Fair Beauty Salon (thank you,Fi Mac)

Devil May Hair Salon (thank you, Salpy)

Hell to Pay Payday Loans (thank you, Dame B)

Rosemary’s Baby-Sitting Service (thank you, AJ)

Hell or High Water Plumbing (thank you, Salpy)

Devil’s Food Cakery (thank you, Salpy)

Motels and Hotels:

The Deville

The Elysian

Inn Fernal

Motel Styx (thank you,Lorna)

Island Social Groups and Churches

Demon Island Historical Society

Church of Satan

The PentaGran, acapella group of five grandmothers (thank you,Fi Mac)

Name the town council refused to approve: Brother’s Keeper (Gardening Supplies) (thank you, Michael Mock, yes, you are going to hell)

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This is a Good Book for the Last Thursday in July

The summer is just speeding right along, isn’t it?

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Double Messages and Updating Argh

Nicole and Micki are getting double notifications from this blog.  Is anybody else?  If so, could you explain in the comments so Mollie can fix it?  I’m assuming this is part of the transfer of the blog from one to server to another–and we were so sneaky about it, too–so it should be fixable.  

And while you’re at it, you might mention anything you think might be improved or added here–that got you “Like” buttons and Good Book Thursdays last time–and we’ll talk about it. I will get the WIP tab above filled in with content, I’m just not sure how much.  I hit you with a ton of pages last Dec/Jan, and I think that was overwhelming.   And I’ll keep going through and cleaning the place up.  We’ve got almost two thousand posts on here; thatsa lotta words to wade through and recategorize.  Argh.

 

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Cherry Saturday 7-22-2017

Did you know that the Dog Days of Summer* run from July 3 to August 11?  

And that July 22 is exactly midway between those two dates?  

Which makes today the Hump Day of the Dog Days of Summer.

Just something to think about.

*”The dog days or dog days of summer are the hot, sultry days of summer. They were historically the period following the heliacal rising of the star Sirius, which Greek and Roman astrology connected with heat, drought, sudden thunderstorms, lethargy, fever, mad dogs, and bad luck. They are now taken to be the hottest, most uncomfortable part of summer in the Northern Hemisphere.”  (From Wikipedia, of course.)

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This is a Good Book Thursday

You know what to do.

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What Makes a Story Unputdownable?

[image error]If you’re reading this thinking there’ll be an answer in this post, turn back now.  I’m just cogitating out loud and, as always, inviting Argh Nation to co-cogitate.

I’ve been reading a lot lately thanks to Good Book Thursdays (and thanks to the Argh people who asked for them) and I just read two books that I shouldn’t have liked but read straight through, and I’m now reading one book that I’m having a hell of a time finishing.  The first two are by a new-to-me author and the other is by one of my all-time faves.  I’m trying to figure out why I read the first two at light speed, and why I keep putting down the other.

The first two have vivid characters that don’t arc at all, a protagonist who annoys me about a quarter of the time I’m reading her, and cheery-perfect-world outlook in which everything turns out great for no particular reason aside from Good People Win.   The last one has vivid characters who are vivid because this is the third book they’ve been in, not necessarily because they’re clever on the page, a protagonist . . . . actually, I’m not sure this book has a protagonist, and a sense of been-here-before that is more boring than satisfying.  The antagonists in the first two books are almost cartoons (although to be fair, the books are almost farces), and there doesn’t seem to be an antagonist in the last book.  Yet.  I’m on page 77 of 375 pages.  I think an antagonist is overdue.  The first two books deal with a clear-cut morality in which the protagonist and her pals never do anything wrong.  They make mistakes, but they fix them.  They are good of heart and clean of mind.   The last book has the kind of squishy morality I like, but so far very few people are doing anything.  

So I can say lack of  a strong protagonist, lack of action, lack of an antagonist . . . the third book is just lacking.  But why the hell am I reading the first two books?  

I think the big thing is that the heroine is so vulnerable; vulnerability gets me every time.  And she’s active, she’s trying to hard to fix her situation.   But she’s also passive in that people do things to her and she doesn’t fight back, she just finds ways to escape.  As it happens, that works out perfectly for her, but if I ever do a post on passive-aggressive heroines, she’ll be at the top.  So the stories are about a nice woman whom people are trying to victimize, and about how the people around her fight to save her which gives her a feeling of worth, and how eventually she fights back, too.  I think it’s the vulnerability.  I want to see her saved.  But she’s not my favorite character in the books (I’m not sure I have a favorite character) because everybody around her is so much more interesting.  I read the first and second one and a short story that came between, but I think if there was a third one, I’d pass it by because it would be all about this woman being saved again.  The quirky community and sunlit world is fun, but not for three books.  

And yet I will persevere and finish that damn third book if it kills me.  Because that world is not sunlit, it’s teeming with darkness and bright flashes of neon and the occasional explosion.  The community isn’t so much quirky as cheerfully depraved, and the plot isn’t so much fun as . . . well, it’s not fun, but the books that came before it were wild rides that I adored.  So I’ll see it through.  There won’t be another one after this, so I’ll have completed the series.  It’s almost an obligation to finish this book; it’s as if I owe the author for all the joy he’s given me in the past and this is how I’m honoring my debt.   I will finish this book.

But when I look back at the books that came before this one, and at those two with the gormless heroine, I’m still trying to figure out why I read them so voraciously.  (Okay, I read the second of the first example much less voraciously, but I finished it.)  Those books are missing so much of what I think is necessary in a good book, but I still read on.  

So let’s talk about what makes a story unputdownable, using examples, please.  Fling book titles about at will.  Cite specifics.  I need to figure this out.

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Cherry Saturday 7-15-2017

Today is Cow Appreciation Day.

Have a nice chicken sandwich.

 

 

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This is Another Good Book Thursday

I’ve been re-readin Aaronovitch again, trying to a sense of the whole series (except I skipped Foxglove Summer because I draw the line at unicorns).  Also went back to Pratchett because Mollie wanted a recommendation.  So what have you been reading?

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Listening to Nita

Or in this case, Nita’s soundtrack.

I do soundtracks for my books for the same reason I do collages: to look at the story in a different way.  I start by making a playlist of any song that seems right–Chesney’s and Imagine Dragons’ “Demons” songs were a no-brainer–and trying to find new things–that would be Lenka’s “Trouble is a Friend” recommended by CateM here–and then putting them in a rough order.  Then the soundtrack usually sits for awhile as I write.  

(Image/Poster is by James Gulliver Hancock.)

But when I’ve got the plot pretty much blocked out,  I circle back to it.   Which of these songs fits in what act?  Which of these songs is a scene?  Which are character themes?   Which just don’t fit any more?  Where are my gaps and what kind of songs do I need to fill them?    The point of this is not to make a playlist which I will forget once the book is out anyway, any more than the point of a book collage is to make a poster.  The point is to think about the story in a new way.  

Example: I’d started the list with Imogene Heap’s “Spooky” because that’s how Nita’s introduced.  Months later, the list now starts with Lenka because that’s Nita’s theme.  I can hear it playing while she sits in that cold car with her new partner, knowing things are very wrong and trying to cope with reality, which within twenty-four hours is going to get very bent.   So no problem, just move Heap to the bar scene sequence where Nick meets Nita.  Except that Heap is female and the whole song is really about Nita understanding Nick, which doesn’t happen until the third act.  So Heap drops down to the third act.  But now I need “Spooky” sung by a male, and the classic version isn’t doing it for me.  Too upbeat and affectionate; we’re talking about a dead guy here.  

So what did I get from that bit of musical brainstorming?  For one thing, that I want Spooky in there twice, which reminded me that I have a bit of dialogue between Nita and Nick that gets repeated but reversed.  Nick says it to Nita in Act Two and Nita says it to Nick in Act Three, which are reversed dynamic acts already.  Nick’s still in charge in Act Two and  Nita’s on the ropes, trying to cope with the changes forced on her, but in Act Three, Nick gets hit with massive changes and Nita’s in charge because she’s on her feet again.  So maybe Heap’s “Spooky” stays in Act Three and I put the original “Spooky” in Act Two, when Nick is less dead.  

Or there are the sex scenes.  I do not like writing sex scenes, but if your characters have sex and it makes a difference to the plot, you’re a coward if you don’t show what happens.  And because this book is kicking my ass, there are three sex scenes.  Not extended scenes, there’s a limit, but scenes that go on long enough to show how different they are because Nita and Nick keep changing and their relationship keeps changing.  Trying to figure out the music for those is another not-there-yet part of the soundtrack.  I know “Such a Night” is the second one, but for the other two, we’re talking some specific mood music I haven’t found yet.   It doesn’t matter because the soundtrack has already done what it’s supposed to do: told me the three moods of the three sex scenes, something I hadn’t thought about before.  

There’s a lot more–that soundtrack goes for two hours and it’s not finished, I’m still rearranging and filling holes in the playlist–but the good news is that the music is doing what it’s supposed to do, helping me see Nita and her story with new eyes.  Ears.  Whatever.  

The Extremely Tentative, Still in Progress Devil in Nita Dodd Soundtrack

Act One:

MONDAY

First Scene: “Trouble is a Friend,” Lenka

Scenes in Bar: ??

Scenes at House: “Demons,” Chesney

Investigation: “Busy Day,” Gooey

Scenes on Demon Head: “Suddenly I See,” Tunstall

Act Two:

Arguments: King of Anything, Bareilles

Scenes w Family in Bar: “Master of Disaster,” Hiatt

Aftermath: Have a Little Faith in Me,” Hiatt

TUESDAY

Investigation “Together,” She and Him

Smite: “Ghost,” Henderson

“Spooky,” ?

Aftermath: “Lullaby,” Mullins

WEDNESDAY

“Not a Love Song,” Lewis

Act Three:

THURSDAY

“I Can’t Decide,” Scissors Sisters

“Strip Me,” Bedingfield

FRIDAY

“Ashes,” Tunstall

“Alone Together,” Fall Out Boy

“Such a Night,” Elvis

“Spooky,” Heap

“Human,” The Pretenders

SATURDAY

“Too Lost in You,” Sugababes

“You’re the One,” Chapman

SUNDAY

“Will You Remember Me?” Cash

“Somebody Knows You Now,” Paisley

“Stronger,” Sugababes

Act Four:

“Demons,” Imagine Dragons

“World on Fire,” McLachlan

“Only Human,” Cash

“Bleed to Love Her,” Fleetwood Mac

“No More Tears,” Streisand and Summers

“What Love Can Do,” Hiatt

 

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Cherry Saturday 7-8-2017

Today is Bodypainting Day.  And Blueberry Day.

Paint yourself with blueberries.  (It’s also Chocolate with Almonds Day, but that’s pretty much every day for me, so I went with fruity druids.)

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