The Boiling Seas – Character Dynamics

One of my favourite things about the Boiling Seas series is the character dynamic I’ve managed to stumble into. Tal, Max and Lily are a lovable bunch of misfits, and as much as I love throwing ridiculous magical set-pieces at you, my lovely audience, describing those impossible ruins and enchanted temples… there’s nothing quite like hammering out a good conversation between those three rogues.

It’s a shame, in hindsight, that it took Lily so long to show up. I think Blackbird would be a hell of a lot stronger with her around, but given the whole point of the plot is getting her well enough to be around that doesn’t really work. She wasn’t even really a character when I wrote that book – I didn’t yet know how fun she’d be to write. But looking back at Blackbird, while I still think it’s a strong book, just having Tal and Max driving the story feels a bit like Star Wars without Han Solo. That third POV and perspective on problems might be more complicated to write, but it’s worth it.

Mostly the banter, though. I love writing these three together, in all their combinations. Tal and Lily have been especially fun as The Owl in the Labyrinth progresses. I’ve mentioned before that Lily is, essentially, based on my own sister, and thus the banter between her and Tal is very natural to write, because I’ve done half of it already, just in different circumstances. Though without Max to mediate them, the insults have been getting a bit more real, the bickering more bitter. Which, again, is probably subconsciously based on real life.

And then Max is… well, I can’t spoil exactly why she’s not off on her own the whole time, but that’s another relationship that’s been fun to write for other reasons. A very different set of conversational partners in that plotline.

Soon, they’ll all be back together, though, once I do a bit more of my redraft. It shouldn’t take long. My dream team draws ever nearer to their reunion, and that’s a scene I need to give a real polish to make sure it does things justice.

Then there’s the rest of the plot to get through, of course, but that’s a near-future me problem.

I’m going to miss these three birds when I’m done. I said as much to a friend recently, to whom I related much of the above when chatting about the Boiling Seas. They wondered if I was really done with Tal, Max and Lily; I said that I probably wasn’t but I’d need to leave a good gap before thinking of any follow-up books; they asked if I’d considered doing any short stories with them.

Well I’m bloody considering it now.

I’ve done a couple of shorter Boiling Seas pieces, which are floating around this website, but apart from the not-Christmas special I haven’t done any with all three birds. Yet. Because of course that’s the perfect medium to just have fun with these characters I’ve come to love so much: little adventures, some extra crimes, some jaunts off to side locations on their quest for the Five Scrolls. There’s some built-in timeskip I can play around in at the start of Nightingale, and given I keep alluding to Tal and Lily’s teenage years on the wrong side of the law I should probably write that at some point too. I’ve built a whole world to play with… so once I’m done with the main plot, I think I’ll let myself do so.

Plus, if I write some short pieces, they’ll make great bonus features for the omnibus.