Friend Groups

 

I don't know how I got started thinking about this--as an overthinker, my head goes a million different directions all the time--but I was contemplating friend groups in relation to my musketeers.

Ryder (Wicked Obsession) is the peacemaker of the group. When Finn and JT are squaring off in Wicked Intention, it's Ryder who tries to smooth things over. He did this at the end of his own book, too.

JT AKA Griff (Wicked Salvation) is the mother hen, the one who worries about his friends. The reason he squares off with Finn is because he's worried about him and the chances Finn's taking since he met Zo.

Kyle (Wicked Deception) is the...well, I was going to say smart ass, but he's not exactly that. He's the one who pokes at his friends' buttons for amusement purposes. If they're on their game, they ignore him and don't let him know it worked. When they're less on top of things, they react. Griff was not on his game when he met his heroine and Kyle had a good time in that book.

And Finn (Wicked Intention). I had to think about this for a longer time because I wasn't sure what role he had in the group, but I think I have it. He's the glue. He's the one who makes sure everyone keeps in contact. He's the steadiest one of a group of steady guys. If one of them needs to get rock-solid advice, Finn is the one they'd talk to. Of course, Finn does not merely say what someone wants to hear, he speaks the truth, and sometimes that's not what someone wants to hear.

I also spent some time mulling Mako who was the original fourth musketeer and what his role with the group was, but I didn't come up with an answer for him. Yet.

I never spelled it out in the series, but Kyle was Mako's replacement on the team. That's why in Wicked Intention he's the newest team member in the flashback scenes. It's why when Finn checks in at the bar, he, Griff, and Ryder refer to themselves as the three musketeers. Kyle was working his way to good friend/musketeer status with the other guys. And then, two years later when the current day action takes place in Wicked Intention, he's a musketeer.

I'm thinking through the next series arc now, trying to figure out the relationships. I know who my heroes are. I know who their heroines are. Now it's a matter of figuring out how to weave it all together.

That's Luke

The characters demanding my attention right now are not from the story I'm supposed to be writing. Not only are they from another world entirely, but if I did write them, there are around seven other books I'd need to write first. I have them planned out and it would be correct chronologically. None of that seems to matter.

To try to get them to stop bugging me, I started writing one of the scenes they've shown me. I didn't get far before I started looking for pictures of them.

Usually, I need to write two to three chapters before I look for pictures, but I know this couple well already, so I guess that's why it was different. Looking for character images is not normally a lot of fun and it wasn't this time either. I still haven't found the right image for either of them.

I know Cam doesn't have long hair, but I stopped at a picture of a guy with shoulder-length brown hair anyway. If the face is right, I can sometimes manage to find a picture of the model with short hair.

Before I can even get a really good read on his face, though, Cam says, "That doesn't look like me. He looks like Luke."

I'm like Luke? Who the hell is Luke?

My brother, he tells me. Okay. I knew Cam had two younger brothers, but I had never gotten their names. Now I have them name of one more. Luke Brody. I'm guessing this means he has a story, too. :-/

Real Life Heroes

I don't usually write blog posts more than a couple of days ahead of time, but because I was going to be in MN for three weeks--and because I don't have any internet access while I'm up there unless I go to the library--I wrote a bunch of posts ahead of time. I also wrote posts while I was in MN as a topic occurred to me. This was written on April 19th, the night the younger of the two Boston Marathon bombers was captured.

As a news junkie, I've been glued to the television set since late last night. I was just about to go to bed on Thursday night when I saw a Breaking News alert come on CNN. I stayed up watching events unfold until 4:30 in the morning. I know that was pretty stupid, but every time I thought about going to bed, something new would happen.

 

I heard about the firefight between the suspects and the officers and special agents working the case. The last estimate I heard said some 200 rounds were fired and explosive devices such as pipe bombs were lobbed at law enforcement. And they were in my thoughts—one officer slain in his police car and another critically wounded and in the hospital fighting to survive and the situation wasn't resolved yet. I couldn't help but wonder how many others would be hurt or killed in the line of duty?

 

Then on Friday evening, more rounds of gunfire were heard. This time things felt different and I had this sense that this was it, that they'd finally get this last guy. They did. Captured!!! the Boston PD's Twitter feed said.

 

Something pretty cool happened that evening. As the police withdrew from the scene, the people of Watertown, MA gathered on the sidewalk and cheered the officers and special agents as they left.

 

They cheered!

 

They cheered and chanted and said thank you to law enforcement for what they'd done, the risks they'd taken to keep them safe. I teared up, I admit it. This was that awesome. Our society calls overpriced professional athletes (some of whom have arrest records) heroes and cheer them on for winning a championship, but you don't see cheers for the men and women who work every day to keep us safe.

 

But Bostonians did. They cheered for their police, for the FBI, and for all the other people who put their lives on the line to arrest a man who'd already killed 4 people and injured hundreds of others. (I'm supposed to put allegedly in there or something, right? Pretend I did.)

 

The people of Boston had already impressed me during the week. The way they rushed to help after the bombings, the way they refused to let the event on Monday cow them, the crowd at the Bruins game singing The Star-Spangled Banner so loud and proud, drowning out the man who was officially singing it, and the way they helped each other in the days afterward. But of all the things I saw, cheering for the people who actually deserve it and are too often taken for granted was the best.

 

Part of being a writer is being able to imagine things really well; it's why I'm a borderline hypochondriac among other things. And I could imagine being a police officer. I could imagine pursuing two men who'd carjacked someone at gunpoint. I could imagine them throwing explosives at me. I could imagine being involved in the gunfight that followed, knowing that the men shooting at me had just savagely killed an officer at MIT a short while earlier. I could imagine thinking of my family—spouse, kids, parents—and being scared that I wouldn't be able to go home to them at the end. That I'd take a bullet, too, despite the tactical gear. I can imagine trying to control the adrenaline, to do my job and keep the people in the houses around me safe.

 

And because I can imagine all of this, it makes me appreciate what these people do all the more.

 

I can't help but wonder if these events will alter the relationship between the citizens of Boston and the surrounding environs and their police officers. I wonder if they'll remember six months from now what these men and women did for them and still be grateful. Time has a way of dulling memories, but I hope this does change things and that maybe people will remember who the real heroes are and say thank you whenever they see one.

TMI

I did spare a few thoughts for writing while I was in the midst of going through my house. To be honest, I'm not sure how this cropped up inside my brain because I can't think of anything that triggered it, but then my mind mystifies me frequently. :-)

Why do we as romance writers have to mention in the book how much experience the heroine does or doesn't have?

That was the question I pondered. My personal belief—and practice—is that it almost never needs to be mentioned. I did bring it up in my first book because it was a dynamic of the relationship between Ravyn and Damon that actually had an impact. I also brought it up in Dark Awakening because it was also a plot factor and Maia's past relationship with Seth was also a major plot point in In Twilight's Shadow. Any other mention in any other book wasn't my idea, but a request from an editor.

To be fair, I generally don't announce how much experience my heroes have either unless it's a story factor. Although you can bet safely that they're not virgins. That is one trope that I avoid like the plague as a reader and I'm for darn sure not spending six months of my life writing one. And now that I've said that, the Universe will probably ensure the next new hero that shows up is innocent. But damn I hope not.

But I digress.

Anyway, I've never seen a mystery writer or a fantasy writer mention how much sexual experience their characters have, so I'm not sure why romance writers are expected to do this. If a writer doesn't say, then the reader can picture a heroine (or hero) any way she likes. If she wants the heroine to be a virgin, she can be a virgin. If the reader prefers a more experienced heroine, there you go. And if the reader wants a heroine with a little experience, she can be that, too.

Reading is very much a collaborative exercise. Every time I open a book, I bring my preferences and biases to the table. I think most readers do this and IMO, it's one of the things that makes reading so awesome. I just think that not saying something like, Jane had slept with three guys, one of whom kept his socks on, and none of them had ever rocked her world is unnecessary unless there's a specific reason the story demands it.

Who Are You and Why Are You Here?

I had a new hero show up this weekend. Friday night, I think, although he was pretty covert and I didn't realize he was there then. It's only now, as I look back, that I realize it had to be him even then. I'm not quite sure when I realized he was there. It might have been last night or maybe even this morning. It's one of those things where instead of popping into my thoughts, he kind of glided in.

The when doesn't matter all that much, I guess. I just know that he was here full force today and talking. I know his name--both the one his parents gave him and the nickname everyone calls him. His first name is...well, embarrassing. He says it wasn't all bad, that it helped him develop a thick skin and made him tough. All those playground fights, you know. Beyond this, I don't know much yet. I asked him what he does, where he lives, but I get no answers.

The biggest question of all, though, is what book is he from? No answer on that either. Apparently, he's not part of my Light Warrior world or any of the ideas I have lined up that I want to work on after I finish this next book. At least that's what he's claiming, but I've had characters lie to me before.

No heroine for him yet. No story. No time to write him even if I did have this information. I'd explain to him I have a deadline for another set of characters except that he's not pushing me to write about him. In fact, he's kept it pretty low key. Unlike other characters I've had which have come in and made demands. Ryne immediately comes to mind, although at least she never interfered when I was actually writing Cai and Jake's story.

Tonight, I tried to find a picture of this new hero. I know what he looks like--dark hair that's a little long, about 30, soul patch--but I couldn't find anything that worked. I'm not going to waste a lot of time looking, but he's so clear in my head at this moment that I thought it wouldn't be too hard to find an image that looked like him. I was wrong.