Characters With Jobs
Feb. 12th, 2007 10:35 amNow that housework for today is finished (sort of, laundry is a never ending battle), the plan is to turn my attention back to writing, assuming I can continue to fend off the encroaching headache.
Novel revisions are on tap today, once I've made my
novel_in_90 words for the day (we're going to talk about the whole
novel_in_90 thing later this week). I've printed out the notes I made so I can scribble all over them. I've figured out approximately how I want to restructure the novel. I'm also a bit worried that the ending might not pay-off as well as it could, wild fight for survival in the basement not withstanding.
One thing I need to pay careful attention to is the aftermath for my characters. I've begun to think there is a reason most characters in Urban Fantasy seem to be people who live on or very near the fringe of things, with few of the normal ties-that-bind: it's easier to wrap up the aftermath. When your characters can go back to being a musician/artist/actor/street performer/starving poet after all the weirdness, it makes things simpler for the writer. There's less to explain, especially to your character's employers or government officials. The life they return to fits in (well, has a higher potential to fit in) with all the weirdness they've experienced.
Me, I have two characters who work for the county, one in child protective services, one in the law library, and another who's an ex-waitress now working as a flight attendant. Among the characters you'll find in the two novels I've written, there's a barista, a short-order cook, a staff writer for an outdoor magazine, a surveyor for the county, a receptionist, a couple of police officers, and other people with, you know, everyday jobs. Jobs they're going to have to go back to (or not) once all the mystical magical woo-hoo (that's a technical term) is over. Because you know, I think Jill's boss is going to want to know where she's been and why she's wearing an eyepatch all of a sudden.
Speaking of work, time to get back to it.
Novel revisions are on tap today, once I've made my
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One thing I need to pay careful attention to is the aftermath for my characters. I've begun to think there is a reason most characters in Urban Fantasy seem to be people who live on or very near the fringe of things, with few of the normal ties-that-bind: it's easier to wrap up the aftermath. When your characters can go back to being a musician/artist/actor/street performer/starving poet after all the weirdness, it makes things simpler for the writer. There's less to explain, especially to your character's employers or government officials. The life they return to fits in (well, has a higher potential to fit in) with all the weirdness they've experienced.
Me, I have two characters who work for the county, one in child protective services, one in the law library, and another who's an ex-waitress now working as a flight attendant. Among the characters you'll find in the two novels I've written, there's a barista, a short-order cook, a staff writer for an outdoor magazine, a surveyor for the county, a receptionist, a couple of police officers, and other people with, you know, everyday jobs. Jobs they're going to have to go back to (or not) once all the mystical magical woo-hoo (that's a technical term) is over. Because you know, I think Jill's boss is going to want to know where she's been and why she's wearing an eyepatch all of a sudden.
Speaking of work, time to get back to it.