11/5/23
Who are these people in my head?
This is number thirty-five in the blog series, “My Life in Erotica.” I encourage you to join my Patreon community so I can afford to keep writing.
HOW WELL DO I KNOW my characters? The answer to that question is inevitably “Not well enough!”
Back in 2006, I wrote Nathan Everett’s For Blood or Money during November’s NaNoWriMo. I set up some extra criteria for my challenge that year.
- 1. The action in the story would take place on the thirty days of November.
- 2. It would be a first person noir cyber mystery.
- 3. The two principal characters would be computer forensics detective Dag Hamar and his assistant Deb Riley.
- 4. In December, I would continue the story with what happened next from Deb’s perspective on the thirty-one days of December.
I felt I got Dag’s voice down pretty well by writing two short stories that would occur a while before the events of For Blood or Money. But continuing the story from the perspective of Deb Riley, a 27-year-old female, was going to be a challenge.
So, I began a blog, specifically stating that a 58-year-old man was writing this blog, not a young woman, and that I was trying to develop the voice of the character for an upcoming novel. I asked members of the blog site (Live Journal) to please respond to what I wrote and make suggestions regarding what I should change.
Surprisingly, I got a number of young women who decided to ‘help me out.’ They started responding to “Deb” as if she was a real person, making suggestions to her. I continued writing through November, not only writing Dag’s narrative, but in a separate blog writing the story from his assistant’s perspective through the entire month.
When I was ready to start writing Municipal Blondes on December 1, the words flowed naturally in the blog I’d created for her. In fact, I had done so well at capturing the young woman’s voice that in late December, when I took a little break for the holiday, one of the young women who had become a fan wrote:
Deb! We haven’t heard from you since you got in the car with that Ray, fellow. Please let us know you’re okay! I’m worried about you.
That was when I knew I’d not only captured the voice, but the character had captured friends. Municipal Blondes is now available on Bookapy.com. You can read Deb’s original journal at https://debriley.livejournal.com/.
So, now I have a whole new cast of characters to deal with. I don’t have time to create a long journal for each of them. So, the best I can do is write about each character and get some of their history in place.
1. Preston Jerico Carver. Age, 32. Brilliant creative genius behind JeriCorp Architecture and Development. A gawky 6'2". Brown hair, brown eyes. Stutters when he speaks and freezes up in public. Demanding and defensive in his office where he seems able to speak freely. Lonely and a bit angry about it.
Preston has repeatedly refused to ‘move back home’ with Jacqueline, his mother, in the mansion. Still, he visits every Sunday and listens to her berate him for being single. She suggests he move back home and he refuses to ‘be the 30-year-old bachelor living with his mother.’ She suggests again that he get married. Preston likes the idea of getting married, but believes women who would want him are only interested in his money.
2. Erin Jerico Scott Silvers. Age, 29. Smart and creative, almost doomed to a dull life as a housewife and mother until her husband cheats on her and she divorces him, swearing to put her life back together. Shapely 5'8", a little thin after the divorce and living off her tips. Blue eyes and blonde hair. Quick to comprehend what is going on in the office, but still is almost trapped by it. Starting as a waitress, she is then employed by JeriCorp to be Preston’s assistant.
Erin thought she would become a marketing executive after college, and was working her way up in a large ad agency. But she met Bruce and fell in love, deciding a family would be more her style and that she could go to work when the children were in school. She is normally bright and outgoing, which makes her a natural waitress.
When Erin and Preston meet in the diner, she is still Erin Silvers. After her divorce, she returns to her maiden name of Scott. When she goes to work for Preston, she is simply Miss Scott and her first name is never referred to.
3. Royce Duval. Handsome and charismatic president of JeriCorp. Age, 43. 6'0", dark blonde. Mustache. He worked for JeriCorp long before Preston took over as Chairman. In fact, he was discovered and groomed for the position by Preston’s grandfather, the previous chairman. Grandfather realized Preston would need someone out front who was a dynamic leader.
4. Shannon Duval. 30-year-old trophy wife of Royce. Managed to entrap him when she was only 27 and neither has been particularly loyal to the other. She is blonde, blue-eyed, big busted. 5'3" tall. She is employed by JeriCorp as a financial manager. In that position she can see much of the company and often stops to talk to people in all departments. She is an opportunist and applies financial leveraging theory to her personal relationships.
5. Jacqueline Jerico Carver. Preston’s mother. She lives in House Jerico and is divorced from Lyle Carver who was substantially below her social status. He got a nice separation package due to the pre-nup and gladly left Jerico City after the divorce. He’s not been heard from since. Jacqueline is 51 years old, brunette, and brown eyes. She is active in all manner of civic organizations, including sitting on the boards for several arts organizations.
6. Lawrence Jerico. Preston’s grandfather and mentor. Also, his father figure. He led the company for thirty years before turning the reins over to Preston, but is still active behind the scenes. 75 years old, gray hair, brown eyes, firm and fit. He has been important in Preston’s life, and owns the controlling interest in JeriCorp Architecture and Development. Has quietly been buying up the property for Preston’s resort development.
7. Bruce Silvers. Ex-husband of Erin. An architectural engineer who was hired into a good position on a fast track at JeriCorp. 29 years old, 5'10", sandy hair and blue eyes. Simply never learned to keep it zipped and fell right into Shannon’s schemes. That cost him his job and his marriage. He abandoned all rights and left town.
Sometimes I have resorted to a spreadsheet listing all my characters and their traits, but I often write stories with a hundred or more characters. By comparison, this one will be focused on just these seven characters. I felt the paragraph or two describing each would be adequate as I started writing. Next week, I’ll discuss “The Deep Outline.”
Please feel free to send comments to the author at devon@devonlayne.com.
