Did you know you could fly

I think I've determined that the part of writing I suck most at is character development. The problem is that the characters mostly show up in my head as fully fleshed out people. I forget, sometimes, that they're not in the *reader's* head.

I was writing a scene yesterday for Keeper of Secrets (yes, I *am* still working on that) and it occurred to me that if someone who had been reading what I've posted of that story so far had read that scene, Tommy's involvement would seem like it came from left field. Because I'm finally getting to the part of the plot where Tommy becomes important, and yet I haven't laid the groundwork yet. Y'all don't *know* Tommy - he's showed up in what, two scenes so far?

I get too focused on the "and this is what happened next" part, and I forget that in order for it to work, the reader has to *see* those little daily interactions that let you get to know a character *before* the character does something important that only makes sense if you know that person.

So here I am writing this really important scene where Tommy does something that has all these profound implications, but only if you know his history and his personality and his relationship with Annie - none of which I've actually *shown* yet.

*Sigh*

Character bio sheets for RPGs sound so much easier, why don't novels work that way?

Here is the Contents Page for Keeper of Secrets, aka the Liath story.

Well, apparently I have pretty decent intuition. When I first started writing the Liath story, I hadn't moved to Louisiana yet, and so the Black Rose was located pretty much in an as-yet-unnamed random city. Once I'd moved here and been to New Orleans a few times, I realised it was the perfect setting, and I could tie in all kinds of Post-Katrina stuff that really worked well with the plot. After all, if you were a magical being compelled to ease the emotional burdens of traumatised humans what better place (assuming you were in the US) than New Orleans after Katrina -- practically an entire city suffering from PTSD. I'm not trying to be flippant - I was close enough to what happened to know some of what Katrina did to people around here emotionally, and it would make sense for Liath to move to a city where she was most needed.

So once I'd settled on New Orleans as the location (and where else would you put a bar like the Black Rose but in the French Quarter?) I started looking for an actual address to give it. The wonderfully named Pirate's Alley jumped out at me from the map, and I *really* wanted to place it there. However, I'm big on being as realistic as possible, and I've never actually been to Pirate's Alley. So it was there in the back of my mind, but I hadn't put it down on paper until I could get a chance to go down to NO to check it out.

And then today I find this:





That's an image of Pirate's Alley. It's *perfect*. I don't think I could have chosen a better street for the Black Rose if I'd designed it myself. I still intend to take a trip down there to see it in person, but really. You can't get much better than that.

Ok, this is less a holiday update and more of a stuff-you-may-have-missed post.

First-off, for those of you keeping up with the Liath story, there were two new bits posted. Just click on the 'liath' tag at the bottom of this post to get everything written there.

Secondly, for those who missed my original post last week, I am officially hiring myself out as a genealogical researcher. Caveat -- I have no official training in this area. I have a subscription to Ancestry.com that I have been using for myself for almost a year. And I have a Master's degree and several years experience as a librarian, so I'm good at research in general. I've done some trees for some friends and they've all been quite satisfied, but it's a time-consuming process, so I figured I could do something I enjoy and earn money at the same time.

If all you want me to do is look up a name or two and get information on them, it's $5 per name. For more complex genealogical research, including actual trees, I'm charging $20/hour. I'll need full names and at least approximate dates for you, your parents, and your grandparents at least back to 1920 or so to get started. I can make no guarantees on what I'll be able to find and the more information you can give me the easier it will be. I'm also pretty good at knowing when a tough nut will crack with just a little more work and when a dead end is simply beyond my ability to get past. If you prepay me for a certain number of hours and I hit a dead end before the time is up, I will refund any unused time and let you know what resources I exhausted in case you want to take it further with someone else. Just let me know.

In addition, I'm going to try to get back to my jewelry making and start posting stuff to sell - probably on a separate journal or at least under a filter. Let me know if you want to be included in those posts. I also take design requests, assuming I have or can get the requested materials.