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I’m remembering why BLOOD NOIR is the first big book since OBSIDIAN BUTTERFLY to be set out of town. Yeah, MICAH, was set in Philly, but we saw the drive from the airport, the hotel room, and a cemetery. (Replace the cemetery with a book signing and it’s about what Jon, Charles, and I see on tour.) The book was less than two hundred pages manuscript length. I think it was about 180, no more than a little over two hundred. There just wasn’t room to dwell on the fact that we were in another city. But, BLOOD NOIR is over five hundred pages. There’s time to dwell.
I’m remembering now that there was more than one reason that OBSIDIAN BUTTERFLY was hard to write. By leaving town, and only taking one familiar character with us, and making it a bigger and more complex plot, I made my job harder. First, I have to create a supporting cast of new characters. If I stay in St. Louis, my extended cast is right there, dead on. I know them all. I need a policeman, I’ve got Dolph and Zerbrowski and the rest of the Spook Squad. I need a vampire, I’ve got Jean-Claude and all his kiss of vampires. I need a wereanimal, well there’s Richard and his wolves; Rafael and his rats; Narcissus and his hyenas; Haven and his lions, well, you get the idea. But in a strange town with just Jason, I’m starting from scratch. It’s like reinventing the wheel by pounding it out of rock and putting a wooden spoke through it, when at home in the garage you’ve got a Porsche 911.
We do see some of the extended cast on stage. Jean-Claude has some of his most poignant moments early on. Richard comes with some of the werewolves, and he, too, has some really good moments. But it’s mostly Anita, Jason, and brand new characters. Some of which we’ll probably see again. So, not only did I have to reinvent the wheel, but I’ve added to the extended cast, which sometimes feels as if it’s a cast of thousands. Until I hit a book where I’m without them, then I feel bereft, and remember why I have them in the first place. I have a stable of steady working characters so that I have most of my parts full in any given “script”. I like not having to go hunting inside my brain for new characters, because I’ve already done the work. I have what I need here in St. Louis, in my pretend version of the world. Not so, when I go outside my home turf.
I did the out of town research just like I did for OBSIDIAN BUTTERFLY, and it’s working, but it’s slower and more confusing than writing about the old familiar haunts. I’ll say this, the next book is going to be set here in St. Louis. Of that, I’m 98% certain. It would have to be a damned good idea to lure me into another research trip book. I have several planned, but BLOOD NOIR has reminded me why I keep pushing them off. It’s also why I’d originally planned on this being another novel-lite like MICAH. JASON seemed a fine title for another novel-lite. But Jason had other ideas. The book is good, I’m happy with it. I got surprised a lot, just like in OBSIDIAN BUTTERFLY with Edward. But damn, I’m ready for this book to be in New York for good.
But, I got to the end of the manuscript today. Tomorrow is just about hitting the sticky notes that are left. Finalizing some choreography, and some physical description of rooms and locations. I also have a hand full of things I just can’t decide which way to jump. Yes, or no; this or that. I also have a list of police questions. I’ll be contacting my various experts in that field. Most of that will wait until Monday. If push came to shove the book could go to my editor with the police questions not answered, because I will be seeing this book again once she’s edited it, and I can fix the police questions then. My editor made some comments that I took notes on, but she hasn’t done what I call the minutia edit, yet. But she will, and then the book will come home to roost. By the time a writer finishes the last edit on a book, the really-real last edit, we’re sick of it. No matter how much you love it, having to read and reread, and go over first your editor’s notes, then the copy-editor’s notes, well, you begin to have to be careful not to start changing stuff because you’ve read it until it’s not fresh. Change, or answer only what the editors ask. Nothing more. (Strangely, I think I’ve reached the point with BLOOD NOIR already, where I’m having to fight myself not to change things because I’ve just read that scene one too many times. It doesn’t bode well for when the manuscript comes back next time from New York. I’ll have to be extra careful not to edit the book to death, which I’ve seen some writers do.)
For once, I’m hoping my editor takes her time on her end, because I can think of few things that would discourage me as much as a quick turn-around forcing me to go right back to this manuscript. I need a break before I’m asked to edit this again, so I’m not tempted to simply mess with the writing just so I’ll have something fresh to read. Boy, do I need to be able to work on the first draft of SWALLOWING DARKNESS. My muse and I need some first draft to spell us from all the editing. Soon, soon. Maybe by Tuesday.