Comments on: NaNoWriMo 2007: Drawing Back the Curtain, Part 2 - Characters

By: KJToo

KJToo — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 18:28:58 +0000

You are totally failing at HoNoToGroABeMo. I’m quite sure I see fuzz.

It’s really just a trick of the light.

By: blob

blob — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 17:41:39 +0000

You are totally failing at HoNoToGroABeMo. I’m quite sure I see fuzz.

By: KJToo

KJToo — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 16:43:05 +0000

I’ll be digging into both Emma’s and Bannister’s backgrounds at some point during the story, as the new mayor of Cleveland has a bug up his backside about Proulx and has already requested whatever files Remington may have regarding the detective. The mayor isn’t going to be happy about what Remington has (which isn’t a lot), so he’s going to launch his own investigation into where Proulx came from, etc. That will logically extend to Emma.

By: Gerall

Gerall — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 15:47:04 +0000

Scandal and naughtiness!!

Unmarried people, living together in the same home?!? Shocking!

I’ll echo Rob’s sentiment about putting the pages in to help give Emma more depth as a character. The concept of “sexy redhead partner who’s smart” could potentially be tweaked with “partner who’s actually more observant than protagonist, but is in denial”. Why not take the Scully-meme and crack it over your knee? She wasn’t stupid, she just didn’t seem to notice anything that Mulder saw.

Emma can be exposed to these otherworldly things and come up with her own explanations for them.

Just some further fuel for your writing-fire. Take it or leave it.

-more words, better sentences-

By: Rob

Rob — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 15:29:33 +0000

Interesting. Perhaps there’s an fascinating little backstory to how Emma gained her anatomical knowledge. Stuff like that usually takes up a few pages and can be good for really bringing a character to life.

By: KJToo

KJToo — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 15:18:38 +0000

Emma Caldwell is, indeed, going to be a tricky character to write. She definitely has those qualities that might have been in short supply in the mid-nineteenth century, which provides no end of vexation where some of the male characters are concerned, especially on the part of Sergeant Shaughnessey, who strongly disapproves of not only the idea that Proulx apparently considers Miss Caldwell his peer, but of the fact that an unmarried woman lives in the same house as a just-as-unmarried man. In fact, Proulx admits early on that Emma’s knowledge of all things anatomical is superior to his own.

Emma’s first name, by the way, was borrowed from one Emma Wallace, a pianist and singer who just happens to have red hair.

By: Rob

Rob — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 14:16:51 +0000

I like the characters. I would advise you to be very careful in writing the Emma Caldwell character. It would be tempting to make her quite smart and have fun with the Mulder-Scully interplay aspect but I imagine women didn’t have as much education in the early part of that century. Not to say there weren’t any smart women, I’m just worried you’ll give her qualities that might have been in short supply in that day and age.

I don’t think you have to worry too much about the police ranks and such. If you decide to be historically accurate at some later date, you can always do the research and find out how Cleveland police forces did their ranks. Gotta love the Internet. I’m sure the information is out there somewhere.

Sounds like you’re on quite a roll! Keep it up.