I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence
And so the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're goin' through

Thursday, September 24, 2009

I took the path mostly trodden, there were good restaurants and hotels

Worked on getting all the floating pieces of Chapter 26 in order last night. I'm not happy with the chapter, although it does some cool things, I'm not so hot on it being so late in the book. But I expect things will get hot for Gary in the near future. Like with the next cell call that will happen just around dinner time. He's bruised and battered and about to be thrown in the deep end. Santana will help, but in the end give him his lead. I wonder if people will still root for Gary when I show he's not above killing in cold blood (well, the other side is asking for it, and it's not like I haven't left a wake of at least a baker's dozen bodies so far).

Although now it comes to me that the Bad Guys(tm) aren't full characters (well, the Magician is a little). However, noir is necessarily told first person which makes it difficult to get into the heads of others, especially when they're not on stage (and the main bad guys, as in real life, like to stay in the shadows).

2 comments:

Rick said...

Yeah, crafting bad guys is fun, but there are those limiting conventions that get in the way sometimes.

Steve Buchheit said...

I think they're interesting. Hey, one even faked his death. But so far not much up and close parrying. And I'm not sure if you see enough of their machinations through others' conversation etc. Mostly when they're on stage there attempting to kill our protags. There's no, "I'll kill you slowly in this overly elaborate scheme while monologuing about my plans and goals, including pointing out the fatal flaw in my plan." Also, no whity comments before or after killing people, all those comments are between noncombatants.