Evie Harper Mysteries Book 3 is now out: Bleed for the Camera

Yay! We've come to the end of another novel. Thank you to everyone who's been reading along and voting and commenting, etc. If you commented and I didn't respond I apologize. Sometimes I get too busy. My bad. But anyway, this chapter feel free to ask questions, or comment about anything or just a vote or whatever.

The rest of this Afterward is just going to be a look at character direction and changes that happened from the Look but Don't Choke Outline to the finished product and why. Other than that, see you next time.

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Changes from Outline to Book:

I outline. I have to for this series I need to know where the clues go. But sometimes plot lines get dropped for time. For this book some changes really jumped out at me:

There was going to be a Pasha B plot:

Poor Pasha. She never gets to do anything but stand behind the cash register and make one liners that demonstrate how annoying she is. I even forgot about her tendency to smell loud because she's always burning incense until the last seven chapters. Well, there was going to be a B plot about Evie finally snapping and cursing her out at the height of her stress for being so aggressive with her activism. When Evie went on her late book apology tour (she apologized to Henry, Johnny, and Manny in this book alone) Pasha would have been included and you would have learned more about her background and why she's so crazy. Unfortunately the book got too long and too complicated before the end so I chose to cut it for time. Maybe next book you'll get some character development, Pasha. Sorry.

(Evie was similarly supposed to cuss out Abby's mom but it wouldn't fit either.)

Evie was going to throw the cat directly at Tia's head:

There are few moments in my life where I stop and think, 'Will my character be less sympathetic if she commits an act of brazen animal abuse?'. Originally Evie was going to be holding the cat in her arms when Tia showed up and in desperation she was going to throw the cat at her, causing her to drop the gun and then the fight would happen. But as I was counting down to the chapter I worried Evie would seem less sympathetic if she just starts throwing cats like they're ninja stars so I changed it have the cat act of his own will. Sort of.

Evie and Harley were going to have sex; like for real:

In the outline the idea was that Evie would get the call from Harley, go to comfort him, and end up having sex with him after a decade of flirting between the two. Manny would still catch them after and she'd still get that conversation the two had at the police station (which is my personal favorite chapter in the book because damn she had that coming).

You can still see shades of the aftermath in the chapters that follow as Evie is almost obsessed with him most of the novel and then suddenly she's 'whatever' about it. That's because they were going to have sex and then she would have been over it. It would have been fade to black because the book is rated pg-13 but it was going to happen.

However like the animal abuse example above I worried she would come off as unsympathetic because at the time she was dating Manny. Don't get me wrong, in reality I don't see anything wrong with people dating multiple people whom they have not committed to yet, but I understand some people would see it as a more black and white area and find Evie to heartless as a protagonist. Particularly since Manny is an established character who some readers might feel a certain way about. I took that into account and decided at literally the last second to stop the scene right before they can make to his bedroom.

He was also going to be way more drunk but the issue of consent came up. I didn't want Evie, who's clearly enamored with this man, to take advantage of his drunkenness to finally get what she wants. Too far.

Characters:

Evie- Evie Harper is a shameless author insert. There I said it. When I made her the goal was to have a Black female character who was only slightly above average in looks but competent and self-sufficient. As far as looks I wanted her to avert the curvy ideal that's prevalent in Black literature and decided to keep her slim as opposed to 'curves in all the right places'. As far as personality I wanted her to be good humored, sensitive, but focused. She's rarely aggressive or mean (usually) and she's able to care about her friends and family but also put herself first when necessary. She doesn't need to be perfect or make the right decisions 100%. She can be petty or rude or insensitive too.

There was also implications of trauma in all that happened. This is also a quality borrowed from myself, though my hangups are due to medical trauma. This may come up again in later books.

Henry- Henry is designed to be the male best friend that's a common literary trope in chick lit. Except of course they're actually platonic. One of his purposes is also to play straight man to Evie (because she plays straight man to the rest of the cast) A lot of this book more than the first explores their relationship to each other in both the present and the past. I have them both together as they deal with each others families and hint as to what the families think about a relationship between a man and woman that started when they were in second grade. Henry's father seems to like her and the few times he speaks he talks about the past and often tries to lure her to hang out with him and Henry at baseball games like they used to when they were kids. His mother doesn't mind her but is weary that in the future she may have to call her daughter-in-law while Grandma Sophie ships it and Evie's mother seems neutral about it.

One of Harley's purposes in the book is character development not just for Evie but Henry too. He's like a conduit for a lot of things that happened in the past and his introduction allows me to express their friendship from a platonic and alternate-universey romance what-if situation.

I'm not yet sure where I'm going to take Henry's character next book.

Manny-This character without a doubt is the most fucked over reoccurring character in the narrative. In both books he's largely off screen and it damages some of his development. Unlike characters who get to ride along on her absurd adventures (Henry, Jackson, Johnny especially), he's acted as an almost adversary in both books because Evie has to work behind his back so often.

Next book I definitely want to incorporate him more in the narrative so he can get the level of character development that characters like Henry and Johnny have gotten.

Johnny- I'm starting to think some of you maybe like him as a character. In book one he served a definitive purpose. He's a witness to the murder and Evie seeks him out for that reason. In development for this book the million dollar question was how to incorporate this character who I and many readers like in the story organically even though he's just some random guy.

I got around it by using his odd job abilities to tie it back to the Plot A while developing his character through backstory in one of the B plots. In the next book I'm planning to continue the character development when it comes to his standoffish-ness, his feelings and breakdown about Grace's suicide, and his friendship with Evie.

Jackson-This one's tricky. Jackson was created to be a tool of the story in book one. I wanted our murder suspect to be someone Evie cares enough about to motivate her to action but also someone suspicious enough that you could reasonably see why Manny would immediately put him on the suspects list.

So I thought, I'll make this ex-con character who's cousins with Evie and she gives him work after he's released from prison. The problem, like Johnny, was finding a way to incorporate him in the new story. He was easier because he's an employee but I also wanted him involved somehow. Jackson as an ex-criminal character is delicate to write for. I don't want him to be too stereotypical. There will never be a plot where he goes back to his gang life and Evie has to save him like some demented morally superior do-gooder. What he did is over and I prefer for the character to move forward instead of backwards. He's also a great foil for Evie as they grew up in different socioeconomic realities while still being a part of the same family. He'll be back next book to call out Evie for being elitist another day, and in the meantime he'll be in culinary school.

Alice-You don't know who this is? That's my fault. Alice was a character who has been created since before I even started writing. The reason she's been absent is because I had trouble incorporating her into the story. I think she gets a brief mention in book 1 (or not, can't remember) and then she appears in this book as Evie's accountant who calls Johnny 'raggedy' to his face.

She was created to be Evie's best girl friend and it's my fault but she should have been there since page one. She mostly exists to even the cast (Henry, Manny, Johnny, Jackson, Harley--it's a goddamn sausage fest in there). I hope to be able to fully integrate her next book, so don't be surprised if she shows up.