SHE WROTE: Bubble Baths and Set Pieces

Oh, there are SO bubble baths in writing.

I just got a new bathroom, my first really, really, REALLY good bathroom, and it has an air tub, and when you put bubble bath in an air tub, you get BUBBLES. Hollywood bubbles. Bubbles that climb the curtains the first time because you didn’t realize that air tubs turn ordinary bubble bath into Uber Bubble Bath.

So now I’m taking bubble baths instead of drugs. Not that I took drugs. Mostly. But bubble baths are very relaxing, and I get great ideas in them, one of which I’m pretty sure is going to turn into my next solo book, so I’m very happy about that. And Bob really has no argument here because he has a steam shower which I figure is the Guy Equivalent of an air-tub full of bubble bath. So HA to you, Robert Mayer.

Where was I?

Right, the wrong master. So then last night, after a long day at a booksigning where I met terrific people and discussed Moot and the blog and other good things followed by a fun dinner with three Cherries, I relaxed in an outstanding bath (milk bath this time) and then got out of the tub and found an e-mail from my writing partner that said, “I'm hoping you sent me the right version cause the one I have is just a little under 25,000 words and on the blog you said you had 27,000 words.” Uh, gee. Wait a minute. Let me look. DAMN. So much for relaxation. And then because he’s Bob “I Never Take A Day Off” Mayer, he worked on the wrong one. Which I'd sent him. I’d love to find a way to make that his fault, but let’s face it. I was in a hurry to go promote our book while he sat in the comfort of his own home and snorted dog fur, and in my rush to work for our mutual future in publishing, I inadvertently . . .

I screwed up. Sorry, Bob.

So here’s what happened. I’d been working on the Mothers scene, and I’d written it outside the book, in its own document, because it’s such a complicated scene and there’s so much that it has to do. And it was going in a direction I hadn’t been expecting, and it wasn’t doing anything I wanted it to do, but I’d already had the master way too long, so I slotted it into the main document, did a quick run through, closed the document to check on something, and then sent it to Bob in an e-mail. Except I attached the wrong doc and he got an earlier draft without the Mothers scene. Then I went off to do a booksigning and left him with the wrong master.

There’s a reason he screams and snorts dog fur. (And by the way, his other dog is named Neeley, so if you’ve read Bodyguard of Lies, well, you know. I’d like to point out that I never named any dog Phin or Sophie. I do have a Lucy, but she was Lucy before Don’t Look Down, and her full name is not Lucille, it’s Lucifer, Daughter of the Devil because she was a very aggressive puppy. She’s fourteen now and calmed down considerably.)

Where was I?

Right. The master copy of Agnes. Bob’s got the right one now, but the Mothers scene is not even close to being right, so I’m thinking it was probably my subconscious that sent him the wrong one because I just wasn’t ready to hand it over yet. The thing I have a hard time remembering is that this is a don’t-look-down draft (not to be confused with a draft of Don’t Look Down), which means that we just have to get this stuff down on paper and then we can make it better later. But the Mothers Scene is a set piece, which ups the pressure to get it right considerably.

A set piece is a big dramatic scene that shows a major shift in the plot, big things happen, it’s one of those scenes that people remember. The biggest set piece I ever did in category was the dinner party in Strange Bedpersons and I still get people who mention that to me. That one took weeks to write, so I don’t know why I keep thinking the Mothers scene should be better right now. The structure is a little wobbly but it’s there. There’s an antagonist and the conflict builds, although not well. It’s not a terrible start. Maybe I’m freaking because it carries so much freight, it introduces the entire wedding subplot, not to mention five new characters, all fighting with each other. The problem is, I’m not that interested in four of the characters, I’m interested in one, the bride, and her relationship with Agnes. The others are in there as barriers and complications, and they need to be comic relief (right now they’re just annoying) and I need to get those characters brushed in broadly so people know who they are without any explanation, so that’s something I’ll have to layer in later.

But “later” doesn’t work for me. This scene is really important, which means I’m driven to get it right, right now which is impossible, I won’t know what “right” is until I see the rest of the book, but I know it’s not right as it is, and that’s gonna bug me. Most of the scenes in this first act have no structure yet, and I can ride with that, we can fix that in the rewrite, but the Mothers Scene is so damn complicated that if I don’t get the basics laid in right in the beginning, I’m going to have a nightmare down the road.


Argh.

The thing about set pieces is that they have to be fun. Characters bouncing off each other, emotions running high, big revelations that lead to big character changes. We have several in DLD—the WonderWear party and the scene in the strip club with Wilder and LaFavre, to name just two—and they took both of us writing and rewriting to get them to where they had to be. But I still wanted to fix this, wanted to hold onto it and make it BETTER before Bob saw it. It’s so pathetic now. It’s wimpy. And it needs to be strong: Agnes’s priorities shift during this scene which foreshadows the big priority shift she’s going to make at the end of the act, plus there are going to be two other Mothers scenes in the book (I love the Rule of Threes which is Really More of A Guideline than a rule, but still), so this sets up the pattern.

You’d think after sixteen books, I’d be able to say “It’s a don’t-look-down draft, let it go, move on, come back to it when you know more,” but it’s a set-piece scene and I need to get it right.

Maybe if I took another bubble bath.

Is that Bob screaming down South?

Then my work here is done.