Lethal Ladies #2 - Commentary

As always, please read the chapter before continuing.

The titling of the "chapters" were one issue I hadn't thought of when I started serializing the story.  Ultimately, I went with the location of the first scene; in the case of last week's entry, Velasco Investigations.  In 2006, I hadn't had a clue about how to chapter a story.  Previously, it was all works of under 5000 words, or split up at natural breaking points.  Lethal Ladies wasn't designed to be episodic.  Considering that the story was written for NaNoWriMo, it wasn't really designed.

Elena makes a proper intro here.  As mentioned last time, she was originally conceived as an Eagle Shaman for Shadowrun.  Her character changed the most when adapting the story to the new form; Elena became Russian.  Her last name, Gshalaevna, was found during a name search.  Later Russian names would be taken from hockey team rosters.  For those wondering, yes, there is a reason why Elena is Russian.  That reason will get revealed later.

In Shadowrun, most sessions start with the team meeting either a corporate liaison known as Mr. Johnson or a go-between known as a fixer* to negotiate a job.  Think of it as the job interview, except that the job is illegal and needs to be untraceable.  Once the team and Mr. Johnson/the fixer have talked about the job, prices get offered.  The same happens with Sexton.  Rose explains the costs, the risks she, Elena, and the rest of the team are taking.  I had Elena write the number down on a piece of paper and not discussed so that inflation didn't suddenly turn the expense into something from petty cash.

The meeting goes by fast enough that Tyler didn't get a chance to bring the coffee in.  Elena and Rose have time to discuss and figure that some legwork is needed.  The job, retrieving floor plans from a warehouse, sounds too easy for the special services.

Tomorrow, the legwork.
Saturday, over at MuseHack, a link roundup of news about remakes and adaptations.
Coming soon, hopefully, more NaNo prep work (two and a half months to go!) and character creation notes.

* Fixers are the people who know people who know people, and can arrange a meeting for a price.