In the past, my rhythm when writing was have a major event then give the characters time to process what happened. Ione should be so lucky. After being flown to Paris and dumped back into a case that she's been pulled off, Ione now has to deal with a missing roomie while also trying to convince a skeptical hard case that she wasn't the reason a deal literally exploded. And Jack doesn't seem to care.
The Terrasse du Septième is another real place, though the interior is somewhat generic. I did a quick bit of research before writing the scene, enough to figure out the general decor and menu. Ione is in a tourist area, somewhere that has people coming and going and not really paying attention to much else except the sights. Perfect to have a quiet conversation while not risking being stabbed or shot in the pub. Ione doesn't want to wind up like Greedo.
Jack is fashionably late. He has a sense of drama. Too bad he didn't give Ione a copy of his script. Then again, Jack doesn't play well with others. He is protective of his things. Yes, that does have implications for Ione. But, as long as she is useful to Jack, Ione is safe. Relatively safe. She doesn't have to worry about Babbage's people. At this point, Jack is now the one they need to worry about. He's also acting as Ione's superior, so that is where the focus should be, not on her. Jack has also done his homework. At this point, assume that Jack knows far more than anyone else involved, including Ione and even Marco's bosses. Jack is playing a deeper game than the rest of the players, who think they're merely actors upon a stage.
Ione is the viewpoint character. Considering some of the reveals coming much later, it made writing easier to just follow Ione. She's in the centre of the action most of the time, and when she isn't, the goal is getting out her frustration. Karen is missing and Ione doesn't know what happened. Jack disappears without comment and Ione doesn't know what happened. Talking to Mara doesn't clear anything up. Ione is in the dark, but as she discovers what's happening, so do the readers. The goal with The Devil You Know was to have a character piece together the mystery and then take charge. Ione will find her new balance, but she has more problems to deal with before that can happen.
NaNoWriMo encourages writing. Anything that distracts from writing should be minimized. But for participants who write by the seat of their pants, like me, at some point, research needs to be done. Sometimes, the research can be the start of a writing session, as an upcoming scene gets fleshed out before typing. Sometimes, though, a detail comes up that needs research that would stall the flow of writing. Minor details, like the flower Ione put in her hair, need to be worked out, but the amount of work to figure that out wasn't worth the time that would be taken from writing the scene. In those cases, I use a placeholder. Works great for minor details, like flower names. I can research later, when the crunch isn't on. Of course, that means getting to the research far sooner than while preparing the chapter for posting. Whoops. And the difficult part is that floral arrangements do take time to research. The goal was to find a flower that wouldn't be a mouthful for someone to say, and Jack removed the obvious choice, the rose. Still, I still use the trick; when writing, don't interrupt the flow to research a minor detail. Save it for later, either before the next writing session or for after the first draft is done.
Friday, Jack pulls Ione in deeper, in the The Devil You Know Chapter 14.
Also Friday, over at Psycho Drive-In, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight.
Saturday, over at The Seventh Sanctum, cultural changes over time and adaptations.
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