Unexpected character brainstorming FTW!

[annathepiper]

Determined to write a couple hundred words for Bone Walker tonight, I lamented to solarbird that I had a logistics problem to solve as I started the new chapter. The issue with writing several characters who don’t normally drive, you see, is that when I have a situation that requires them to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible and magic is not immediately an option, and I’ve sent what members of the cast who are established to have vehicles off to do off-camera things, I’m kind of screwed!

I explained to Dara that I needed to get Christopher and Kendis from her house in Sand Point over to the East Side, and that time is of the essence for reasons on which I shall not elucidate, because of spoilers. She wryly suggested that in the Faerie Blood universe, maybe we do actually have the Mosquito Fleet of boats on Lake Washington, or that I could make a faerie/ferry pun of some sort, which might bear investigation later if certain long-term plans come to fruition for the future of these characters. More immediately, though, the best solution seemed to be just have them take Millie’s car.

Those of you who’ve read Faerie Blood may note that at no point in that book did I ever mention that Millicent Merriweather actually owned a vehicle. So when I mulled what sort of vehicle she might drive, Dara promptly started throwing me all sorts of amusing suggestions about cars for a woman of her age and history. As a result, I have decided that Millie has a 1982 brown Volvo, which used to belong to her husband and which she now drives as little as possible because 1) a Warder should walk her city’s streets, not drive them, 2) the car makes her miss her husband, and 3) driving is annoying in general. Especially in Seattle.

This will explain why the hell Kendis has spent the last two months in Millie’s company and never realized she had a car at all. It will also give me an excuse to have her and Christopher get into her car and take enough of a moment to double-take over how wait, what, Millie listens to Nirvana?

I’m tellin’ ya, Millie just keeps unfolding like a flower. Also, character brainstorming with your spouse rocks.

Mirrored from angelakorrati.com.

Comments

[thunderpigeon.livejournal.com]

I can see where some readers might see it as deus ex machina to suddenly put a car in the garage of a character who was walking for the first book and a half (or book and nine tenths, if you're worried about spoilers?), but when I lived in Seattle I knew a number of people who had cars that they rarely ever drove. Heck, when i lived in Portland I was one of those people. And I could totally see Millie being one of those people.

If you'd like, I can put you in touch with a friend who's never had a driver's license and is married to a man who also never drove, see if she has any suggestions for you.

[annathepiper]

Hell, I have a car I drive no more than absolutely necessary: i.e., if I have go to the grocery or run some other errand that requires me to get something more than I can comfortably carry, or if I need to go somewhere not easily accessible by bus.

Kendis and Christopher are also non-drivers; neither owns a car. Kendis mostly because she hasn't wanted to bother, and Christopher because he's never had the money for one.

Fortunately, Kendis has actually rarely been anywhere near Millie's house, which is where this Volvo will have been quietly rusting for the last twenty years. ;) Millie has a way of just showing up when she needs to haul these younguns around Seattle, and she makes 'em walk anyway. Because yeah. A Warder needs to walk the city streets!

[chamois-shimi.livejournal.com]

I didn't get a driver's license until I was 26 because well, I grew up in Seattle (outside it, technically), and who the heck *needs* to drive, really?? I finally got some friends to teach me when I started having nightmares about it. I would have freaky dreams where something horrible was happening to a strange mish-mash of family/old friends/new friends/strangers and Someone Had To Go For Help and I was the only one who could go, but I Didn't Know How To Drive ... most of the time in the dreams I'd end up in the car anyway and trying to drive, and then more bad things happened, and ... yeah. So I learned to drive.

When I started working for the Park Service my boss was horrified that I didn't know how to drive. I pointed out that on the 14 page application it asked me if I knew how to ride a horse, use a chainsaw, speak multiple languages, fire a gun, fight fires, etc, but nowhere did it ever ask if I could DRIVE. (oops)

[chamois-shimi.livejournal.com]

I should add, after Seattle then of course I was in Fairbanks, where learning to drive would have been pointless because a) I couldn't afford a car anyway and b) half the cars around didn't run in the winter anyway.

[annathepiper]

A skill that's only useful half the year is a bit of a lose, yeah!

However, about that application story, I must go LOL. ^_^

[annathepiper]

I've baffled more than one contract recruiter asking about bus routes--made 'em look at me funny and ask me if I actually owned a car. They looked at me funnier when I explained that I do, I just don't like to drive it. ;)