Keeping Secrets

So I'm sure you're all wondering how the SubOccDeRom (Subterranean Occult Detective Romance) story is going.

And well… it's going.

They're wandering around underground, detecting things occultly, but… The romance is going to be harder than I thought. At this point, they don't seem to particularly like each other. I'm going to have to throw them into some peril that will force them to rely on each other and make them grow closer. Because at this point, Catherine is just on a mission to find her father, and Nick is kind of a jerk who doesn't like sharing anything about himself.

On that note, it's becoming a bit of a running joke that she'll ask about where his weird-ass clairvoyant powers come from, and he'll change the subject and say, "Hey, what’s that sound over there?" whether there actually is a sound or not. Is this because I haven’t figured out where it comes from? Partially. I know the basics, but I don't have the specifics. And he just doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would divulge that much information upon first meeting someone.

That's always an interesting quandary I have while writing. See, as the author, you know everything about everyone. But when do you reveal that information to the reader and to the other characters? When is the right time?

Half the time, I end up never revealing it at all, and it just stays locked in my mind. The bonus features, you know. The little "Hey, here's a tidbit you didn't know" things that I'm going to reveal at… some point. Like books are going to have deleted scenes or whatever.

I'll give you an example. You heard it here first, folks. If this book ever gets finished and published, you'll be one step ahead of the rest. Anyway, Secrets & Thieves, a post-apocalyptic adventure I wrote for NaNoWriMo 2014. There was a lot going on it that, mostly murder, and some mystery, and the biggest secret that no one knew was a secret. Enter Kai Barton, narcoleptic gunslinger (there were some weird characters in that story). Now, his whole thing was that he came from a conservative religious background that he had long since rejected for… reasons and now he was on a mission to do something worthwhile. That's not the secret. Rather, it's the fact that his name is actually Hezekiah. This was established from the moment I gave him a name. And then it just… never came up. So nowhere in that 50,106 word document is that ever mentioned. I've literally never told anyone until just now.

This is what I'm talking about. Sometimes you have some piece of information that a character is holding onto, and there is never a "right time" to bring it up. I mean, how many things do you know that you never mention because no one ever asks?

So the question of how Nick got his "skills" may never actually get an answer. Maybe he'll avoid it the whole time. What probably should happen is that they'll begin to trust each other and grow closer, and he'll finally tell the story. It's got something to do with the veil between worlds and how it's kind of… sticky. I'm sure this will all come up later.

Probably.

Hey, here's a wild idea. I bet I'd know when in their relationship this would be revealed if I had made a damn outline like I was supposed to. At this point I'm only writing every other day because the daily word goal is so low, so I could certainly take some time to sketch that out.

Get it together, me.

I'll see you Friday.