Thursday, August 14, 2008

Meet MarLo Shovlin

I didn't get much actual writing done today, just tweaked some things from yesterday's pages of notes. But I did put a significant amount of thought into the plot and character dynamics. I'm getting close to having an actual outline. I've already settled on first person narrative, but I may choose to write from two perspectives and switch between them as the plot dictates. I'm rather good at seeing a given scene from two opposing perspectives and have written half a science fiction novel using the same device.

I also picked out character names today and started lists of attributes. I'm not ready to reveal Claire or David, yet, but I'm really excited about MarLo as an ancillary because she's just declared herself on the page and can't be denied, which is good because I intend to keep my David fairly emotionally remote and my Claire may come off as a little stiff at times, so MarLo will be a good foil.

Meet MarLo Shovlin. MarLo works in a copy shop on a college campus, attends some classes for graphic design, but may never get through all of her core classes. MarLo is mildly obsessed with product packaging, has a major thing for Pixie Stix and chewing gum and dyed parts of her hair purple trying to match it to her aura. MarLo has a love/hate relationship with popular culture. She likes to create SitCom moments for her own amusement. MarLo drives a 1984 Volkswagen Rabbit. She considered covering it in CD scales or perhaps bottle caps. One day she'll turn it into a proper art car. MarLo is discreetly promiscuous, believes romance is dead and draws from Himillsy Dodd from Cheese Monkeys and Cayce Pollard from Pattern Recognition. MarLo is the type of person who would wear an "I hope Bella likes popsicles" t-shirt proudly. She secretly loves Kelly Clarkson. MarLo's given name was Marlowe Ann Shovlin, after Philip Marlowe, Raymond Chandler's fictional detective from the 30's and 40's. She has a roaring 20's feel about her with a hard edge. MarLo invented her own spelling of her name upon entering art school and completely ignores her middle name. She intended to re-invent herself, but never got around to it.

Now I have to read some Raymond Chandler.

No comments: