BoM/TWS Message Forum

Previously: "Commentary: "Dropping the Masks""  

I don't know how they were for you, but these five chapters were a little tedious to write. Of the five choices at the end of the poll that led here, Michelle was my own personal last choice. I knew she would be an interesting choice, which is why I added her, but I also knew that she would be very hard to seduce/corrupt/recruit to the plot. Yeah, she doesn't have much presence in the pages of BoM, but she has a pretty solid existence in my own imagination, and I knew it would be tough to do anything with her. And it was, which is why so much of these five chapters are devoted to slowly coaxing her into the plot. And even now, I'm not sure she's on board. I myself suspect she's just following the path of least resistance.

The rest of the chapters are taken up with cheerleader squad machinations. Some readers really liked those—I got GPs—but there too I felt like I was mostly doing housework. According to the rules I've developed elsewhere, Number One left herself vulnerable by kicking Michelle off the squad, and the attempted coup had to be made and the aftermath dealt with. But there will have to be aftermaths to the aftermath of Jack's elevation to squad captain. That's okay, though, if it's fuel for the doppelganger plot.