Warning: spoilers for Caffrey Conversation stories.
Eventually my vision expanded to have Neal infiltrate one of the choirs. Wouldn’t he enjoy showing off his ability to con them into letting him perform with them? I considered various options and decided a college choir would be perfect for him to join. Little did I know how that would inspire Silbrith and her direction for Neal…
Not only was I writing a story about a holiday concert, but it was actually early December of 2013 when I wrote it. I was working my way up to my first Christmas without Mom. That’s one of the reasons I was tempted to make the story bigger, so that it would take more of my time and attention away from my grief.
My initial idea for the meeting between Neal and Ellen could have worked even if I'd stayed with the original ending for the first story. However, almost as soon as I started I realized that I wanted to include Peter in the story, so that took me to the AU side, and meant that it was going to be more than a scene or two at a Christmas concert; I needed a case for them to solve. I'd always been one to plan in detail before writing a story, and this was my first attempt at going without a net -- no outline at all. I had no idea who was behind those emails to Michael until I was several chapters in. I simply kept introducing suspects and hoped one of them would make sense. Peter echoed my own thoughts, that it wasn’t much of a case, but it was a good learning experience for me and for Neal.
A fan of the strong marriage between Peter and El, I worked in a phone call between them. We knew from canon that she loves music, so why not use her expertise as a believable way that she could relate to the case and even provide some information for Peter? I’ve always liked finding realistic ways to include Elizabeth in my Caffrey Conversation stories.
I thought perhaps Neal forming a friendship with a professional musician could help with the Urban Legend plot that was bubbling in my mind, but had no idea how much I'd return to members of the group Local Devastation in future stories. Michael's invitation to Neal after the Christmas concert was laying the groundwork for the scene in Caffrey Flashback where Neal meets the other members of Local Devastation, and that in turn led to using the characters in Caffrey Disclosure and Caffrey Aloha.
I also didn't have any strong feelings about The Gift of the Magi, but the canon stories had recently aired about Neal's role and secretiveness around getting Peter out of prison and Peter’s reaction. I did have strong feelings about those episodes, which resulted in Peter's lecture about the O. Henry story and how it compared to true partnership.
When I brought Neal and Peter back to New York in the final chapters, I used it as an opportunity to show that both of these characters are younger than in canon, and have a lot of learning to do. Peter goes too far with the fake arrest, but is open to admitting he made a mistake and learning from it. I enjoyed writing his speech to the team about not tricking or ordering Neal to break the law to make their own jobs easier. The post-arrest scenes, as well as the earlier scenes at the Marshals' office, brought back the child abuse theme I'd introduced in the first story. I already had Neal's backstory in mind and was building up to the scenes in Caffrey Flashback, when Neal's full memories would return.
Rewriting the ending of the previous story had meant cutting the scene with the overzealous Agent Hitchum, but I brought him back as a potential obstacle for Neal in his new job. For me, Hitchum represented a chance to put a fresh spin on the type of issues Neal encountered with Agents Fowler and Kramer in canon. I didn't know exactly what he would do in future stories, but knew it would be handy to have an embedded bad guy on the team.
It was difficult to imagine Neal living anyplace but his loft in June’s mansion, so I worked in a meeting with June. The opportunity to introduce Byron was exciting; I could tell from other fan fiction I'd read that people were curious about him and what he and June were like together. Imagining how Neal might have rented that loft several years ahead of the pilot was fun, even though introducing Byron as already ill was sad. I was using that to work through my own memories and grief, and was working up my courage to tackle harder scenes in upcoming stories.
The canon element of the tracking anklet was something I was glad to be rid of. My Neal needed to be free to travel. On the other hand, Peter and his boss would be worried about Neal’s unpredictable, lone-wolf tendencies. Tracking Neal's phone was the perfect substitute. They wouldn’t monitor him 24/7, but at least could track him down to help or intervene if he got into trouble. That also put Jones in a difficult position, having started out befriending Neal and then being assigned to keep an eye on him. That gave me the opportunity to make Jones’ role more complex as the series continued.
By the end of the story I was increasing in confidence for the future stories in the series. That gave me the courage to tease elements like agents following Neal over his lunch hour (which later turned into Tuesday Tails), as well as revealing that Henry Winslow was more than an alias.
Choirboy Caffrey was the first story I posted a chapter at a time rather than all at once. The experience of interacting with readers chapter-by-chapter was amazing, and was one of the reasons that I immediately dove into my next story, setting the first scenes of By the Book over New Year’s Eve. More to come about that when I write about the building blocks of By the Book…
Rewriting the ending of the previous story had meant cutting the scene with the overzealous Agent Hitchum, but I brought him back as a potential obstacle for Neal in his new job. For me, Hitchum represented a chance to put a fresh spin on the type of issues Neal encountered with Agents Fowler and Kramer in canon. I didn't know exactly what he would do in future stories, but knew it would be handy to have an embedded bad guy on the team.
It was difficult to imagine Neal living anyplace but his loft in June’s mansion, so I worked in a meeting with June. The opportunity to introduce Byron was exciting; I could tell from other fan fiction I'd read that people were curious about him and what he and June were like together. Imagining how Neal might have rented that loft several years ahead of the pilot was fun, even though introducing Byron as already ill was sad. I was using that to work through my own memories and grief, and was working up my courage to tackle harder scenes in upcoming stories.
The canon element of the tracking anklet was something I was glad to be rid of. My Neal needed to be free to travel. On the other hand, Peter and his boss would be worried about Neal’s unpredictable, lone-wolf tendencies. Tracking Neal's phone was the perfect substitute. They wouldn’t monitor him 24/7, but at least could track him down to help or intervene if he got into trouble. That also put Jones in a difficult position, having started out befriending Neal and then being assigned to keep an eye on him. That gave me the opportunity to make Jones’ role more complex as the series continued.
By the end of the story I was increasing in confidence for the future stories in the series. That gave me the courage to tease elements like agents following Neal over his lunch hour (which later turned into Tuesday Tails), as well as revealing that Henry Winslow was more than an alias.
Choirboy Caffrey was the first story I posted a chapter at a time rather than all at once. The experience of interacting with readers chapter-by-chapter was amazing, and was one of the reasons that I immediately dove into my next story, setting the first scenes of By the Book over New Year’s Eve. More to come about that when I write about the building blocks of By the Book…
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