By the Book: Panic Phrase

When I started writing By the Book – named for the panic phrase Neal’s supposed to use if he encountered danger during his first undercover assignment – there were a few elements that were panic-inducing for me. Recently I’ve made a few edits to the story, and revisited some of those initial fears in the process. The first fear: during the party scenes, characters were speaking French.

For at least a few seconds when I originally planned the story, I’d indulged the thought of actually writing dialog in French, and then chickened out because it had been too long since I’d studied the language and I feared embarrassing myself. The edits I’ve been making were kicked off by an offer from someone much more fluent than I am. She provided translations for some of the dialog, which I’ve now scattered throughout the story. One fear conquered!

The next fear was of all the characters I’d need for the scenes set at the New Year’s Eve party. How was I ever going to remember all of those names? And if I couldn’t do it, what chance would readers have? This is a fear I conquered immediately, by deciding to pull most of the OC names from Pride and Prejudice. Thus we have:

• Bennet Sinclair of L&B = Mr. Bennet of Longbourn (I avoided using Bennet as a last name because I didn’t want to cause any confusion or overlap with WC canon’s James Bennett)
• Bethanne Jane Sinclair = combo of Elizabeth & Jane Bennet
• Katy and Lily Sinclair = Kitty and Lydia Bennet
• Marie Sinclair = Mary Bennet. Yes, I took the middle sister and turned her into the au-pair-turned-stepmom, because Mary was the obvious name to transform into a French version.
• Thomas and Peggy Gardiner = Mr. & Mrs. Gardiner
• Charlotte the cat = Charlotte Lucas
• Guillaume Charles D’Arcy = combo of Charles Bingley and Fitzwilliam Darcy
• Doctor Liam Collins of LCD = Mr. William Collins, employed by the Lady Catherine DeBourgh
• Redding-Kotz syndrome is named for the Bennet sisters’ fascination with the British militiamen in their red coats.
• Wild Bill Wickham = Mr. Wickham
• Louisa Hurst of Hurst Collectibles

Then there were fears around some of the subplots and how readers would react. Would Byron’s deteriorating health be too much of a downer? (No one mentioned it as an issue.) Would readers tear me apart for my take on an asthma attack or for attempting to write a realistic blind character? (One comment said I got the asthma description right, and no one’s complained about my portrayal of Thomas.) Would the part about Peter starting to think of Neal as a son be too over-the-top? (Apparently not, as those chapters got rave reviews.) Was I crazy to introduce an OC like Henry? (A few readers complained and stopped reading when they felt his role was too big, but so many other readers have embraced him that I’m glad I stuck with my vision for him.)

The main fear was of the sheer scope of what I was undertaking. I envisioned By the Book as the first of a trilogy, with Caffrey Flashback and Caffrey Disclosure being the other two stories in the set. I was introducing elements and themes that I would expand on for the next two years, and I’d never attempted writing something so vast. Looking back, I’m pleased with how it worked out. In this round of edits, I made a few updates for consistency, but they’re simple tweaks. For instance, I changed the age of the U.S. Marshal assigned to Neal’s family, making him closer to Ellen’s age for the romance I later introduced between those characters. I also made Satchmo younger – changing a reference to Peter adopting the dog a year ago to instead say a few months ago. We’ve written Satchmo as having the energy and playfulness of a puppy, so I thought it best to make him a little younger. And I updated a few references to Robert Winslow based on the fact that he became a bigger villain than I'd originally anticipated.

The plot of By the Book also features people facing their fears. Neal is uncomfortable around guns but goes to the firing range with Peter. Peter has some trepidations about being a father figure and thinking of Neal as his son, but he's also honored and proud to take that step.

I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished with the Caffrey Conversation series, and glad I faced those initial fears. I learned a lot about writing and plotting, and had an amazingly fun experience. I wish you all the same courage and satisfaction as you face the fears holding you back.