Caffrey Conversation: Vermeer Interrupted

Neal isn't the only one who holds conversations with paintings. I've been chatting with the works of Johannes Vermeer ever since I began writing Caffrey Conversation stories. Recently the artist dropped into the writing cave to argue that he should be listed in the cast. He makes a compelling case.

Caffrey Conversation: Mousetrap

Peter has long been fascinated by the secrets and skeletons Neal keeps locked in his closet. After working together for nearly four years, he feels good about the ones he's managed to extract with minimal damage. The Leopard is no longer caged inside. Neal revealed his early history with Keller. Much of Neal's life, both when he was on the road with Henry and when he was on Klaus's crew has been disclosed.

Celebration Time for Caffrey Conversation!

On October 10, 2013, Penna posted Caffrey Conversation. Happy Tenth Anniversary, Caffrey Conversation, and thank you, Penna, for ten years of storytelling magic!

Caffrey Conversation: Scotch on the Rocks

One of my favorite fanfic writing prompts is to fill in a blank left by a canon episode. In the case of White Collar, the writers gifted us with a number of tantalizing questions. I've already written about some of them. The origin of Neal's interest in origami and the backstory for his fencing ability were both in An Evening with Genji. I explored Peter's interest in astronomy in The Woman in Blue. In my latest Caffrey Conversation story, Scotch on the Rocks, I picked another canon element—the McNally Solitaire.

Writing Retreat 2023: Beam Us Up!

Penna and I are just resurfacing after our annual writing retreat. Like last year, this was a virtual retreat. We both use Teams at work, and we decided to take advantage of its interactive features for this year's event. One of the many highlights was Penna's use of virtual backgrounds to set the mood. She saved the best for last—a view of the transporter room on the USS Enterprise. I loved the analogy that we were beaming ourselves into the worlds of our stories.

Six-Crossed Knot: Virtue's Cloak

For this latest installment in my Six-Crossed Knot series, the principal launching points are two canon incidents. The first one is in The Book of Life, when Matthew discovers that Philippe gave Jack Matthew's cello. In the novel, Matthew doesn't discuss it with Jack. All we know is that it disappeared around the time when Napoleon was emperor. When I first read those lines, I demanded answers. What were the circumstances? How did Philippe find out about Jack? I answered the second question earlier in Masque. In Virtue's Cloak, I imagined what could have led Philippe to give Jack the cello.

Crowley: A Blended Soul

I based the name of my Crossed Lines series on the intersections of the lives of Neal Caffrey and Peter Burke with Sam and Dean Winchester. But another character already had crossed the lines between White Collar and Supernatural, and that's Crowley. Mark Sheppard portrayed both the crossroads demon Crowley in Supernatural and art forger Curtis Hagen in White Collar. From the beginning, Crowley has campaigned for a larger role. In my latest story, Bad Omens, his moment has finally come.