Pure form
Real done
Like wild
Good vibes
Everything is cool
There are these forms I like to watch
There are these shapes which talk to me
I like forms, and forms like me
The more you look, the more you see
Working is No Problem and Cool are two of only three chapters that have only one scene. The first two scenes needed to be separate because Work Stations is a prologue, but I didn’t want to call it that. The LC is described exactly as I recall the scene, which occurred on May 5, 2017, except the part about Sandra in HR startling me. I wanted to make clear that I followed through on my resolution to ditch Carol, and Carol and Sandra in HR do resemble one another (though Sandra in HR looks less similar to Aunt Bee than Carol).
The dialogue with Jane is contrived and not very descriptive I’m afraid because I can’t recall specifics, but the conversation was flirty, genuine, and fun, giving me the incorrect impression that others in the office would be of the same demeanor. The ‘guy in the crazy plaid jacket’ is Penelope’s manager, later referred to in the story as ‘Bartholomew,’ who became one of the brokers I most respected and enjoyed working with.
I decided early on that I wouldn’t give The MP a name to allow the reader to project their own image of, and experiences with, a truly awful manager onto the character.
By the way, the character names were chosen mostly at random, with a few exceptions (discussed later). I gave everyone random, quirky names so I could easily search for a given character using the Search function in MS Word. I planned to rename the characters with something that would be fitting (and an inside joke) with the real person.
In the end, I became attached to each character’s name, and I never changed them, except Sandra in HR, who was named Mary Frances in HR until I changed the name in honor of Sandy, my editor (thanks again Sandy!), and Vernon, which is a story I’ll save for later.
The Shellfish bit is similar. I changed the industry from real estate to seafood with two things in mind. In earlier drafts I had an extended diatribe about real estate being a commodity business no different from any other commodity, notwithstanding the nonsense of the CRE ‘brokerage community’ about each piece of dirt being unique (like squirrels, or Hollywood starlets, I guess). I cut the scene in later drafts because it wasn’t relevant to the plot. I also thought the shellfish/seafood bit would be fodder for an endless series of puns, and it is, but puns don’t work well in dialogue, do they? Perhaps I’m not a good enough writer to do it. That said, you’ll find plenty of seafood puns in the story if you pay attention.
I named Team Superbad after the James Brown song, not the movie, but let’s run with it. From left to right, Team SuperBad partners Simon, Leonard, and a third partner named The Maestro who was later cut from the story in one of Sandy’s many drunken rages during editing.
To reach my objective publishing date, I couldn’t make the time to run out the seafood bit as I intended. But I decided to not switch the industry back to real estate because the inside joke about the Skeazy/swimming shellfish, Ratchet/affixed shellfish was simply too awesome to end up on the cutting room floor. However, it’s one of those inside jokes wherein if it needs explaining, you wouldn’t find it funny.
Best Places To Work! 