Planning for the Writing Dangerously book

[valarltd]

Look like it's going to be Dirty Toes. Yes, I've already started it. But it's getting a major rewrite.
Today, we're enjoying some visual casting.


So we have DJ Admire, PI to the Nightside of Memphis.

"I'm just a No-Talent PI, without enough magic to train, but just enough to drive me straight into the Nightside and the bottle.

So far, I was still holding the bottle instead of the other way around. No-Talents ended one of three ways. We were found ripped apart by something Nightside, or we went out with a needle in our arms or antifreeze in our veins. I wasn't the druggie sort, but those who knew me had their bets on the other two."

I do not have a visual on her, just a voice.


The Preternatural and Magic Squardon of the Memphis PD, all female, all magical, kind of dropped the case on DJ because they needed her contacts. They also made her take Officer Ortiz along.

Sgt Kenisha Thomas, Google goddess and seer. Her brother, Antoine, is VP of the local combat mage unit.

Player base: Lauryn Hill

Officer Paula Ortiz,new to the squad, having trouble with her control and on her last warning

Player base: Aracely Arambula


Corin Faw, Irish werewolf, genus grumpy, whose Sidhe husband may be key to saving Memphis. I don't have a good visual on Cian O'Brian

Player base: Jeff Bridges


Demarco Jackson and Antione Thomas, President and VP of the Delta Bluesmen. (And new brother Cody, a pyromancer, Antoine's trainee) Combat mages are organized like motorcycle clubs, and these two run Memphis and the surrounding area. If needed they liaise with Legba's Bastard Sons and the Dark Queens out of New Orleans or Mama Lillith's Rebel Daughters or the Moonshine Mountain Boys out of Nashville.


Player bases: Tyson Beckford. Michael Ealy. Chris Evans

Comments

[gabrielbelthir.livejournal.com]

Not quite what i imagined for Ortiz, but it works.

*after 10 minutes of research*
Look up Andrea Navedo. She's small time, but she has that more 'down to earth' look that's a little more business and a little less 'i buy my eyelashes on 5th Avenue.'

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

I considered her. I wanted someone pretty, someone petite and delicate-looking, someone that everyone is going to talk to, while ignoring the tall, plain lady lurking behind her. And one who is a deadly shot and can jiu-jitsu the evildoer into the pavement.


Just realized:
Kenisha is a seer
Antoine is a wards man
DeMarco has mastered most forms of magical offense and defense.

I have three very literal "Magical Negroes" so far.
*facepalm*
The sole redeeming feature is that they only help the white protagonist when it serves their ends.

[celestinenox]

You have a diverse cast of characters in a world where magic is apparently common and pervasive. Knowing you, each member of your cast, no matter their race, has a past, a complex personality, and their own motivations and agendas. There's more to the "Magical Negro" trope than just having a black character who is also magical or practices magic. As long as these characters are people and not symbols, I think you're fine.

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

Exactly. Kenisha and Antoine have a lot of strife because she went through the police academy and sees him as the magical version of a Hell's Angel.

DeMarco relies on Antoine, but also uses his gayness for the benefit of the unit, from time to time. DeMarco has a HUGE ego stake in keeping Memphis safe, and all the brothers alive.

Antoine's having personal issues because he's sleeping with a white boy, against a lot of his personal principles. But he can't let that get in the way of work.

And they only help DJ when it helps them. They don't give two farts in a high wind about her otherwise. She's just a No-Talent.