Beware of Dog: The Debriefing

 

Here we go: the official Beware of Dog debriefing post. I reserve the right to tack on additional posts in the likely event that I forget to include something of importance here. There will be spoilers, so I'll include a cut to keep plot details off the main blog page. Proceed at your own risk! And if you haven't grabbed your copy yet, you can find it here:

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I mentioned in a previous post that it was a slow and thoughtful road to figuring out who would be the best romantic partner for Cass. Between starting and finishing Prodigal Son, my initial plan of pairing her with Reese dissolved, and made way for a much better match for Reese in Tenny. I waffled for a while, working on other books, until inspiration struck in the form of Shep, and then I was terribly invested. 

Looking at the bare bones stats, they shouldn't work as a couple. This is the largest age and experience gap I've ever written, and I had some early stage worry that it might not go over well with readers. But when you look at their personalities, they mesh really well, and that provided the overwhelming impetus for me to write the book. 

The novel takes place nearly three years after Lord Have Mercy, and Cass has done some much-needed growing up in that time. I very intentionally drew on Fearless for inspiration, and the are some big parallels here, especially the way Cass straddles the line between club and civilian life. She's a little older than Ava was, but she's still young, still in the thick of that awkward moment between youth and adulthood, trying to figure out what she wants the rest of her life to look like. But, like Ava, this isn't an identity crisis: she regrets that she's unable to fit in with the "cool kids" at school...but not as much as she's grateful for her family, her upbringing, and the life it's afforded her. Unlike Ava, she has a wealthy, famous older sister to furnish her with the finer things, and a safe place to land. But like Ava, she's confident, and uncompromising when it comes to her personal code. Her initial crush on Sig is the product of youth and a certain herd mentality at school. Sometimes you think a boy is cute and worthwhile because everyone else does - she gets caught up in the indirect peer pressure of it all. But when she realizes who Sig really is, and takes a step back, she's revolted by him. Also like Ava: she's spent too much time around Lean Dogs, mostly her brothers, to be able to put up with civilian boy nonsense for long. 

Then there's Shep. Life has hardened him, because he hasn't had an easy road. He came from modest New Jersey means, an only child who wasn't ill-treated by his parents, but who didn't have a close or warm relationship with either of them. Serving in the Army affected him deeply, as it has so many of the young people who signed up after 9/11. I don't go into great detail about it, but he came back from active duty maladjusted, frustrated, and angry. Outlaw MCs are full of vets, and for Shep, the club was a safe(r) haven after a string of lousy jobs and bar fights. 

His past experiences have shaped his rough exterior, but at his core, Shep is just a silly guy. Not in the bright and bouncy way that Pongo is, but he's irreverent, loud-mouthed, foul-mouthed, and doesn't care how anyone perceives him. In that sense, he's extremely confident. He's not trying to live up to anyone's idea of maturity, or good manners. He's not ambitious, and doesn't feel the need to strive for anything beyond what the club can provide, content to play his part when called upon. 

But he's insecure when it comes to interpersonal relationships. He's not close with his club brothers - he calls them that, "club brothers," but doesn't view them as brothers or even friends. Likewise, his love life is nothing but hookups. He knows he's good in bed, but has zero confidence that a woman could ever love him in the way that he secretly craves. 

Because he's, let's face it, immature, it's hard to imagine a "with it" woman his own age, with a career, and confidence, and a ten-year-plan wanting anything long-term to do with him. But he and Cass are familiar with each other. They really are friends, as they both insist, and they're comfortable with each other. They don't put up with each other's BS, but know just how to support one another when it counts. They're lovely complements, and that's what makes them work.

Their banter is some of my favorite in the series. The dialogue in the novel was fun, and a big part of the lighter tone of the book. 

“Eat your food, take a shower. Put on real clothes.”

“Everything I had on was part of Raven’s new line. What did you do with my dress?”

“Threw it down the garbage chute.” She knew he was lying, but, again, it was fascinating to watch the clench of his jaw, the leap of tendons in the side of his throat. He almost seemed…

No, no. She wasn’t going to allow herself to think that.

“I don’t have any real clothes here,” she reasoned. “So have fun shimmying down the garbage chute.”

“You can borrow something of mine,” he said. “I’m not taking you back to your sister looking like you’re doing the walk of shame.” He glanced up at her face, his carved with disgust. “And wash your hair. It looks like shit.”

“You’re very sweet, Shepherd. Are you told that often enough? Do all your lovely ladies appreciate your chivalry?”

“Shuddup,” he said without heat, polished off the last of his breakfast like an Army recruit late for roll call, and stood to take his plate to the sink.

 

I made a conscious effort to scale back while writing. Lord Have Mercy was a big fat flop, and I think most of the blame lies on its length. (Over 400k words) From a storytelling perspective, I stand by my creative decisions in that book. If it had been 400 pages, it would have been roasted for not being as epic as Fearless, so I knew I had to outdo it - even if it bombed, which it did. With Beware of Dog, I did a lot of winnowing, and kept it tight, relationship-focused, and scaled way back on the villain stuff. I plan to keep to the rich and detailed approach with Sons of Rome, if I can get back to it, but going forward, it's time to move away from the doorstop approach, and I'm pleased with that effort in BoD. 

Additional thoughts:

I had such fun writing Raven and Toly as married and new parents. Raven was most definitely the VIP in this book, from her handling of Shep's news, to the love she shows Cass when Cass is expecting a lecture, to her grace under fire after the shooting.

Speaking of...Shep's Army profession was the Chekov's Gun in this scenario. I can't talk about a guy being an Army medic and not have him do Army medic stuff. 

I've been attached to Toly since he was introduced in a few lines in The Wild Charge. Like I said in yesterday's post: if you know enough about a secondary, or even tertiary character before you introduce them, it's easy to start mapping their journey from those initial appearances. He was in a dark place near the end of Nothing More, but he's doing well and is so happy now. That's one of the most rewarding parts of writing: seeing your fictional "kids" grow up and find their slice of peace. 

I'm sure I'll be back with more insight later, but I'll leave it here for now so I can go work on Drake stuff. I'm curious what you guys thought! Favorite scene? Favorite line? Did it give you Fearless vibes? 

Let me know! 💖

My favorite moment is Shep's love confession when they get back from the precinct. It's so very him.