New blog series! I've been searching through the previous manuscripts to fact check myself as I work on Hellhound, and it's reminded me how much I enjoyed writing them. I thought it would be fun to share my reminiscing with you guys, each Thursday, with a look back at some of my favorite scenes from the older books, and provide a little "DVD Extra" content to go along with it. If anyone has a scene you'd like me to talk about specifically, please don't hesitate to drop me a line and I'd be happy to discuss it here.
Today: Price of Angels
As of now, this is still my favorite of the series. I was so pleased with the writing and I feel like I said exactly what I wanted to say, which sometimes can be difficult. One of my favorite moments is the beginning of chapter two, which begins:
Matches. Michael kept innumerable packets of the things in
his gun safe at home, all lined up in rows in a shoebox. Matches from
restaurants and liquor stores, saved up over the years. Matches were the trick
to this whole operation. He collected them like rare stamps. Because without
them, he’d just be putting a body in a hole, and that was too crude and
negligent to serve his purpose.
It
always started with the digging...
The whole sequence, Michael burying the body, was something I was really eager to include, one of my non-negotiables. I love the matter-of-fact, complete detachment of the moment. That macabre stillness. Michael, though he's been called boring, I guess because he isn't wild and doesn't say much, is my favorite kind of character. The self-contained, efficient, skilled, powder keg kind of guy. I could write essays on those characters for days. In a way, the entire book is my (insufficient) love letter to the charmless antiheros of the (fictional) world. I find them pretty charming, to be honest.
He's one of those characters who, if filmed, would be a study in body language. Not so much expressionless, but still. I've had this conversation, more than once, about actors and actresses who aren't merely attractive, but interesting to watch. Some indefinable quality that makes them fascinating, whether they're in the midst of a dramatic monologue, or sorting mail. They've got It. Anyone can be blank-faced and brutish, but in my mind, Michael is a character who has It, who is so watchable, who moves in a deliberate, focused way. You can see the life behind the mask. Trying to convey that, that sense of visual interest, was one of my major writing goals with that book, and I can only hope I succeeded. In my head I've planned all the angles and close-ups of that burial scene dozens of times.
I love that stillness. I wish I had that kind of self control. Reminds me of Bob Lee Swagger in Point of Impact by Stephen Hunter.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading Fearless and much as I enjoying it I had decided not to read the next book, Price of Angels, because I didn't like Michael's character much. Since Fearless is one of those books that stay with you no matter how long it's been since you read it there was this nudging feeling I had about what I thought of Michael. In the end I determined that you had written his character as such for a reason. I didn't like Michael because he has quite the opposite of Mercy and his rival due to their like jobs in the club but I decided to give it a go.
ReplyDeleteI was not disappointed. As you mentioned in one of your earlier blogs, you have a talent of writing characters that we should not like but you write them so well I want to know them and be part of their inner circle. I absolutely love Michael. Quintessential is the matter of fact, as you said, way in wich he does his job. But he is three dimensional in that he finds he can also love deeply and eventually opens up to his brothers.
Mercy will always be my favorite but Michael has found a place in my heart as well.
Price of Angels was the very first book of yours that I read. Michael was, and still is my favourite character. I like his stillness and his quiet but deep love for Holly.
ReplyDeleteI love all the characters, but Michael is my soft spot.
Oh how I love Michael and Holly - Price of Angels is my favorite Lean Dog Story! I will never forget this one, and I look for even the smallest mention of him and Holly in every Lean Dog Story. His quiet is like a storm that I love to get caught up in!!
ReplyDeleteI love Michael and Holly. I, too, look for any mention of them in every Lean Dog story. They've been through so much and they deserve every bit of love they have for each other. One of the best stories ever!
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