Chapter 32: A Bridge Version
- The reason that Part Three: The Swim is so short is that I thought it would be funny to have one of the parts be pretty short even though books make such a big deal about there being different parts. The chapter title “A Bridge Version” fits well with the idea.
- By this point, Tate and his girlfriend Georgia are back together. I thought it would be funny having things resolved beyond the pages. As you can see, much of my reasoning for some of my writing decisions is simply, “I thought it would be funny.”
- Some of the dream that August recounts is a dream I actually had. The stuff with the cat is where it deviates.
- Yes, this receptionist was named Tommy solely for the sake of having someone call him “Lobby Tommy.” Again, I thought it would be funny.
- Honeycombs are what linked the comments about combing hair and losing one's beehive. Here, beehive is another word for “mind.” The term “hive mind” probably helped me come up with this.
- Verner says, “'There's no good in putting a lot of anger in cider.'” I'm pretty certain that this was inspired by an episode of Cheers where someone said “anger inside her.” I cannot remember the episode or situation at the moment, but knowing the show, my guess is that it had something to do with Carla Tortelli. Watching all of Cheers during summer 2018 really influenced my writing in subtle ways.
- I debated whether or not it would be too coincidental for Candid to be in London and bump into August. Ultimately, I decided it was worth it for the suspense of this interaction on the bridge.
- The pun “Sea how it feels!” is very subtle. I wonder how many people will catch it the first time.
- This intervention being for Anton instead of August? Again, I thought it would be funny. Come to think of it, this chapter actually does a fine job fleshing out Anton a bit more with so little. And hearing about this stuff happening beyond the pages fills out the world.
Chapter 33: Guaranteed to Know Pissed
- In 2015, there was a Friday the 13th in February and another in March. I realized after hearing the comment of a beta reader that I needed to make it clearer that this was a different date and that the story was not jumping back in time.
- I imagine Tomb Scone's blood splattering in an over-the-top manner similar to how The Evil Dead and Hatchet films have done it.
- I'm really proud that I found a way to make “rotisserie chicken” an insult. I just love coming up with new expressions in my fiction.
- I later realized that I needed to go back and make a mention or two of Tim earlier in the book so that it wouldn't feel like he wasn't created out of thin air. His fate becomes the catalyst for the new form of isolation that Randy feels in this chapter, and it changes how Gertrude perceives him, thus altering the dynamic of the Nap Kin.
- Randy thinking, “Did I do that?” is a reference to Family Matters, which is referenced again in the next chapter.
- I'm probably patting myself on the back too much by this point, but I just love that I made the beef talk work. Especially with the punny sentence, “Could a Nap Kin really get rid of a taco stain?”
Chapter 34: Family Tatters
- Yep. The chapter title is a reference to Family Matters, and Officer Johnson asking for Reginald is a shout-out to Reginald VelJohnson, who played a police officer on that show. I even had him say the words “family matters.”
- I suppose that throughout this book, there might be an impression that the elementals intend to do something to Pamela in order to regain their child. It's good to have readers guess that, but the fact is that they were never going to harm her. At least, that was not the original plan, before things got out of control.
- Now Frederick Filler does not feel like such a filler character. For a long time, I knew I wanted a slackliner character to jump-start all this. He's definitely a pivotal part of the plot.
- The imbalance that corrupts Stagmantel and Unicoren may have been partially inspired by Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal and Ridley Scott's Legend.
- Some people who read this book might not notice the differences in spelling of Mathis and Mathias' given names. Perhaps they might notice and think I'm an amateur making typos. That would make the flashback to Mathis' creation a surprise. And even for those who know that Mathis and Mathias are two different people, the flashback would still be somewhat surprising. This also goes back to my original idea for an FBI manhunt thriller novel, in which Mathis Dillard would have been a misogynist serial killer acting like a praying mantis and beheading women who drove Volkswagen Beetles. There would have been a Dr. Mathias Dillard, whose first name would have been mentioned once before simply being referred to as Dr. Dillard until a reveal of the two characters being twins. Here, it's more like a father-son relationship, but the son rejects the father.
- I knew I needed to give Mitch a surname. “The late Mitch” just doesn't have enough impact. So the surname Bunkle was one of the last things added.
Chapter 35: Library Charred
- Shed Cheese picking his ear with his back paw and then licking his toes was inspired by my chihuahua Olias, who has done the same. His mention of a wizard eating wax is a reference to Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
- Doggerel Grill's comment regarding Rudolph and Christmas is one of the earliest things I wrote back in 2015, but in a different context. As I've said before, I considered having interludes that would have been unrelated to the main story. One of these interludes would have involved a man wearing antlers with which to kill people. At the end of the story, there would have been a student house party where the surprise would have been that one of the students found antlers to wear. And then the killer would have broken into the house, tried to kill her, and then gotten killed by the antlers. Then the student would have said the Rudolph comment to the others in the house deliriously, as they faced another threat.
- There's a bit of a Bride of Chucky vibe in the mayhem uniting Stagmantel and Unicoren.
- “The ancient evil” is actually a little reference to what was rumored to be the title for Star Wars: Episode VII.
- With the flashback to young Grady encountering the dog inserted into a later draft, this whole sequence where he's running from the werewolves and doesn't have August to help him has more meaning to it.