Dresden Files Reread - Grave Peril Chapter 25

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It's very tense for a minute there, and Harry and Michael get ready for a fight, until Thomas laughs, and delicately implies that it reflects badly on Bianca's hospitality for everyone to get so upset. Harry takes the cue and follows up with a remark about how "this was a masquerade ball, wasn't it?". Bianca is described here, and I had not previously noticed how much she looks like Anita Blake, titular protagonist of one of the oldest series that fits tidily into the tradition of urban fantasy that The Dresden Files helped popularize. Anita, however, probably would not wear a dress made of fire, although she's scarcely to be seen without heels that do "interesting" things to the shape of her legs. She's objectively attractive, especially with the way she's smiling, but Harry isn't interested - he's seen her true, creepy, bat face. We also get the cameo by Cowl and Kumori here, dressed as the shadows to her flame. While there's no real way to catch it on a first read, this is one of the first real pieces of the Nemesis puzzle, and it makes some of the others easier to put together if you're watching for it. It's confirmed in Dead Beat that these two were Cowl and Kumori. In Proven Guilty, we find out that Lea's obvious madness and present ice cube status were the result of the knife she was given at this very party. In White Night, we see that Madrigal and Vittorio are working with Cowl, and then Vittorio calls on an Outsider. Technically, this makes it possible to work out the origin of much of the "world is getting darker" stuff several books ahead of schedule. There are obvious similarities between what's wrong with Kumori and what's wrong with Aurora, and we know they're in the "handing out cursed magic objects" business because of the athame, making it at least plausible that they were also involved with the wolf belts in Fool Moon. Based on the evidence as of the end of White Night, these two can be linked to enough of events of the first 10 books to make their involvement with the rest plausible as a matter of consistency, and their connection with the Outsiders, while less thoroughly reinforced, has sufficient support to situate them as a link between the Outside and those events, making it possible, just barely, to extrapolate that the Outsiders are systematically stirring up trouble and making people lose their baskets. 

In any event, Bianca implies that she's going to eat Harry, and he responds, more directly, that she oughtn't try it. She gives her people tacit permission to go after him, if they can manage it without being too overt, or at least that's how Harry interprets it. This prompts Harry to remember how nice the venom to which he was exposed to yesterday was. File under: Harry is in pretty much constant emotional and physical pain, and has a corresponding vulnerability to things that make him feel better; nothing that can reasonably be described as "narcotic" tends to hold much appeal for people who aren't someways hurting. They descend into the main courtyard, where Thomas reconnects with them, and tells Harry his entrance was "marvelous". He says he couldn't let it descend into a general brawl, though, because it would reduce the opportunities for intrigue. This is probably mostly a cover for helping Harry, but it's also a very White Court way of looking at it, and places an emphasis on their not only preferring to avoid direct confrontation, but actively seeking out opportunities to engage in social and political machinations, which is certainly present in their later appearances but gets less attention. Unfortunately, their conversation is interrupted when he has to go retrieve Justine from a Red Court guy who's hitting on her. 

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No sooner has he left them, then Michael notes that they're being surrounded. The majority of the attendees are humans, dressed largely in black, with red ribbons around an arm of neck marking out those who are fair game for feeding. This is very reasonable and well organized, honestly, except for the part where Red Court venom is supernaturally addictive and our human feeder fish therefore can't reasonably be said to have given meaningful consent. But it's a good system. The actual Red Court vampires, in very literal contrast, are all dressed in red, and a few moments observation of the crowd confirms that they're forming a ring around Harry and Michael, making it impossible for them to leave without coming in reach of at least one of them. This is a relatively subtle instance of another one of our running patterns in this series: Jim Butcher plays tabletop roleplaying games, and he pays attention to spacing. They head for the refreshments table, hoping to make themselves harder to trap, and partially succeed - most of their pursuers can't maintain formation without being obvious, but Kyle and Kelly intercept them at table. Kelly has everything except the lower part of her face covered, to hide the burns she got fighting Harry earlier, and Harry makes a remark about her hitting the tanning bed a little too long. He was apparently hoping to provoke her into attacking him, presumably, although it's not explicated quite yet, because if she, and through her the Red Court, breaks the rules first, he can fight back, and move the inherent conflict of this event into a sphere with which he's more comfortable, but she smiles and hands him a glass of wine instead. Kyle expresses his regret that Susan couldn't be here, which is...interesting. I may need to take back my earlier assertion that Harry might have done better to bring Susan along in the first place. Kyle isn't terribly smooth or subtle, as vampires go, and in light of what happens later, it's hard not to read this at an indication that Susan's attendance at this party was both planned for and arranged. Which, uh...guys? I think we might have been too hard on Susan here. Bianca isn't Nicodemus. It's not her established style to go for a small win (making Harry have a really stressful, unproductive evening, or getting him into trouble with the Council for skipping the party entirely) while rolling the dice on a bigger one (starting a war between the Council and the Red Court). We know, with the benefit of the 12 or 13 books that follow this one, the power she serves, and it doesn't operate like that either. Nemesis is careful and systematic, and not given especially to opportunism. Bianca's plan doesn't work if Susan isn't here. I'm sure there was a contingency in place for if she arrived as an invited guest (they managed to kidnap Justine, although I don't remember how they made that work), but she had to be here. And some amount of hypnotism and mind control are within the established Red Court power set - they can't all do it, but if memory serves Paulo Ortega is in Chicago right now, and if Arianna can call upon the Eebs then so can he. There's also a known mind-invader running around, against whom Susan hasn't been warned and has no particular defenses. I don't think it's her fault, or even Harry's, that she made the incredibly bad decision to come to this party. I think someone made her do it. 

Kelly makes a remark about Harry being into men, which is the second time Harry's sexuality has been brought up in as many chapters, and at least the third time in this book. He takes it in stride, so she escalates, and despite Harry's warning her against it, tries to touch Michael. Naturally, she burns the shit out of her hand. Harry basically says "I told you so", and Kyle is so angry he nearly drops his flesh mask. Harry tells him to go ahead and break the peace first, if he wants, the White Council will squish this entire place, which is of course what this whole exchange was mostly here to do - remind the reader of the rules of hospitality that govern this entire event, and the consequences for breaking them. As I said last chapter, Jim Butcher is getting better at using foreshadowing effectively and giving out information at the pace he wants. The twins stalk off, but now people are staring at them, so Harry proposes a toast "to hospitality", and drains his entire glass. So of course a moment later, when he's barely had time to tell Michael that he ruled out Kyle and Kelly, as far as who's controlling the Nightmare, Thomas reappears to inform them that the wine is poisoned. 

I don't remember off the top of my head whether every chapter at this party ends with something this dire, but twice in a row certainly looks like the beginning of a pattern. I'll try not to keep you in suspense too long. Until next time, be gay, do crimes, and read All The Things!

Dresden Files Reread - Grave Peril Chapter 24

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As they pull up to Bianca's mansion, Michael asks Harry to explain in more detail why they're at this party. So Harry runs him through the chain of reasoning: Someone is stirring up the spirit world in order to create the Nightmare, Lydia is somehow connected to the Nightmare, Bianca sent Kelly and Kyle to kidnap Lydia. This makes a pretty convincing case that Bianca is somehow involved with the Nightmare, as it would be a bit of a stretch to suppose that Lydia was involved with two completely unrelated supernatural entities. Even if Bianca isn't directly involved, though, she's currently hosting a party for most of the major bad guys currently local to Chicago, so there's a reasonable chance that whoever is involved, whichever dark power was feeding the Nightmare when Harry confronted it in the previous chapter, is going to be at this thing. This reasoning holds up pretty well, and doesn't hinge on any of the dubious parts of Harry's current theory. It was also a remarkably solid decision to review it all here, not least because, if I remember correctly, we're getting close to the part where things start not making any sense, and it's good to know that we've got a firm foundation under us when the nonsense starts. Now that Harry has felt the power of whoever or whatever is controlling the Nightmare, he should be able to identify them again, and a party like this is an excellent opportunity to vibe check a lot of bad guys and monsters all at once. It's a reasonable plan. 

Michael is not thrilled with...any of this, really. He doesn't like the plan, he doesn't want to be at the extremely dangerous party full of monsters, and he'd really like to know why the Nightmare didn't go after Harry as soon as the sun was down. Harry suggests that the Nightmare might be afraid to go after him, since he was able to bind it, but I don't think even Harry finds this idea terribly convincing, and Michael certainly doesn't. Nor is he especially reassured by Harry's insistence that they'll be protected by the laws of hospitality, which is honestly fair given that he's not willing to abide by them himself, if he sees innocent people in danger. As much as Harry is valid for wanting armed backup, I feel like he might actually have done better to bring Susan, who isn't much less adept at navigating supernatural politics, whose presence isn't in and of itself an insult to their hosts, and who probably could be relied upon to follow the rules if Harry explained properly. Before they go in, Michael asks Harry to pray with him, or at least shut up for a minute to he can pray. Harry reflects on how he doesn't really understand God, or trust most religious people. Which is fair, at least from his position, but then he thinks that he doesn't know how God can look at the way people treat one another and not chalk the entire human race up as a bad idea. As we say on Tumblr, I mean, God did look at the way people treat one another and chalk the entire human race up as a bad idea. That was a pretty significant thing that happened. Like I understand where you're coming from here but God very much did look at the way people treat one another and chalk the entire human race up as a bad idea. And the reason He hasn't done it since, at least according to the set of beliefs under discussion here, is basically that he pinky promised not to, after that one time. I would love to know what exactly Harry's background with Christianity is. It's established in one of the middle books that he knows the Pslams pretty well, and in Proven Guilty that he's not familiar with the Parable of the Talents, but does he seriously not know the story of Noah's Arc? Dude was in foster care for like seven years, between the ages of six and thirteen and he was never forced to attend Sunday School? That...that might actually be significant. We see full Wizards of the White Council from most of the larger religions, but smalltime practitioners are, at least if the ones we meet in White Night, and the supplies stocked at Bock Ordered Books, are anything to go by, are disproportionately neopagan and Buddhist. If the Council had a hand in arranging his care, which seems at least plausible, they'd naturally want him with people over whom they held some sway, and that's not a group that trends strongly to regular church attendance. Come to think of it, this would also help account for how Justin found him so quickly after his power manifested. Justin was no longer associated with the Council himself at that point, but he certainly still had contacts, and I imagine it caused something of a stir when word got around that Maggie le Fey's youngest came into his power. This would leave open the question of why they let Justin take him, but I can see a few possibilities. 1. They considered his going to the dark side a foregone conclusion in any case so they figured they'd watch and wait until he actually broke one of the Laws and then raid the house, take down Du Morne and both his apprentices in one fell swoop. 2. Justin's lair was somehow concealed from the Council (reasonably well supported by their failing to do anything about the rogue Warden for like, years). 3 They just didn't care that much.

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They park on the street, rather than trust Michael's truck to a vampire valet, and arrive at just about the same time as Thomas and Justine, in their probably-Eros-and-Psyche couples costume, both scantily clad and unreasonably attractive, although considerably more page space is devoted to Justine's legs than to Thomas's supernatural beauty.  Thomas recognizes Harry, which weirds Harry right the hell out. He introduces himself, and we're informed that there are three vampire Courts, Red, White, and Black, which Harry claims he already knows, although I don't know that he actually did, and that the Black Court has "fallen on hard times". While I still don't think the situation with Kravos being dead is presented very smoothly, the effort has clearly improved Butcher's gradual reveal skills, because the little things, like information about the vampire Courts, and Harry's costume, are handled very well. Thomas walks them in and tries to give Harry a sense of what to expect. They'll be presented to the other guests and have time to mingle, and then they'll be formally introduced to Bianca who, as the host, will give them gifts. Harry asks why Thomas is being helpful (beginning of pattern, noted!) and Thomas pretty well dodges the question. He does, however, shake Harry's hand, and while he definitely has a magical aura, it's not the one they're looking for. 

As Harry and Michael enter the courtyard where the party is happening, they're hit with a blinding spotlight and announced as "Harry Dresden, Wizard of the White Council, and guest". Whether the spotlight was intentionally turned up and pointed into his eyes in order to embarrass and inconvenience him is left as an exercise for the reader. We finally get a description of Harry's cheesy vampire costume, with the tattered blue tuxedo and the fake blood and all. The gathered monsters get their first good look at it at the same time, and everyone goes for a weapon. 

And on that tense, cliff-hangery note, I leave you for the time being. I'm much happier with how this post, written on the computer like my previous Dresden Files post was, turned out, and it is much faster, so I think we'll be sticking with this for the time being. Until next time, be Gay, do Crimes, and read All The Things!

Writing from Emotion

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It occurred to me a couple of days ago that I wrote a post last year about how to, metaphorically speaking,  put your toys away without messing up any half-finished puzzles or Lego creations, but I never actually talked about the writing technique it goes with. If I was ever taught this as a way to write, I've long since forgotten where or when, and there's a good chance I've modified it out of recognition in any case. It draws from the meditation lesson scenes in Cold Fire by Tamora Pierce, and from a description of what was probably metta meditation that I caught on NPR when I was like 12, but that was 20 years ago and it hasn't much in common with either. I wouldn't necessarily consider this a meditation thing, at least, not any more so than any other internally oriented writing technique. Do be a little careful with this - it involves deliberately getting into a heightened emotional state, and might not interact well with everyone's mental health stuff. 

Start by setting the scene a little. Light some incense, or a scented candle, or heck, even a regular candle. Use a scent that matches the vibes of what you're working on, or just one you like. Put on some music, in line with the emotion you're using, the one you want to pervade the piece, or that prompted it, or emotionally neutral. If you already have a playlist for the story, scene, ship, or character, that should work just fine. Unless you live alone somewhere very quiet, the music is probably more important than the incense, because it's a light check against auditory disruption. Position yourself comfortably, ideally in a way that is not wholly incompatible with writing, and in which you are not unduly likely to fall asleep. Have your writing tools ready to hand. This works better if you're properly rested and not in a great deal of physical discomfort, but with practice it's doable, except maybe if you really have to pee. Go take care of that now if you need to. While you're at it, make sure you have something to drink. Room temperature is best, but warm is better than cold. The mammalian dive reflex is not conducive to what we're trying to do here. 

Now, you need to access the emotion you're writing from. Depending on your current headspace and how alexithymic you are, this might be as easy as breathing, or very, very hard. (More alexithymic is not necessarily worse here - a tendency to experience emotions as physical sensations is, up to a point, a benefit here). If you're writing fanfiction, think about the things from your source text that gave you the feels you're currently writing about. If you're writing original fiction, think about an earlier moment in your story that had similar emotionality, or something from another story or your own life that gives you those feelings. Keep trying until you feel something. 

Once you have that emotion, locate it in your body, and let it expand until it fills you to the skin. This will probably be very hard at first, especially if you're working with an uncomfortable emotion. This isn't how we're used to feeling things, even when we're reasonably well-adjusted, which most writers aren't, usually we're either doing something with an emotion (talking about it, laughing or crying, punching someone in the face), or we keep it kinda contained. It might go easier if you try to keep your hands and face still, but let your heart rate and breathing do what they're gonna do. You're trying to let the emotion build without giving it anywhere to go. 

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Once you've got that, think about what you're writing. For something you already have underway, go back over the past couple paragraphs in your head, unless you already know they aren't right. For a new story or scene, consider what's supposed to happen, whatever summary or sketchy outline exists in your head. "Blorbo and Skrungly meet at the cafe and experience Feelings" is quite sufficient here, but if you can already see the way Blorbo's hands look on the register, the color of Scrungly's turtleneck sweater, if you already know he's going to ask about the blueberry scones, by all means throw that in there, and then just... Keep doing that until something comes to you. Often, I get about 2/3 of a scene, dropped in my head like it was brought over in a truck and delivered on a pallet. Sometimes, it's the whole scene, and once, it was two. Sometimes it's the exact line of dialogue I need to get going again. Occasionally, it's a single image, or I don't "get" anything until I actually look at the document, just a sense of urgency, when the ache in my chest becomes a kind of itching. 

Importantly, do not resist. Part of why this works is that heightened emotion slows down your critical thinking. But when you get something, you can't just say "Oh, no, this isn't what I wanted". I mean, you can, but you'd better say it while you sit down to write it anyway. You don't have to keep it in the final draft. You don't have to post or publish it, but you do have to write it. You have to trust that it needs to get written. It might turn out to be something for later in the book, or a story that needed to get out of the way to make room for the thing you were trying to write. It might be the beginning of something you've been trying not to write. But you can't keep that channel open if you turn back what comes through it. And very often, it is what needs to happen next, even if it's not what you planned. 

If my experience is anything to go by, the writing will probably go faster than us otherwise usual for you, although I suspect that if you are already fast, the difference will be less pronounced, but it will not be effortless. You may still struggle for exact descriptions, what precisely is said, or how to arrange the words to convey two things that are happening at the same time. Hold on to the emotion you're writing from, use it as an energy source of you can. If you're not done when you need to stop writing, I suggest banking the fire to make it easier to resume when the time comes, and to facilitate acting like a functional member of society in the interim. 

If this all sounds a bit intricate, well, it is, at least at first, but it gets easier, at least with practice, and a lot of the ritual may eventually become unnecessary unless you are really stuck. I can do it in a couple minutes sometimes, without music or incense, even with other people in the room, while reading a book on my phone with the Google doc open in the background so it's ready when I need it. I only break out the tools when I've been unable to make real progress for a couple of weeks. 

I've been writing this post in my head for a couple of weeks now, so I'm glad to actually have it on paper. Next post will be more Dresden Files. Until then, be gay, do crimes, and read All The Things.