James: Other Points Of View

We've been doing a little bit of filling in the gaps in the last little while.

One of the ideas we started out with in the book was the concept that Same Time, Tomorrow would be told from the point of view of our two main characters, Chloe and Gabriel. Scarlett was writing Chloe's point of view, and I was writing Gabriel's point of view.

Simple, right?

A couple of chapters back, Scarlett added in a very brief passage in a hospital between two supporting characters, George and Cass, neighbors and friends of Chloe's mother Linda. It was the first time we had taken ourselves out of the POV of our main characters.

We decided to play around with the idea, add in a few pieces here and there from the point of view of other characters we've introduced. The list of supporting characters would then include not just George and Cass, which we've already done, but also Linda's POV as well. Scarlett has some ideas in mind down the line for Linda, which really enrich her character.

And beyond that? Scarlett created a character named Dana, a work friend of Chloe. Earlier in the writing process I happened to write her coming across Gabriel, flirting shamelessly with him (she's a complete flirt) and then finding out that his interests lie elsewhere. I added on a scene recently featuring Dana coming home, one that played with the humor of the character.

Two other characters we've now extended this to are Olivia and Rachel. Olivia is Gabriel's agent. Rachel is her fiancee. I created the characters themselves early on, and the passages I wrote for them as their POV more recently play into the tenderness and intimacy between the two women. It also created more depth for Olivia, who would otherwise come across purely as comic relief.

All of this has led us to ideas for sequels. Dana's got some real promise, with some ideas that Scarlett suggested. And the history between Olivia and Rachel feels right.

Then there's another idea, another woman we haven't introduced formally yet. She'll have to wait for the second book headlined by our Chloe and Gabriel.

No, we're not telling!