Something cute must die

Don't panic, I'm writing fiction here. I worked on my novel again today and added several thousand more words. Today was all about my victim character, Chloe.

Throughout her entire journey, Chloe referred to Mommie and Daddy. I've even capitalized them, to make them into pseudo-names. I like the way it keeps things closer to her perspective. Only today I came to a section where the adults have to talk about her. It's just creepy to have them refer to each other as Mommie and Daddy.

I could give them names at this point, but I'm 25 chapters into this bugger. I think it pulls readers out to name them this late in the game. I'm going to have to go back and give them names at an earlier point. Chloe can still say Mommie and Daddy, but for the sake of readers I need to give them real names. It was cute right up to the point where it wasn't. Now I need a last name that works with Chloe.

I also ran into a therapy problem. Chloe is in the hospital, and everything has hit the fan in her world. I want the unjustified threat of Child Protective Services to push Mommy and Daddy to do the right thing. Sure, they could simply do the right thing, but why throw away a perfectly good tension point?

Chloe has become a self cutter. She's much too young, but it's a manipulation by an outside influence. It's time to get her a bit of help, and a huge dose of antibiotics. Then I can jerk the rug out from under her.

Google failed me, and tried to convince me to get help for my own problem. I called a member of my critique group, who happens to be a therapist. He told me I have a doctor committing a HIPAA violation. (Which could actually happen, but it's not Doc's story. No need of a tension point here.) He gave me some good food for thought and I'm going to change things up a bit.

The important thing is I don't have to be perfect. I only have to be plausible. It matters for about two pages in the whole novel. This is speculative fiction, so some suspension of disbelief is required. I want to save that for the important, supernatural type things. (Of which there are plenty.)

Note to self: This is a good line. I don't have to be perfect, I only have to be plausible.

I also have at least one MD, a nurse, and an admitted cutter who follow this blog. If I need some help, I may send up smoke signals.

In other news, with a new month comes new wallpaper. This time it's a creepy old phrenology chart. Phrenology was a belief that things could be predicted about someone by reading the shape of their skull. This included medical issues as well as fortunes.

In other- other news, I scored another wonderful five star review for The Cock of the South. That ought to fuel my writing for a month or so.