Notes for Chapter Thirteen

Lucky number thirteen.

I'd originally planned to devote an entire chapter to Jenny's story about what happened under the waves, a sort of miniature horror tale told from her point of view -- it would have been a frame story, with Jenny saying to Marla, "Here's what happened:" and then a section break followed by Jenny's first-person story. And that would've been pretty cool to write.... but it would have added an extra week to this serialization, and it would have required breaking the chapters up in weird places, and I couldn't figure out a way, practically, to make it seem seamless in this format. Besides, I wanted this chapter to end with Marla's two dearest friends dead.

These events are just some of the reasons that Marla, in the later novels, has such a screwed-up perspective on interpersonal relationships.

It was fun writing about a Lovecraftian monster, and I wish it had more of a role in the story after this, but, it doesn't (well, not really, but kinda. You'll see). I will point you to an interesting essay I came across last week, that's a bit relevant: Cthulhu Is Bullshit. It's written with more passion than eloquence, but it made me laugh out loud a couple of times, and the guy kind of has a point...

Bet you're wondering if Daniel's really dead. Well, I still haven't revealed when he previously appeared in one of the other Marla novels, so you certainly haven't heard the last of him; that revelation should come in about four more weeks, if my outline can be trusted. Exciting times ahead.

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