Butch Queen

Today’s featured queen is Varla Jean Merman, who is also originally from New Orleans. Varla Jean has never been on Drag Race–but was a guest on an episode of Project Runway. Varla often returns to New Orleans–or used to, anyway–to appear in Ricky Graham shows that were often brilliant musical parodies of classics (I really regret not seeing Shut Up Sweet Charlotte) and out of drag is a really hot muscle bear.

You never know what you’re going to get under the make-up, wig and dress, do you?

Today’s blatant self-promotion has to do with supporting characters. Every series needs a supporting cast of regulars that readers enjoy checking in with whenever a new book comes out, and they usually allow us to see a side of the main character that we might get otherwise. Sometimes supporting characters in a book series–just like in a television series–can become more popular than the main character, which creates the temptation to spin those characters off into their own series, just like happens with television. Paige Tourneur, Chanse’s best friend, was enormously popular with the readers. I tried spinning her off into her own series to no avail; Paige’s snarky sarcastic sense of humor works well for a second banana, but perhaps not for a lead character. Scotty, of course, has Frank, Colin, Taylor, and his entire family to bounce off–and I was happy to bring David back for a brief appearance in the new one.

But when it came to Jem, who were going to be his friends and/or family and nemeses? Usually, when it comes to characters, in order for me to write about them, I have to know their names (just like I can’t write a story or book that is untitled; too much uncertainty for me to not get anxious), but I was also in a hurry when I was writing Death Drop because I had a very short turnaround and a lot going on all at the same time…so I just started naming characters after my co-workers at the day job. Yes, I have co-workers named Jeremy (Jem), Kyle, Ellis, Latoya, and Blake; and I borrowed Jem’s last name from another co-worker. (My co-worker Kyle is also a pole dancer, so I made Jem’s best friend and roommate Kyle also a pole dancer)

I thought it was important for Jem to have a roommate; Mee Maw’s house that he inherited is really too big for just one person; and since Mee Maw owned the house outright all Jem needs is someone to pay enough rent to pay the property taxes, so it’s a good deal for Kyle as well. Since Jem wasn’t from New Orleans originally, he needed a roommate that was a native, and thus had connections and friends and ties to the community to help ease Jem into the gay scene of the city. (For those of you who pay attention and like these sorts of things, the guy Jem had been dating and ghosted him at the beginning of the book is the same guy who dumped Jake just before the beginning of Bury Me in Shadows; also, Jem’s client and friend Rachel Delesdernier Sheehan originally appeared in the Chanse series, before appearing in the Scotty as well. The bridge over the river in Mississippi River Michief was named after Senator Sheehan, and the Sheehans were the family involved in Murder in the Garden District–I always connect my books to each other even if it’s in a small way.) Jem has been living in New Orleans for a couple of years now, and his friend group has expanded and grown, and we will meet more of his friends, neighbors and acquaintances in the future.

The important thing about supporting characters is that they have to be fully realized; they may not be the main character, they may not take up as much oxygen or space, but they need to be realistic, they need to have interior lives, and they need to be three-dimensional. I did a lot of character building with the supporting cast of Death Drop, but I can’t really talk a lot about them without giving away spoilers for the story. But all of my supporting cast, at least to me, works…and make the book stronger.

I was also told that it’s not blatant self-promotion if I don’t include a buy link, so here is where you can order Death Drop direct from the store. Support an indie press AND an indie bookstore at the same time! What a deal!