JENNY: Lord Help the Sister

Did I ask to have the youngest sister? I know I ended up with her but I can't remember how. I remember freaking because Eileen wanted her oldest sister in her twenties which meant, of course, that my youngest sister was going to be in her twenties and I don't do twenty-something heroines, mainly because I like my heroines bitter and experienced. And here I am with a twenty-two-year-old who's not bitter. The experienced, well, yeah, she's not shy. I remember whining about the twenty-something thing a lot and then Eileen telling me to stop crying or she'd give me something to cry for and that was that.

And I did NOT shoot Eileen down. I pointed out that the Mare (my sister) in her scene didn't talk like my Mare, to which she should have pointed out that since she hadn't seen my scene how could she know but she didn't. She was gracious. And then she told me to get the hell out of her scene, which was fair. I have deep suspicions that she was e-mailing Krissie off the yahoo list and saying, "I'm going to kill Jenny, is that okay with you?" and Krissie saying, "Yes, she's obnoxious, but she's always been obnoxious and she's going to write a third of the book, so let's let her live."

And they've got their first halves done and have had them done for weeks and I'm still going, "Uh, I don't know, this isn't right yet." So I'm finishing up tonight. Or tomorrow. Really soon.

But Eileen is right. Once we got through the first day when I was trying to impose some kind of structure on the story and Eileen's eyes started to roll back in her head, we kicked butt. And it's exciting to see the stories come together. Of course I'm the only one seeing them come together because I'm the only one who's seen all three first halves, but trust me, it's exciting. Or it will be until Eileen and I have to reconcile the scene in the video store where Dee comes to tell Mare that she thinks Rellie's in town. Eileen and I will be battling that out while Krissie hides under the bed, which she can do because she wisely decided that her sister is going into her workroom immediately after breakfast and not coming out until the next day. So every now and then Eileen and I write a "Where's Lizzie?" line into the story and then forge on as Dee and Mare have their smackdown.

I'd forgotten Krissie saying, "Does it have to be erotic?" and then going batshit on us. We had this big climax planned with the three sisters together in a storm on a mountain, and Krissie insisted that her sister was going to be having sex, then, too. I said, "Yeah, I can see it now, Dee's standing there with the wind in her hair, facing down Evil, and Mare's right beside her, and in between them is Lizzie's naked butt going up and down." I think we talked her out of it, but I'm not sure. Krissie can be very pig-headed, uh, strong-minded when she wants to be.

We should probably introduce the sisters in here next week so people know what we're talking about.

Cheat Sheet:

Dee (Dierdre Dolores), oldest sister, turns into things like owls (Eileen's sister)

Lizzie (Elizabeth something that I can't remember . . . KRISSIE???), middle sister, turn things into other things, like silverware into bunnies (Krissie's sister)

Mare (Moira Mariposa), youngest sister, moves things with her mind, or as she puts it, "the wimpiest power in the family" (my sister).

And then there are the three heroes who are about as different as three guys can be which only goes to show you that it takes all kinds to make a romance novel.

Especially one written by three kinds of romance novelists.