My next project is the sequel to “The Cottages at the Cape – Margie’s Summer Getaway” and Tanya is going to be a central character, as is, of course, her sidekick Janie MacDonald, paralegal extraordinaire.
Who, of the characters that populated the original novel, would you like to see pop into Tanya’s world and flesh it out some? Would you like one or both of Tanya and Janie to have a love interest? (knowing as you do, that Tanya is a love ’em and leave ’em kind of lady)
There will be new characters, of course – it would be boring to recycle all the same ones. Boring to read and boring to write.
Meet Mrs. Irma Keist, who pops into Tanya and Janie’s new practice in Dartmouth, NS, with a surprising story to tell:
She had announced herself when she walked in: “Mrs. Irma Keist here, I’m a battered wife.”
Then she’d sat in the broadest of the reception-area chairs, being broad herself, and flipped through the pages of a vintage Good Housekeeping magazine, saying not a word.
“Mrs. Keist, can I get you a cup or tea or coffee? Can I take your coat and hang it up?” Janie tried.
“No, and no.” was the reply.
Janie sat in the next closest chair with her phone in hand, record function enabled.
“How about we start by taking your personal info so I can get you set up in a file on our system?”
“No”, was Irma’s reply, “If I gotta pay to talk to you people, I’ll talk to the lawyer, thank you.”
Just for fun, here’s the prompt I wrote to generate this image with AI (Microsoft Designer):
a tall wide middle aged woman in a long cloth coat and red tuque with steel grey curls sticking out of the tuque sits in a reception chair in an office reception area while a petite short, dark-haired young professional woman sits in a chair beside her, leaning towards her and holding a cell phone. Outside a broad window there is a residential street with lawns and flowers in a colorful, pixel art style.
Notice that there is a ‘Reception’ sign on the upper right hand side of the image that seems to just float there. One of the oddities of AI images – things that appear and seem detached. My fav genius, Megan, fixes that shit. I just sit and marvel at it.
Images are fun to create, but the downside is that now, Janie MacDonald and Irma Keist are carved in stone and are kind of cartoonish. That may not be a look I want for my creatures. But it’s early in the game, alors. Nous verrons. Allons-y!
Canadian Stories 