Closer and Closer
Jan272009
Bob says we’re within a week of being done and I think he’s right. We have to stop every now and then and figure out a hole we’ve dug ourselves into, but we’re so close now that the holes are getting shallower. For instance, yesterday, I e-mailed Bob and said, “So. Minion demons.”
On Mon, Jan 26, 2009, Jenny Crusie wrote:
So we need to figure out what minion demons are. I don’t care, we just need
to have an idea for ourselves. I like that throwaway line of Weaver’s about how there are a lot of different kinds of demons.On Jan 26, 2009, Bob Mayer wrote:
sure
I think they’re mindless
and they can’t take people.
They’re just evil spirits?Jenny:
I kind of like the idea of them being able to confer but not well.
Otherwise they’re just cannon fodder.
I think of them as having small minds in every sense of the word. They have enough brains for four of them to go up in the tree to kill Ethan or for some of them to fall back when they’re getting massacred and rethink things.
I’m not sure what their goal is, in general. To possess people and do horrible things? Is that how Kharos is drawing them in? “Come to Dreamland and kill people”?Bob:
I think they can have a pack mentality
and a survival mode.
I think if an UT summons them, they can’t resist it.Jenny:
Well, especially if the UT tells them they can kill people.
I just think it’s more fun if they think. They don’t think well, but they think.
Another thing we never discussed: Where the hell are they before they come to Dreamland? I was thinking they’d hang out in scary dangerous places, abandoned building, dark parts of the forest, etc, which is how those places got the rep for being scary and dangerous.
We don’t need to put it in the book, I just need to know.Bob:
I think they’re the things that go bump in the nightJenny:
I like that.Bob:
also, we have to consider that when they’re near UTs their power goes up
a reason for them to be drawn to Dreamland and the UTsJenny:
Right. But if that’s all it is, the surrounding country would be riddled with them.
I kind of think of them as evil’s little gangbangers.Bob:
well no, because a UT hasn’t gotten outJenny:
I think they’re just little thugs who hang out in dark places, go bump in the night, but they’re part of the “Ooooo, something shiny” brigade so that it’s easy to lure them.
Then later in Campfire:
Jenny C.
I’ve been thinking about the minions.
I think minion demons are the lowest of the low.Bob M.
okJenny C.
They’re like the people on the bottom who hate everybody who succeeds or has something they don’t have.Bob M.
envy and jealousyJenny C.
Yes.
Their only joy is bringing people down.
So they travel in packs because they’re bullies and they like dragging their prey down.Bob M.
so there’s never a single minion. always a group10:20 PM
Jenny C.
But i think if they perceived one of their own as doing better than them, they’d turn.
I can see X appointing one demon to run things and by the next day that demon is dead.
The group killed him.
So they’re always going to be leaderlessBob M.
except for UTsJenny C.
Except they’re afraid of the Untouchables so they do what Kharos says.
Yes.
Theyll grovel before anybody who has more power.
Short Definition:
Minion Demon, n., nasty little sucker.
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22 Comments to 'Closer and Closer'
On January 27, 2009 at 7:53 pm Kyrathered said...
I so cannot wait to read this book!!
On January 27, 2009 at 8:23 pm Sheri said...
“But i think if they perceived one of their own as doing better than them, they’d turn.
I can see X appointing one demon to run things and by the next day that demon is dead.
The group killed him.
So they’re always going to be leaderless…”
I can picture them already. Nasty, vicious, jealous little creatures who fight amongst themselves but are fawning all over the Big Guy… Hmm, sounds like typical office politics–LOL!
“They travel in packs because they’re bullies…” And they are cowards, so they have to goad each other into doing things–I can hardly wait to meet these evil minions!
On January 27, 2009 at 10:13 pm Merry said...
For some reason, I’m thinking of The Auditors in Terry Pratchett’s Thief of Time. Or maybe some of the Small Gods.
On January 28, 2009 at 12:04 am helen said...
Just wondering… but don’t bother replying now if you’re busy writing. How are your Campfire discussions different than your e-mail exchanges?
h
On January 28, 2009 at 12:26 am RfP said...
Intriguing. If demons are mere shallow holes, I wonder what constitutes a deep ‘un.
On another note, for a moment I thought this was about a certain drove of dachshunds:
“I’ve been thinking about the minions.”
On January 28, 2009 at 1:00 am Jenny said...
Campfire is faster than e-mail and we don’t end up cross-posting. As Bob says, we’d get in a fight in e-mail and about twenty or so in we’d be answering something somebody said three e-mails ago. In Campfire, we can hear each other scream in real time. It’s much more efficient.
But if we have just one question, e-mail is faster.
The Auditors are much smarter than minion demons. And the dachshund stampede here are never minions. They think I’m their minion.
We said demons were shallow holes?
On January 28, 2009 at 9:46 am Diane (TT) said...
You said the holes you had to dig yourself out of were shallower, and gave the minions as an example.
But now, are you having to dig yourself out of a bunch of snow? We, in Oxford, have probably gotten about 7″ so far, since yesterday. The icy stuff overnight didn’t add much, but it’s been fluffy all morning. Miami U. is closed for the day and the town seems to be mostly still asleep. I moved about 4″ of snow last night off the driveway, and will be interested to see what there is to do when I get home from work (where I am enjoying a pleasant, people-free day, but am not yet being madly productive, although I have hopes).
Stay warm and safe!
On January 28, 2009 at 10:30 am Mary Stella said...
Interesting that minions are pack animals that don’t acknowledge an alpha within their pack, only an external alpha/UT. UTs must be able to scare the crap out of a minion demon.
So, death and destruction is all they know or recognize or can act upon? See it, kill it.
Nasty little suckers indeed!
On January 28, 2009 at 11:20 am Jade said...
The minions.
Sounds like they’re more on the animal level than human, more like a dog or hyena pack. Animal instincts.
All about survival and hate. Stupid but somewhat cunning?
Bullys, so cowardly. Have to have the group behind them to do something; too cowardly to act on their own. And they have something to prove. Also terribly insecure. But certain they’re right…because group is behind them. Aggressive and underhanded. Irrational.
Definitely groupthink going on. But also…
No thinking, just all emotion and impulse.
Sounds like no sense of right and wrong, just being. Doing. In the moment, no real tomorrow, except what they can get or how they can harm someone else or keep someone else from having or being anything. A self-hatred (acknowledged or not) and hatred of others.
Got carried away, imagining. Profiling. Your minions Are really Low.
On January 28, 2009 at 11:58 am Jackie said...
Jenny! thanks for the terrific tidbit, but why aren’t you off writing? It’s going to be a year after you hand it over to the editor before we see it….
OK, I guess you guys need a break, but it’s hard to wait, especially since it will be awhile till the next stage is done….
love the minons tho, good bad guys really improve a story.
On January 28, 2009 at 12:11 pm GatorPerson said...
How about if they’re like insects and use pheromones to communicate, albeit primitively, and have a mission to survive and go forth and multiply and destroy anything that gets in their way that might inhibit their mission?
On January 28, 2009 at 1:10 pm janet said...
I think this book is going to be very interesting.
and my screen saver says “What I really need are minions.” which is kind of weird, since I haven’t been following along and didn’t know minions would be in your new book.
Hmmm. minion deficit.
they must all be outside Jenny’s and Bob’s places.
On January 28, 2009 at 2:21 pm Kira said...
What I want to see is the book cover.
How the heck will you convey this book at a glance, so that people who like that genre will recognize it and each of your individual, disparate fan bases will recognize it as well?
On January 28, 2009 at 3:41 pm Susan Ricker said...
How about, and they only hang out (when not in the dark) at the most banal of locations….McDonalds?
On January 29, 2009 at 1:25 pm Sheri said...
Jade said:
“No thinking, just all emotion and impulse.
Sounds like no sense of right and wrong, just being. Doing. In the moment, no real tomorrow, except what they can get…”
Hmmm–that line made me think of teenagers. All hormones, no brains. Probably mostly the male of the species. LOL! I know, I know–not nice. I’m just saying! *wink*
On January 30, 2009 at 5:31 pm Jenny said...
Love the comments.
Sorry about the neglect; I lost power Tuesday night and just got it back. Next move: a generator.
On January 31, 2009 at 2:24 pm robena grant said...
Don’t have anything to add, demons are an unknown. Sweet endings, romantic comedy, family sagas, and light suspense/mystery, anything that won’t scare me out of much appreciated sleep are what I read. Hope this one won’t be too dark. *shudder*
On January 31, 2009 at 3:03 pm Brenda Bradshaw said...
I cannot wait to read this! I’ve never heard “minion” so well defined. I picture them like little gargoyle-y things (Yes, I made up that word and I’m okay with that) which is kind of weird since I just ordered my first ever gargoyle thinking he’s cute and protective in nature, and now I’ll look at him and think “minion”.
Gah.
On February 2, 2009 at 1:50 pm Barbara said...
Some people on my street put a huge (about 4 foot high) winged gargoyle in the center of their front lawn. It was here before I moved to this very middle class type of street and I’ve never been able to find out reaction, etc., from other neighbors but I think everyone’s “live and let live” about it.
I made a cute Christmas card out of it. The people put a Santa hat on it each year so I took a photo and under it wrote, “It’s just not Christmas until the neighborhood gargoyle dons his Santa hat.”
On February 3, 2009 at 2:54 am Lily Blues said...
This is totally of the subject, but I just have to share this news story from the LA Times website.
Whale of a Hotflash
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/booster_shots/2009/02/whale-of-a-hot.html
Scientists are studying killer whales in a quest to understand why women live after menopause.
On February 3, 2009 at 2:55 am Lily Blues said...
Whoops, I meant OFF the subject.
On February 8, 2009 at 12:15 am Kat said...
I’m Sooo glad another book is in the works and almost done! Poor Agnes has been re-read so many times her cover is falling off. Looks like I’ll have to get another copy. Dogs and Goddesses should be arriving soon and I can’t wait. Imagine me singing “An-tic-i-pa-a-tion”