Re: Chapter Eight - the Crystal Ball

This will be the last of these posts without a spoiler warning. I have a (perhaps) unusual opinion regarding spoilers, and might make a post to discuss it. However, I know not everyone wants to see the twists and turns that are coming up, and that is unavoidable beginning with Chapter 9.

As for Chapter 8, there are really two major scenes – the Halloween party and the Crystal Ball itself. While in abstract I tend to be fascinated by plots and plot structure, I think the real thing that “sticks” me to a story I’m reading/watching/experiencing is the characters and their interactions. And that’s easily the most important part of this chapter, particularly between Kennedy and Scarlett.

It’s also about bringing Kennedy face-to-face with his greatest weakness: dealing with other people! I kid, but it’s not too far off. Really, we see an extension of what we had seen previously at the market: Kennedy’s difficulty in opening up. This chapter was important to me from a writing perspective to encapsulate Kennedy’s flaws in a critical decision, or lack thereof. Here, he doesn’t step up, open up, take the risk and tell Scarlett early on about his change in plans. While he may protest that David kept him busy (true enough), he also doesn’t try to make the time. And it’s not like he needs that much. It should be apparent that this is just an excuse for him to avoid doing what is difficult for him.

Poor Scarlett. She really tries, but Kennedy really drops the ball. As much as she reaches out, Kennedy really sucks at reaching back. In fairness, he does finally let his guard down when he’s willing to make a fool out of himself at the Halloween party and learn to dance. Still, one can understand Scarlett’s frustration at the ball. Kennedy probably should be grateful she didn’t snap at him any more than she did.

But on the note of Scarlett’s character, we again see a little more under her mask, so to speak. Like in “the Iron Mosk,” we get an impression that she’s not just the cheery, sociable student she presents as. We learn that her social graces are as much (or more) practiced as they are natural. She surrounds herself in a crowd but prefers to be alone. Well, there had to be a reason she was drawn to Kennedy, right?

One other note on the behind-the-scenes aspects. In previous versions, I wrote out the scene where Blake breaks the news to Quincy that they have to leave early. When Quincy offers to leave with them, Kennedy has to bail Blake out – right after Blake had been giving him grief for not telling Scarlett. Cutting the scene and changing it to a shorter conversation at the party ultimately covered the same ground, though we didn’t get to “see” firsthand Quincy’s exhaustion in the last couple of days.

That’s all for this week. We’re at the turning point for the book. It’s not just more spoilers up ahead, but the action starts coming and it don’t stop coming basically from here to the end. While this first half of the book was designed to get you comfortably settled with the world and its rules, the second half is were we start jamming with them. Can’t wait to discuss it, so stay tuned!

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