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Started the re-plot of Brain From Outer Space this week. Along with replotting I also have to work out a lot of the backstory about Steve’s brother Tommy, Stalin’s sinister Project New America and the relationship between Steve and his lover Dani. When I first conceived of Dani in an earlier draft, she was a generic Supportive Wife. Multiple redrafts later, she was a National Guard medic, and angry: Her parents had been killed in one of the alien invasions and she despised ETs with every fiber of her being, which created major problems in her relationship. Trouble was, I found out, I couldn’t get inside the head of someone with that much hate who’s also supposed to be a good person, so she always felt two-dimensional. So, rethink time: Dani was a professional. Very no-nonsense, not at all girly, focused on her role as a doctor and soldier. Steve drags her away from that and while she’s attracted to him, she resents it. It still didn’t work. Finally, I think I have it. The trouble was, I was focusing too much on what she doesn’t want and not enough on what she does. Dani loves medicine. She loves knowing that she’s saved lives. It’s everything to her. And in my alt.history, married women do not get to serve as combat medics or anywhere near the front lines, because the image of children growing up without Mom is considered mega-negative publicity (the fact that lots of children lose their parents to aliens and pretty much all of America is on the front lines not withstanding). So marrying Steve would end what she does. And her dad always taught her to approach her career like a man (as the only child, he expected her to carry on the Taylor tradition of a sterling medical career), so she’s always looked for sex and avoided love. Only she loves Steve. He gets to her for reasons she can’t explain, and that freaks her the hell out, because she’s not looking for commitment or love. But it also makes it impossible to walk away from him. I think the redraft is going to be very interesting.