5 Questions about Deborah Riley
Here are 5 quick questions to get a better grip on Dag's Secretary/Assistant/Apprentice who you have all helped name Deborah "Deb" "D.H." "Don't call me Debbie" Riley. If you don't see an answer you like, make one up.

1. Why does Riley flirt with and tease Dag so much?
A) She thinks he's hot and wants to sleep with him
B) She thinks it's safe and she can just play
C) It's dangerous and exciting to play the edge
D) She thinks she can manipulate Dag and get anything she wants that way
E) It's the only way she knows how to deal with men
F) It's a conquest and will show how good she is

2. Is Riley a martial artist?
A) No, she just kicks and scratches
B) Black belt
C) Too smart to get into a physical fight; she scraps with words
D) Street-fighter; stiletto isn't just her shoe of choice

3. Riley is studying computer science and criminal justice.
A) She's a straight-A student
B) She's a geek in a mini-skirt
C) She gets by on her looks
D) She'd rather play Katamari Damashii (or another game?) than study
E) Classwork is fine but she's killer in the labs

4. Riley lives
A) In a dorm
B) In a little apt with three other students
C) In a posh condo paid for by her rich father
D) In a rented room on Capitol Hill (Seattle)
E) With Dag
F) With her boyfriend

5. Why doesn't Dag sleep with Riley (or at least call her bluff)?
A) He's a wuss
B) It's unethical
C) He can't get it up
D) He's 30 years older than she is. Ooo gross!
E) She reminds him of someone. (Who?)
F) He's gay

I just love this designing my characters by committee!



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jisatsu_crisis
1- I'm between A and E (just adding to E "... besides kicking their asses")
2- D and C
3- Between B and C
4- E
5- Either A, B or E (it may be an old ex-girlfriend who got him in lots of troubles). Or all three x)

wayzgoose
Thank you for the responses. This is going to be fun to tabulate but I haven't any idea how it will turn out.

adelynne
1. b, 2. d, 3. e, 4. b, 5. d.

wayzgoose
Succinct. Thnx.

quitereasonable
1B; 2C; 3 - I think she should be really good at computer science and struggling with criminal justice some - maybe struggling for the As she gets; 4B; 5 - How about something else like pride or a promise. If you try B, C, or F, you will ruin tension or part of the byplay in the readers mind that I think you are trying to create. A does not give the respect to Dag you'd want. D isn't gross, but if you think it is, you won't write it well. and E doesn't seem like much of a reason on its own, though Jisatsu crisis's suggestion above gives it substance.

wayzgoose
I like "struggling for the As she gets". I think I could control the tension for the reader, but you are right it would really be hard.

I've added you to my friends. I like your thoughts.

quitereasonable
Thanks. I've added you back. You can drop me and I'll try not to be too offended if you get bored with my bizarre dreams.

fae_witch
1 - Somewhere between B and E on this one. Teasing strikes me as a way of showing friendship...maybe she grew up around the kind of boys who pull your hair if they like you...
2 - D I just can't picture her in stilletoes somehow...they go with a "Debbie" not her.
3 - E Maybe she gets bored sitting around in class, the hands on approach helps her to understand things far better.
4 - Pass...I can see her spending most of her time either at college/Uni (sorry, never can get my head around the American higher education system) or with Dag. Not E though and probably not F.
5 - B, or possibly E. Or maybe there's a bit of a protective elder brotherly feeling there, not that Dag would ever admit it of course!

And you're right, this is fun!

wayzgoose
Thanks! I like the way you are thinking, especially 5. Although it might end up more fatherly than big brother. It's the 30 year difference speaking. I'm still not sure I've got a real handle on what motivates his response, though. I think it has to have something to do with the way he reads her.

I've added you to my friends. I'd like to follow the work you do for Nanowrimo.

fae_witch
*blushes* Thanks!

poetsworld
1 - E
2 - C ( i say she carries a dagger )
3 - A & E - It's something she's been into since high school (why?) so classes bore her, but she gets through them
4 - Why not have her stay at Dag's since you've already established he would be in the hospital most of the book. But otherwise she lives with her mom (someplace kinda rundown)?
5 - E (Her dad scares him?)

wayzgoose
Hey Ace! Good to hear from you. I'm definitely thinking that when she first meets Dag in Las Vegas and saves him after his first heart attack that she bunks in his hotel room while he's in the hospital so she won't have to pay for a room. But I don't know if it would work to have her so close to his personal life after they start working together. I'll have to see.

floralfallal21
1. E
2. C or D
3. D
4. A
5. E

This was FUN!

wayzgoose
I'm having fun with it too. Come on now: 5E? Who? (I put 5D in there just for you! *grins*)

Just wait till I post the Maizie quiz!

floralfallal21
OMG HAHAHAHA how did I miss that one?!

dreamweaver15
1. B
2. C
3. E
4. A
5. E

And now I'm off to write some things down. I think I've got a basic premise for my novel. At least I think it might work. I'll work it out in time for November I'm sure.

cloister27
1. G, for the fun, teasing play of it (which they both enjoy), and because it's the safe way to release any sexual tension between them. On the one hand, they have this father/daughter type relationship, but on the other hand, they both know darned well that she's not actually his daughter, so, in order not to mess up their relationship they need the flirty banter. It's the tacit way that each of them can say to the other "yes, you're hot, but no, we're not going to do anything about that."

2. C, A. Making her any sort of kick-ass fighter is, well, getting to be a bit cliche after Buffy, Alias, Dark Angel, etc. She doesn't have to be weak and powerless, though. If you must give her a martial art, make it Aikido. Self-defensive. I can't see Deb as someone who wants to hurt people, but I can see her as smart enough to get some self-defense training. Aikido fits the bill perfectly. I heard a quote a long time ago about one of the original aikido masters, who developed the discipline, along the lines of "fighting with him was like wrestling with an empty jacket." Which I think captures perfectly the notion of having the skill to simply not be where your attacker is striking. If Deb can do that, then she can dance around whoever's trying to do her ill, while jabbing them verbally in order to get them to slip up and tell her things they don't want to tell her, then she can flip them onto their backs or something and run away.

3. B. Geek is very chic, and getting more so by the day. After all, geeks rule the world.

4. D. Not only can I not see her living with her boyfriend, I don't really see her as having a boyfriend, either. If she did, that would kind of get in the way of the flirty banter.

5. G. Because deep down, he knows he feels paternally about her. She represents family he wasn't able to have, and that means more to him than the opportunity to bang her in the sack. Probably, something about her relationship with her own father is lacking, in a way that Dag can help make up for.

poetsworld
Just wanted to drop you a note. Watching KISS KISS BANG BANG

You should check it out for some more detective stuff.

Val Kilmer plays a "tough as nails gay detective"
Robert Downy Jr. plays a thief turned actor playing a detective. he has to take detecive lessons with Val.

Nothing gay happens, because robert is straight, and in love with a girl he used to know back home.

It's so well done.

Enjoy

wayzgoose
Thanks, Ace. I'll definitely check this out.

poetsworld
I've watched it twice. i love that the main characters, aren't actually detectives, but are the ones fueling the story.

It's her case, and RD Jr, just gets hunches that while are dead on, don't seem to fit to the actually detective.

I have decided to own a copy of this movie. I hope you enjoy it.