I’m halfway through Chapter 12, “The Marguerite.” Writing this one has been a nice change of pace for me because much of the action of the story so far has taken place at Eli’s apartment, and the scene I’m working on now in 12 finds Lily having lunch with her country singer mother at a fancy hotel.
And speaking of Lily’s mom… Dani Fayette is a character I’ve mentioned in my previous two books, and I actually ended Pretty Jane with a tease about her, so I knew I was going to have to flesh this woman out in Lily’s story. In so doing, I’ve also had to do some research on a genre of music I’m not all that familiar with.
Generally speaking, when it comes to country music, I only listen to the more contemporary pop stuff. Which is why I made Dani a pop-country artist. But I’m also painting Dani as an edgier artist, someone who isn’t afraid to throw in some raunchy song lyrics because I want her to have some common ground with her daughter.
So, long story short, my research for this chapter had me Googling “dirty country music” because I honestly didn’t know if this was a thing. Turns out, it absolutely is. There are some really filthy country singers out there, y’all. And I might have spent a little time listening to a few of them…