Writing “Douche-y Derek” & Playing for Laughs
I’ve spent the Summer working on my debut novel, set for publication in March. It’s called SO THIS IS HAPPENING and it’s a workplace romance full of witty, warm, and slightly flawed, yet mostly self aware individuals.
When you’re writing a story, you end up falling in love with your characters, even the ones who grate on you. Especially those. Because you set out thinking they are the absolute WORST, and then, somewhere along the way, you start seeing their humanity. UGH! And, maybe, maybe even understanding them. Heaven forbid! And suddenly you’re rooting for the person you were fully prepared to hate.
It’s a real mind blender.
/True story: In my first draft of SO THIS IS HAPPENING, I accidentally crafted a love triangle. It wasn’t what I set out to do. It was more that I could empathize—maybe a little too much—with how Becca, my lead, was attracted to two very different people. Each guy was giving her something she desired. One was a little more toxic, or at least problematic. The other was her beshert (Yiddish for “fated mate”) and, ultimately, the right choice for her.
And yet, like Dakota Johnson in The Materialists [review here], Becca had a hard time picking the right guy. In Dakota’s case, it was always Captain America aka the “dumb waiter”!
Back to MY love triangle: I liked the inherent conflict of being attracted to what isn’t necessarily the best choice, because, hey, that’s human too. And apparently, I went far enough down that path that it started to look like I was leading Becca straight toward Derek.
Which, as it turns out, was not exactly the plan.
Or was it?
But that’s the weird thing about writing characters. Sometimes you follow their humanity a little too far and suddenly they’re making choices you never intended for them to make.
This was Derek’s initial bio. You should click on it, if nothing else, then to see the picture of the very actor who I would want to portray him.
However…
A funny thing happened when I was working on the first draft. My brilliant daughter told me, “No. Derek is NOT the creepy guy from Fair Play. He’s Ricky Gervais.”
Ok, she didn’t really reference the film Fair Play [review here] because yikes, I wouldn’t have wanted her to watch that as a kid, but, she did comment from the jump that Derek was always Ricky Gervais and NOT a Chad, or a Brad.
Meaning: he’s the comic relief.
Eureka moment. I protested, “But, daughter, he is NOT like Ricky. He is objectively fine and can be profoundly perceptive and share emotionally resonant moments with Becca! What’s a mom to do?”
So I listened. And I considered. She wasn’t the only telling me to lean into Derek aka Ricky’s humor.
Yes. Derek is funny because he’s the guy so many of us have worked with in corporate America: completely oblivious to how out-of-touch he is with his own privilege. But he’s also the guy who, if you write him right, gives everyone else in the workplace someone to poke fun at.
In short, he can occasionally be in on the joke. But mostly? He’s the butt of it.
And that felt right too. The pivot.
And suddenly, I knew exactly what to do with him. Make Derek the guy who carries a little bit of the parts of ourselves we don’t particularly like. Let him be our mirror. And, every once in a while, have him show up in ways that completely defy his brand and make us question just how quickly we’re willing to judge, dismiss and dislike someone.
Make him drunkenly cheer Becca on when she’s hit the lowest point of her career, but do it with a very public display that is entirely about the wrong reasons. Rhythm wise, it diffuses the moment. Lets the air out of the room and gives everyone, but most of all Becca, permission to breathe again. He’s not all cartoony but a dimensional being. One who is there to play for laughs.