BROKEN BOARDS CHAPTER NINE BREAKDOWN

Chapter 9, The Investigation Begins

This chapter was a mix of introducting characters in a little greater detail. We get to see a greater sense of how Jack Jansen feels about Jake. This is where I continued to build on the reestablished relationship between Jake and his father. I also tried to start to show the softened edges that Jack has, bringing his worry and concern for his son’s emotional and mental state to the surface.

In this chapter, I start to continue to bring Liz into the picture, establishing her care for Jake. This continues to establish her as the future love interest. My initial thought process here was not only establishing their relationship for this novel, but for future sequel novels as well.

There are some more connections to me and a person, as well as my influences growing up.

Laird the dog is based on my own mini-schnauzer, Marlowe. I tried to write a lot of his model behavior on my own dog. It’s funny to try to capture that behavior and transfer it into the book. As I reread this section, I think I captured him pretty well. I can’t help but smile when reading the description of how Laird dances around and howls when ready to go out. That’s exactly what my dog does every single time.

Additionally, I dropped a pop culture reference in the form of the Hardy Boys. As a kid, I was an avid reader of the Franklin W. Dixon books, as well as a fan of the TV series that stared Shaun Cassidy and Parker Stevenson as the boy detectives.

Moving the story forward, we begin to see that Jake has a knack for detective work, having listened to and observed his father for years. What he doesn’t make have in knowledge, he makes up for with enthusiasm.

There are quite a few hints of foreshadowing with name drops of characters to be introducted in coming chapters in addition to new locations, allowing us to wander out into the world that is the island of Oahu.

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