Why I started writing
I guess I’ll start with how I tumbled into the Plum World.
Like so many of us, I started reading Janet Evanovich on a whim. I was in Lawrenceville, on a long term assignment, when someone mentioned a popular series set just south of us in Trenton. I shrugged; I had enough books to read but I picked up One for the Money on a whim.
Within a month, I was up to Twelve Sharp.
I don’t know when I stopped loving the series. I know I was done when Carl the Monkey was introduced. By Finger Lickin Fifteen I was disgusted. What happened to Lula? JE’s treatment of Lula left a horrible taste in my mouth. Grandma Edna?
Ranger. My heart wept for Ranger. What happened to the brilliant security expert? This man was a former US Army Ranger for heaven’s sake! The Army’s shock-and-awe soldier. Had Janet stopped doing the research? Did she not give a damn anymore?
Then there was Vordo.
I was done. I wasn’t buying another book. I refused to support foolishness. My favorite heroine had devolved from conflicted (and that was getting tired) to a ‘ho. For lack of better term. I didn’t respect her anymore. She never grew, she never learned, she continued to do stupid things that put her life in danger. Everyone around her accepted it. I didn’t; I put the books down. They were taking up space in my suitcase anyway and I need to travel light.
Then I heard about FanFiction.
At first, I was more interested in Harry Potter FanFic (huge HP fan here!) but I soon realized there was Plum FanFic! And it was good. Hell, some of it was great! Outstanding! Novel worthy!!!
I read everything I found. I followed certain authors, refreshing their stories every day. I turned into a fan girl. I marveled at their brillance.
I was sad I had none of their talent.
I read Adalind’s Consequences and found myself nodding with Tank.
Because she’s a selfish bitch, I thought to myself. Rangeman had done more than bleed money to protect Ms Stephanie Plum this time, and if I had anything to say about it, then it would be the last time we ever gave a damn about her safety too.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand that her line of work is dangerous, but to have so little regard for her own safety makes me angry. I don’t leave the building without two guns, a knife and backup when I’m on the job. But Steph? Oh no, God forbid that she actually bothers to think about her own safety let alone anyone else’s for one fucking second.
She leaves her gun in her cookie jar and ends up in way over her head before she even realizes that she has a problem. And then what? Rangeman rides to the rescue – like today.
That touched me. The ease with which someone could die from Steph’s mistakes. And her steadfast insistence on making them.
I get it. I really do. Steph’s had a difficult childhood and tough circumstances but you know what? If you read the books, if you really read the books, you’ll see that so many of her problems are a result of her own rampant curiosity, lack of preparation, unwillingness to listen to anyone’s advice, and Jersey attitude.
“Any intelligent woman would have made a dignified retreat, but this was New Jersey, where dignity always runs a poor second to the pleasure of getting in someone’s face.”
I read the books. I own them all through 15. And I’m irritated by Steph. Fifteen books, no change. No interest in staying alive. Two men in her life that could teach her to shoot a gun and she still won’t carry. I don’t know about you, but getting shot in the ass once would change my mind about the gun.
I wrote chapter one of Change in the Wind in four hours from that. Just a combination of anger and irritation. At Steph, Ranger, Joe, and most of all, JE.
I wrote chapter three next. I wrote chapter four after that and I’d finally worked off the anger. I had a plan.
Like most things in my life, I started out with a simple idea and ended up over my head within weeks. In my line of work, we call it ‘scope creep’ but it was as if all these characters just started appearing in my living room, determined to have their say. The Plum world often acts as a bubble, a microcosm of the best and worst of JE’s America and, if that’s what she thinks the world is, she needs to get out more.
In my world, nothing is black and white. Everyone has motives and explanations. Lula immediately showed up, grateful someone was willing to rescue her from the the characterization JE seemed eager to force on her. She quickly ate me out of house and home and reminded me that she’d survived years on the streets and survived a brutal attack from a homicidal boxer and killer. She was a survivor, not an idiot and I agreed.
Tank showed up soon after, wondering why we bonded so fast. I won’t lie; I was tempted to steal Tank from Lula but the look on Lula’s face had me switching my attentions to Bobby.
He still looks nervous about being around me. I think he knows I have plans for him.
Les showed up next and I realized what was going on. This was the advance team. They were checking ground conditions. So I started writing a chapter not-so-friendly to our favorite hero and he appeared behind me, like smoke, to encourage me to change my characterization. I smiled and welcomed him.
He’s disturbed that my diet tends toward Steph than him.
Ram, Manny, and Hal showed up with Joe in tow. They were glaring at him; he was grateful I wasn’t writing him as some child abusing rapist and molester. He too was welcome, but there were just too many RangeMen around for him. He and I meet in secret to write his chapters.
Ram and Manny wanted more face time and Hal, especially, wanted me to rewrite his characterization as ‘dumb as a sack of rocks’. He’s still upset Steph thought of him like that. After all, he was the one who was stunned and nearly lost his job.
He still wants me to make her serve mat time with Tank for that.
Steph showed up next. She knew I was angry with her. She sat quietly and didn’t say a word. I’m not Lula; I’ll tell her exactly where to get off. So she wait to see how I would treat her. I wrote Chapter two looking at the pitiful expression on her face. Yeah, she’s the architect of so many of her own damn problems but she tries hard. She really tries to do the right things and stuff just happens to her.
We’re OK now but she knows that childish stuff is over with me. She will grow up with me. I’m not having it.
By the time the RangeMen XOs showed up, I was out of food, toliet paper, and I’d lost control. I’m still waiting for these people to leave my home. I can’t sleep at night with them around.
ha, i adore your profile page, thanks for the link…and yeah now i can bookmark you and take you for real where ever i go….lovely steph’s expression….wonder how she will smile when she walks away….
“(Bobby) still looks nervous about being around me. I think he knows I have plans for him.” Can’t wait!
You really have taken JE’s characters in a way that I love. Your OCs are written with such detail and emotion that they seem real, too.
I also agree with the frustration in JE series when the monkey and the supernatural came in. The Wicked series should not have been tied to the Plum universe. I like both universes, but combined it brought the Plum series down. The detail and the research do seem lacking from the later stories. I see that detail in the business, military, family and neighborhood dynamics you are putting into this. Thanks for sharing your gift. It has made my summer and looks like my fall too.
ah yes i always felt like when ranger kissed steph in her parking lot the first time and said ‘think about it’…she should have drug him upstairs and told him ‘its a great idea’…and then babe all the way
or
‘one ranger is all you need’
the end of plum books.
I have to drop in here and voice my agreement with Margaret. Yeah, the OTHER Margaret! The series could have very well ended with “One Ranger is all you need” and so many of us would have looked back on this series fondly as a lovely series. But greed, laziness and sloth took over and even though Janet couldn’t keep her own character’s names and ages correct (Helen/Ellen, choo choo at 6/8 then 5/7, and Tasty Pastry at 16/18 then 15/17 which, BTW Joe couldn’t have joined the Navy until he turned 18, and it would have been statutory rape) she just started recycling events and putting them into different skips and crime mysteries to be solved. I admit that I skimmed 16, 17 and just poked my nose into 18 and when I read bits of 17, I was hoping there would be some real emotional intimacy between Ranger and Steph. But I quickly realized that JE was merely trying to keep her “Babe” audience by giving them some gratuitous sex. NOT what we WANTED, Janet!
So, to finally see you take the reins, and force Stephanie to grow up, give the Leadership a chance to move the company forward, and actually allow Steph to do something that she’s good at, having someone step in and help her slowly with some personal growth and to learn self-worth, was such a treat. The fact that she’s more than paid back the company for what she’s cost them is just a bonus. She’s gotten the message that she’s been a HUGE cost and liability for Ranger AND Rangeman. Now, she’s doing what she’s really good at, which is reading people, using the business degree she just skated through on because it was just a way out of the ‘Burg and out from under her mother’s thumb. Had she grown up with support, she probably would have really graduated with honors, top of the class. She’s smart, brilliant even. She’s getting the support now, and she’s making a difference. And the only reason is because you finally got a belly full of what we all have been sick of. Janet’s little moneymaker. Stephanie has been Janet’s whore and Janet has pimped her out since Twelve ended. Yeah, I had a few laughs in the next couple of books, but not the laugh out loud “I LOVE THIS BOOK” like I did in the first few.
So, THANK YOU, for having the balls to do it right. Not only have you created an entire WORLD around Rangeman, but you’ve allowed Stephanie to actually grow and become someone she can be proud of. You’ve allowed Lula to grieve Tank when he moved, then finally go to him when he sent the ticket, and have some personal growth, too. The scene where Bobby catches up to her after Tank tries to talk to her about the prenup was brilliant. It was everything that Lula NEEDED to hear. I loved when Tank sat her down and showed her who she was marrying and WHY it was necessary for her to learn self-defense. I also loved that Bobby tol her that Texas would definitely bury her UNDER the jail for the shit she pulls with her gun in Jersey. I LIVE in Texas and I have a CHL, and I’d NEVER let her ride with me in my car ANYWHERE if I even THOUGHT she was carrying.
So, you have a huge following of people who wanted to see Janet do even a fraction of the self growth that you’ve given these characters, not to mention the original characters that we’ve grown to love. And HATE. I can’t wait to see what will happen in Boston and in Miami. Thank you for taking a chance and putting pen to paper. I’ve always wanted to try, but have never been a writer. I can review the hell out of a chapter, LOL, but I’d have to consume massive quantities of something before I would be able to put myself out there like this. You are a natural, and you are brilliant at it.
Thank you for sharing yourself, your free time, and your story(ies) with us.
Maggie M.
Vulcan Rider on FF
hahahah gotta love ur profile page 🙂
u doing an amazing jon writing fan fiction. One of the best stories i have read so far
Like you said, JE did a piss poor job in the latest novels. I stopped enjoying them after Nr. 13. I guess even her former publisher knew that they were shite and did not renew the contract. If your children are your advicers there can only be a decline in quality. I am very happy that there are talent people like you in the world who produce amazing content. And if you have finished with Bobby send him my ways
I so agree with your view of the books. I also read Consequences and thought yes, this could surely be how it happens. Isn’t if funny how characters can seem so real in your mind. They invade your space and demand their own way. You chapter planned and the characters take over and take it somewhere you never intended (no matter how hard you try to make them do what you want). A good writing makes each character feel real and pulls the reader in and makes them care about what happens. You do that with your stories. JE used to, but her stories have turned into dim reminders of what her writing used to be. The sexual/relationship tension used to add to the story, now it just detracts. You have taken characters and helped them grow into someone to be proud of, even Joe. I really like Ranger, but since Stephanie is getting him I guess I could settle for Ram…really liked your deleted scene, sounded like a perfect date to me. Of course he is to young for me. Thank you for helping the characters grow.
I absolutely love your profile it’s just too funny and acurate.
You are soo right about JE and the books. They were great at the start, but somewhere around book 12 she lost her writing abilities and started putting out drivvel.
From the start I’ve been rooting for Ranger and cursing JE for keeping him from teaching Steph everything she needed to get better at her job.
I absolutely hated her for not letting Steph grow and debassing Lula, Grandma Mazur, Joe (though I’ve never been a real fan of him from the start) and each and every Rangeman. She makes them all behave like idiots.
You are one of the writers that I admire for building our beloved Plum world in a way that is both realistic and detailed. You give us great characters with real lives.
I can’t thank you enough for sharing all of your writing and subsequently you free time with us.
I’m almost ashamed to admit I’ve never reviewed your chapters, but I have so little free time I hardly have time to read anything right now and I don’t want to miss anything.
Congratulations on winning the next Fan Fiction Academy Award for creative writing. You are amazing how you are weaving in so many inner stories and character portrayals. Your attention to detail is over the top(a good thing!). Keep it up Babe. I am sitting here on pins and needles waiting for another alert to come in. Who needs to sleep in anyway? Highly over-rated!!!
Myrna
Oh, your frustration with JE’s treatment of her characters just rings so well with me! I gave up after 18. I don’t plan to look at any others, just fanfiction. Your story has done an amazing job of forcing Stephanie to really look at herself and I love it! I’ve told customers at work that after 12 things just start going downhill. It sucks, but it’s true. You go from having your main character ready to really learn what she needs to do in the beginning of the series to being even more stupid in the later books. How does that work? In my mind, your experiences help teach you what not to do! Oye!
lol, anyway, I’m off my soapbox now. I’ve so enjoyed your story and the sides, and I’m glad I checked out your blog here! I’m going to go continue to explore!
First, I want to commend you on your obvious self awareness with what drove you to writing Plum fan fiction and also on your use of both JE created characters and your own wonderfully crafted, full bodied original characters. I love the dept of knowledge you bring to use, your reader, whether it’s gang, relationship, or business related. I bet you could write one heck of a mission statement for Rangeman LLC by now.
I also grew very frustrated with how JE treats her characters. I fell in love with Steph and Grandma Mazur during One for the Money; I didn’t understand how JE could take such wonderful characters and misuse them later in the series. And don’t get me started on her devaluation of Lula as the series progressed. The total lack of any characters growth, the middle school humor, the stale plots drove me past annoyed. I was frustrated but saw hope with the ending of Twelve Sharp only to have it dashed with Lean Mean Thirteen. I continued to read through Sizzling Sixteen and then I was past done, I found fan fiction and happily started reading other writers take on JE’s Plum world – I must say I love all the ones that allow Steph to grow and be strong but your story is blowing iy up! Major!
I love your mind it keeps me entertained on the regular I look forward to your updates I anticipate them even….. thank you! now since rangers taken can you ship me Lester I love a man with green eyes 🙂
I still remember the excitement and anticipation I felt when a new Stephanie Plum “number” book popped up on the bookshelves @ Ingle’s supermarket! My kids would sit on the floor and look at “their” books while I stood next to my shopping cart, flipping through the hardback with the colorful dust jacket (yeah! I said hardback! I loved them so much, I sprung for the HB!) And when Hard Eight came out, I even took the kids to school, went back home and called in sick to work just so I could read it, I was THAT excited! But alas! Like so many others, I got fed up at the lack of growth, change, ANYTHING!!! I still bought the books, hoping, hoping! something or someone would do anything different! For so long, I prayed she (Steph? JE?) would pick Ranger, but about #17 – or was it #18? – I didn’t care if she picked Joe, as long as she picked SOMEBODY! And when Carl the Monkey showed up…well, for God’s sake!!!!! …..And then, I stumbled across something called “fan fiction” and the very first story I read was by financebabe! Holy Crap! Was this great or what?!?!!! I couldn’t get enough! This was wonderful – the Plumverse was making sense! Characters that I loved were fleshed out, challenged, made so very interesting! Even the MM fanfics were awesome! Fell in love with Lester for reals!….Then financebabe went into (semi?) retirement and I was lost….then I found “Change in the Wind” by veiland and “ta-da”! The sun came out! The birds started singing again!!!! ; ) Seriously, you are freakin’ amazing! I have enjoyed your stories so much – and I’ve LEARNED so much – about so many things!!! I never want CITW to end, but I know someday, you might wrap it up, so let me just say if you ever write an original novel, please let all your adoring fans know so we can put you on the NYT bestsellers list! One last thing – JE had a monster hit on her hands for about 8 or 9 books – then, I’m not sure what happened…but, she should be grateful that fanfiction has such talented writers who continue to tell Stephanie Plum stories! Take care of you, V!!!! Thanks for your dedication to your story!!!
I found JE like you and devoured books 1-12 and 13 left me cold and I found FF and could never pick up another JE novel. The characters had no depth or development and I heard the tales of plot recycling and I was out- FF met my needs. The authors are fantastically creative and talented! I love your stories and what you do FOR these poor neglected characters is inspired. Like you said, JE FF has some major talent but you have again raised the bar and are doing something completely original and amazing and is creating depth in the characters that will help future Plum ff writers and as a fan I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
I miss this story. I agree with you. I stopped at 13 tho. I thought for sure she would finally choose Ranger and then the Dickie, Joe, flamethrower thing happens and its just on to the next number. I had been on the site loving HArry Potter fan fiction then found JE. I dont bother picking up her newest books anymore. I love/hate reading ur evolution of these characters Ive come to love. I eagarly await ur updates and i have saved your website to my home page on my phone/tablet/laptop:) I’m that girl as well.
Hope you are feeling well. Really miss your stories. You are a truly gifted writer