Kenny Wright
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In Too Deep (Extras)
🕑 Added 2024-10-01 13:00:18 +0000 UTC
I'm still working on the final epilogue, but wanted to give you all something special this Tuesday. This will NOT make any published book. It's entirely exclusive to Patreon.
Yes, the photo above is AI. She's my version of Amanda, but probably not yours, which is why I'm ever hesitant to post this stuff, but scroll down for more on that.
Some of you know the backstory to what's now "In Too Deep." I went back into my emails and found a thread I had with Ben Boswell about spy stories. I guess I was bouncing an idea of a spy thriller off of him, and he sent me a story he'd begun that covered a similar theme. I loved what he'd sent, asked him if I could run with it. He gave me permission, and here we are. He's also given me permission to reproduce what he sent me, and so here you have it!
Oh, and he sent this to me October 4, 2014, nearly ten years ago. Maybe I should have saved this post for Friday's. Oh well. There's more after the story, so if you don't want to read it, scroll down.
Undercover (by Ben Boswell)
Gina and I have been married three years, together five. We met in law school, ended up both doing a Department of Justice internship, started dating and the rest is, I guess, history.
She's a study in contrasts. Just looking at her, you'd think she was a model or something. She's just that good looking. Five foot six, with long, almost black hair, porcelain skin, and deep blue eyes, she's also a hard body with a perfect heart-shaped ass, and the kind of natural, full, boobs flat-chested girls are dreaming of when they go under the knife for implants. But she's also brilliant. Duke undergrad. Columbia law. And tough. She was Army ROTC in college, did two tours as an MP in Iraq, and earned her parachute badge. After DOJ, she joined the FBI as a field agent. All of that by the time she turned 27, when we got married.
She started off doing counter-narcotics out of Miami, and then got assigned to some counter-terrorism in California. I followed along, gravitating toward business transaction work which is more portable given a frequently moving spouse.
A couple of months after arriving in California, she was approached about going undercover. I wasn't crazy about the idea. Heck, I fucking hated it. But she assured me it was a one-time thing. I tried to get more details out of her, but she couldn't tell me more because of classification issues.
It was a very, very rough six months. I'd see her maybe once or twice a week, usually with no warning. I'd come home from work, and there she'd be, usually trying to catch up on some sleep. She was often distant and guarded, probably an inevitable consequence of the job. Then just as quickly as she'd return, she'd be gone again. We tried to reconnect in those brief interludes, but really we were just marking time. I made her promise never to go undercover again. She agreed though I wasn't sure if she was just humoring me or what.
Finally, one day, she was back for good. We got back into the swing of things. She let drop that her work had been really significant. They were going to put away some really bad guys, but for a long while, nothing happened.
Then came the announcement. The feds dropped a whole slew of indictments, apparently breaking up what had been a pretty significant terror plot involving Jihadists trying to smuggle in some shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missile, and worse, they had apparently gotten pretty far in cooperating with some drug gangs to do it. I'd sort of been assuming Gina was working on some sort of white collar connection, corrupt importers or maybe some sort of money laundering, so hearing that she'd been involved in this sort of thing left me a little shaken.
Even though the indictments were public, Gina's role wasn't, and she still couldn't tell me much.
"Will you be testifying?" I asked.
"Probably not," she replied. "They try to protect undercover agents, and really without getting into it too much, I was sort of at the margins. They'll probably be able to stipulate to some of the evidence and keep me out of it. At least I hope so."
As it turned out, that didn't work out. And instead, after several months of pretrial wrangling, one piece of the prosecution went forward, and Gina was forced to testify. I was secretly pleased. Even though they'd be trying to protect her—by allowing her to testify from behind a screen, for instance—appearing in court greatly reduced the possibility that she'd be going undercover again in the future.
They had severed out the actual terrorists from the drug network, and this first trial was of a guy named Edgar Martinez, who the papers reported ran a freight forwarding business that was apparently deep into all sorts of criminal activities.
As her testimony approached, she was increasingly anxious. I tried to reassure her she'd do great, but I guess she was worried given how high profile the case was.
"Get a good night's sleep. I'll wake you up on time and drive you in and be there when you testify," I offered.
She momentarily blanched. "I'd rather you didn't come," she said finally.
"Why not?"
She sighed. "Look, just trust me. Okay?" She took my hand and squeezed, looking deep into my eyes.
"Okay, baby, whatever you want."
But I was too curious to resist.
It was a clear November morning when she was called to the stand. I was in the audience, but she could neither see me, nor could I see her, since she was behind a screen. She was sworn in and the prosecutor walked her briskly through a well-prepared testimony.
The only shocker was that Gina had been undercover at a strip club. I didn't like the sound of that, but the testimony really didn't get into any details. Her role in the trial was obviously simply to provide a chain of evidence to various documents and other physical evidence. Reading between the lines, I sort of suspected they were using her as a way to avoid having to disclose other secret methods they might have been using to gather evidence. But her actual role remained well disguised. After three hours of testimony, all I knew was that she'd worked for several months at the Gold Club, though whether as an accountant, waitress, or even dancer remained unclear.
It was not until after lunch when the defense took over on cross that anything really interesting came out. The defense attorney was Darren Clare, a fire plug of a man, early 50s, bald, stocky, with a pair of steel rimmed glasses perched on the end of his nose. He looked like a school principal more than a polished courtroom maestro.
"So, Ms. Barnes, you worked undercover as an 'exotic dancer' for three months at the Gold Club, is that correct?"
"Yes."
"Have you ever pursued this line of work before?"
"No."
"No experience, no prior training?" he asked with a trace of sarcasm.
Follow-up notes I got after probing Ben:
Well, my idea was that the defense attorney is trying to attack her character. So she'll have to admit that she had to blow the club manager to get her job, and then he'll badger her about lap dances and what she did in the VIP room, and of course, that is just a set up for her having to explain how she became the bad guy's mistress, and what she did with him. I imagined that she'd also slept with some of the other criminals. Maybe she had to work her way up to the big boss.
Anyway, the defense strategy is to make her seem like a whore, who got jealous or maybe failed in a blackmail attempt. So hubby doesn't know if she was just doing her job, which is bad enough, or if she really was as bad as defense suggests.
(Read more from Ben Boswell on Amazon or over on Medium, where he's posting a new series about a very slutty girlfriend.)
Inspiration
If Ben had written this story, I don't think it would have been very similar to In Too Deep, but you can definitely see some of the seeds. I can only speculate, but I think it would have been more about what happened after the case, rather than during, and probably would have gone darker with some of those characters.
It's also funny to me that Amanda was there for six months, rather than the three that I'd written (also, Amanda was "Gina"), but she went home regularly. I honestly don't remember that, and I'm not sure why I didn't follow that pattern. Probably would have eased some things, but I'm fine with how it played out in my version.
My Process
I mentioned that I was more of a "pantser" than a "planner," meaning that when I write, I tend to go in without outlining and planning out my stories. This isn't entirely true. I definitely have an idea for the story I want to tell. I'm pretty sure I've outlined it somewhere on my blog years ago, but all I could find was this article titled, "Don't be your story's bitch" (lol). In brief, I write with milestones in mind. I create a set of characters, think of the story I want to tell as a series of milestones to reach, and let myself move from one milestone to the next. Sometimes, based on those characters, I change it up, or maybe a new plot emerges that's more interesting than the original. I stay agile as I go.
But that's mostly for the main characters. I wanted David to go from kind of a hapless husband to someone with more agency, and I wanted to have the straight-backed Amanda, seeing the world as so black and white, to realize that things are much grayer in the real world. Those were my notes. Their experiences then shaped them farther.
Often times, my secondary characters are just sketches in my head, which make them a lot of fun because I can kind of play and experiment with them. Ty and Julia, for example, were there to help drive the story forward, but they ended up infusing a lot of personality into it. Julia, more than anyone, surprised me. She was initially just the bitchy, envious "older" woman, but as I got to wondering why she was like that, she became more than just support. And as a commenter pointed out, she can be read as entirely sympathetic if you want to (although I urge everyone not to think of any of these characters as entirely one thing or another).
As I've stated before, the story originally ended around the end of book 2. There was a big bust, Kozlov went down, the end. But it didn't feel right. That's not the arc that these stories take. There needed to be a third act twist. That third act became, well, the other half of the story!
I knew that Hirsch was behind it the whole time. He always was at the center, but the pawns shifted at times. Ty was once in his pocket (in a very early version), but I really liked Ty just being Ty, a "good" friend and kind of bro-whore. I knew that I wanted a big confrontation that brings all the players together. And I wanted Amanda and David to make it.
This community helped with that last goal. You helped me see just how fucked up their marriage was. It's often hard when you're so close and have such a clear idea of the end, to realize the implications. That's one of the reasons book 3 was so long, and why book 2 took so long to come out. I needed to adjust things and give the characters the space to evolve into the people I needed them to be in the end.
So there's probably a lot more than you ever wanted. Ask questions if you have more. I'm always happy to talk about my process.
Oh, and last thing. This story was probably the most exhausting thing that I've ever written. I've said it before, but it was a lot of work. But I think it's so worth it. It's one of the best things I've put out, IMO.
AI Artwork
Say what you will about AI (it's coming for our jobs, it's scary, deep fakes, etc, etc), but it's come quite a long way, and it's pretty wild. Oh, and for the record, I will NEVER use AI in my writing. I'm not doing this strictly for the money. I enjoy the process (I wrote a whole thing above about it!), and I love watching scenes unfold and having that control. Why give that up to a machine?
But I will confess, AI art is fun. After writing most of In Too Deep, I wondered what it could do with Amanda. The splash image above is one of many I did of her. I used a seed image and ran with it. I'm a little hesitant to post many images, because one of the things that's so great about books over other media is how we bring our own imaginations to it. But here are a few anyway, if you're curious.
(Blue eyes, dark hair)
(Guess she got a foot blown off at some point!)
(Amanda hanging out on the Dominion before the big party?)
So how does AI Amanda live up to everyone's thoughts?
Take care, everyone, and happy Tuesday!
Comments
Kenny Wright
Oh, that site banner is not AI. heh And yeah, she’s hot. Maybe I’ll write her story one day.
Kenny Wright
I have some of Chelsea, too. Maybe I’ll share those at some point
Kenny Wright
Yeah, definitely samey. I’m with you. Fun to play with prompts but everyone looks like a certain kind of pretty (although I happen to like that kind of pretty).
Kenny Wright
I’d read it too! But don’t hold your breath. While it didn’t become Whatever It Takes, it must have been the kind of story he had in his head at the time. Also, exclusive reveal, there’s actually a much longer, unfinished draft of a sequel to Whatever It Takes. Maybe half complete? Maybe he’ll finish that one day. Go find him on Medium and pester him there.
Kenny Wright
Maybe one day we’ll do it again. Collabs can be tricky things. Lot of compromise. But the results are good
Kenny Wright
Thanks so much! It’s a little different, so there’s that? But I do appreciate your help padding the Amazon ranking.
Kenny Wright
Yeah, it was definitely going through my mind. David is accepting, but he still has angst. And that’s complex
Rich
I do have one question: That scene in Chapter 28 when Julia and David are snarling at each other, I get the distinct impression that they’re venting other stuff. Half the things that Julia says about Amanda, I got the feeling that she’s talking about herself (David sort of picks up on that). There’s also that line where David says “Maybe he expected that you’d prioritize him over your job”, that, I kind of felt, was something he hadn’t said to Amanda, but was on his mind, at least earlier. I do think it added to how cathartic that scene felt to read, it was letting David blow off the head of steam he’d been building up for weeks without ending with a messy argument with Amanda. Was that in your mind when you wrote it or is it just me?
Rich
Thanks Kenny. Interesting and I do agree that this is probably the best thing you’ve ever written. Not just in the content, but in the ‘how’, there’s a lot of technical stuff in pulling this off. I don’t think you’ve gone to that level of character development before. I get the feeling from the first epilogue that isn’t over either. Seems David might now be more accepting of some of what happened than Amanda is (reference to going to a “dark place”, discussion around the tattoo, and her realization that most of her life goals didn’t work for her anymore, pretty significant stuff). We shall see I’m sure. Brilliant work though.
Rich
Got to say I have a hankering to read the Boswell version now, and I can see where you're coming from Naillesy, I can see him running the whole "has to do it to get the job done" angle rather than "it's an excuse to express a repressed side of herself".
Chris K
I don't remember Amanda having any sophistication...
@hebridesdrifter
Funny how different we all are. I appreciate these suggestions (and checked them out) but I prefer Renee Murden’s sophisticated beauty (Amanda.) But she can look pretty Raven slutty, too.
Andrew Mellein
Thanks Kenny! I have been reading some Matthew Lee and I will just say he makes the husbands too wimpy and the wives manipulative cheaters. I like how you go for more realism with the husband and wives characters and not just to titillate. Also bought your latest Castaway Wife on Kindle even though I am a patron subscriber.
Andrew Mellein
Yes, I think in general Ben writes more darker stories. I loved it when him and Kenny collaborated on novels. It's the best of both worlds.
Donkatsu
Imagine starting the story from the cross-examination backwards, with David unaware until then. Yes, that would be dark. I could see a collaborative effort to tell that story.
Chris K
Or Rachel Pizzolato!
Chris K
AI is great, although I picture Rachel Cook as Amanda most of the time:)
Kevin Goodman
Amanda looks pretty good. I envisioned her with bigger breasts and a little older, but she's pretty hot
Nail
On Ben boswell story. I really love his premises. Did he spin this into whatever it takes? It came out around the same time I believe?
Nail
Always find AI a little too perfect and very samey if I'm being honest. But I admit I do find it fun to mess around with. I personally prefer some of the cover models you found for your books over AI art.
@hebridesdrifter
If I had to choose one of the AI creations, the Amanda hangin on the Dominion best captures the Amanda/Raven hybrid.
Donkatsu
Great muscle definition! The dancing has been really good for her core and the coke keeps the weight off.
Rubicon
Thanks for the background write up. It’s cool to hear about the process. I think Ben Boswell would have had a very different take than you based on his prior books. I’d appreciate more AI art to be paired with your story updates, it adds some spice. It doesn’t take away from my own imagination just enhances it 😜
Smoke
Interesting background on the story and much appreciated. The AI pictures are great but it would be hard to find someone who looked like that. Although Lana Rhoades comes close with dark hair, blue eyes, and large breasts.
@hebridesdrifter
If you mean your site banner photo, YES. YES indeed!!
Kenny Wright
That said, I think the banner photo is pretty good!
Kenny Wright
AI either makes them look young, like that, or like middle aged or older. It seems to have a hard time with “30s” I’ve found.
Kenny Wright
AI really isn’t great about adding specific tattoos. It basically adds a lot of them and not where you want it. I could try with photoshop genai though. Maybe that’ll work
@hebridesdrifter
Since you asked for opinions . . . Amanda’s supposed to be about 30, and has lived a lot for her age. AI Amanda looks 22 and innocent. She needs more age, sophistication, maybe a little touch of cynicism. Tho that might be a tall task for AI, LOL.
glenparks
I'd like to see her with a view of the Raven Tattoo. Very good rendition of her I think. I cannot wait until you publish this!
Tracey52
Thanks for letting us in to your writing process. I’m so glad that you wrote part 3 now book 2, and that we helped you in someway. I think you did an awesome job with the base material Ben gave you. Your AI Amanda is so hot. I pictured her perhaps slightly fuller in figure but wow. What about giving us a picture of David?
