AKA: How do you solve a problem like Mary Watson?
I cringe in anticipation of every Mary. Because let’s be honest: Holmes/Watson is the OTP; Mary is an interloper. (Sherlock rocks my fucking world. The Sherlock Mary is freaking amazeballs. I’d ship her with any character on that show. Not Lestrade. But any other character. Well, okay, not Mycroft, either, though I’d hella ship her with his assistant, whose name escapes me. Mmm. Yummy.)
Where was I? I’ll try to wipe the smut from my brow and continue.
Truman is my Mary Watson. Let me restate, for the record, that in no universe (in my brain) were Will and Hugh ever going to get married (to each other) and live happily ever after. No more than Holmes and Watson would. But do they share something deep, and profound, and transcendent? Fuck yeah. And if I did my job right, by the end of The Scientific Method, most readers think so, too.
So. Enter The Interloper.
Obviously he must be a man who is not jealous of Will. He must be a patient man, because Hugh is not easy to get to know, and he must be a persistent man, because Hugh doesn’t believe in happily ever after (not for himself, and maybe not for anyone).
Okay. Well. Those are basic. But who is this guy?
The story of how Hugh and Truman met trickles through the series. Now’s a good time to mention here there be spoilers. By the time I rewrote Hugh’s New Dude, before publishing it in 2014, I’d already written the first draft of what would eventually become The Boyfriends Tie the Knot. So I knew that Truman’s the kind of guy who watches an intriguing man from across the room at a conference, notes the way he dismisses flirtation from others, finds it amusing that he’s scribbling in his binder the entire time, and by lunch has a plan all ready for activation in order to grab the seat next to him.
First draft Truman was all right. But he didn’t have as much spark, or as much depth, as the Truman Jennings we know and love. Because when I first wrote him, I didn’t know the real story of how they met. I, like Hugh, had to discover it as time passed. A lot of time. Almost five years of time. (By the time Truman fesses up, Hugh sees the entire situation through the lens of intimacy and humor, but if he’d known in the first six months, he would have dropped Truman like the proverbial bad habit. Isn’t it fun when characters develop throughout a series? Um. Yeah. Well, obviously I think it’s fun.)
In the first half of HND, we get Hugh’s version of their courtship. In the second, we get Truman’s. Which is important, because seeing Will (and Hugh-and-Will) through Truman’s eyes makes a lot clear. Also, I got to use the line “Dating Hugh Reynolds was like walking a tightrope over a shark tank: exhilarating as hell, but also, any given second may find you plummeting through the air, about to be devoured.”
Also, it’s the part where Will says, “You’re kind of a kinky bastard for a vanilla dude, Truman,” which is another favorite of mine. Because of course those of us who–ahem–see Will and Hugh as the one true pairing of this universe, need to see a little something from Will here, too.
This story needed to establish three things very clearly: Hugh is in love with someone who isn’t Will; the new relationship will in no way result in the exclusion of Will; and the new guy can hold his own, both in intensity, and intimacy. I also needed to not duplicate the same dynamic, so Truman shows up a little bit older than Hugh, a lot vanilla, and entirely settled into his life. He’s not searching for anything, really. He’s got a job he loves, and an apartment, and a best friend in Boston, thus allowing him to in many ways be what Will at 21, 22, could not be to Hugh: a partner.
(We’ll end there, but let me tease you with this: the first draft of this series still holds true in many, many ways. But there is one interesting thing that’s just beginning to creep in, which I’ve only had hints of before, and it’s fascinating. You’ll see a little taste of it next week, in one of the New Born Year missing scenes. Man. I love being surprised by characters.)
I was one of those readers who was gutted at the end of The Scientific Method that Hugh and Will didn't get together, even though Will's always very clear that that was never going to happen. What can I say – I love a HEA. So when Truman appeared I was ready to hate him… except that he's awesome, and clearly adores Will (almost) as much as Hugh does. I wouldn't say he's my favourite character in that universe, but he's in the top 3 😉
I play with the idea of adding a line to the description of TSM that makes it clear it isn't a romance novel, but I think a lot of people who end up loving it wouldn't read it if I did that, which would be sad.
Still, I'm sorry you were gutted VC! Sad face!
Watching them develop slightly different relationships with each other (Will and Truman, Will and Hugh, Hugh and Truman) is so freaking fun. Wait for Extremes. Extremes is like Will and the boyfriends on intensity crack. I should stop talking it up because everyone will have high expectations, but seriously. Seriously.
Yeah, I don't know how you can flag that they're not a couple without giving away too much about what they *are*… least said soonest mended, perhaps 🙂
Talking of gutted – no more Little Red! I could read weekly installments of their twisted little romance forever! 🙂
Ha ha ha! I was just washing dishes contemplating Red and Bad, Series Two…
I feel like I'm a bit alone in not being upset that Will and Hugh don't end up together at the end of TSM. This might be because almost all of the other books were sitting there at amazon just waiting for me, so I knew the story wasn't over…but I'm just so happy with how things have gone so far. I guess I just trust you with these guys!
Plus – I LOVE Truman.
I make the mistake(?) of reading the name and then description of Hugh's New Dude about a third of the way through The Scientific Method, so I wasn't upset or surprised by them not getting together. I was insanely curious though as to how it ended and how the next one progressed that allowed for such a plot to happen.
So not disappointed at all, but I did lack a lot of sleep that night!
You spoiled yourself, but in a good way? I do that, too, especially if I get nervous about where something's heading, book, TV show. I'll IMDB an actor to make sure they keep showing up just so I know they don't die unexpectedly for stupid reasons (AHEM, West Wing).
I'm glad you weren't upset! I do think that the assumption of a cut-and-dry romance changes if there's like seven other books in the series. (Happily ever after, after, after, after, after…)
But not everyone notices a series book (the covers are poorly branded for that…I should fire the–oh, wait, that was me), and a few of the online vendors don't even have "series" books connected. Mysteriously. Since those of us who ravenously plow through a series like to have that info readily available. Talk about you return customers!