Hello out there,
My name is Katherine Phillips and I’m the writer of the Walker’s Path web serial. This is my take on the latest release of Walker’s Path. It will be laden with spoilers so make sure to check out the latest chapter!
Chapter 10 is about twice the size of my normal chapters. The weird thing is that I re-read it and was so captivated by the story that it flew by. So instead of splitting it up I decided to go with it.
The central goal of this chapter was to get Walker from waking up to going to breakfast with the girls. I feel the chapter does this well and there’s a surprise near the end. I do want to talk about that surprise but want to work my way through the story first.
I think the hardest part about writing this chapter was giving Walker what he wanted while still forcing him into another situation that he didn’t think would ever happen. The thought that ran through my mind was, “Oh so you like girls clothes? Let’s see how much you like them.” He didn’t take it well obviously.
This is the first time that I had Walker become physically sick in the series. Sam helps out and immediately knows to hold Walker’s hair back. The thought of leaving the house dressed as a girl is the cause. This is pretty important because we know that walker actually likes the clothes but wearing them outside is just too much for him.
There’s some backstory to Sam’s caretaking and I will likely write about in the future. All the Misfits have pretty tragic backstories so there’s a variety of ways their stories can go. I fleshed out a backstory for each of them, which has changed a little but has mostly stayed the same. Sticking to that hasn’t been that hard. My mind seems to easily incorporate those into the characters as I write them.
If you’re new to Walker’s Path you might not know that it was originally named “Walker and the Misfits”. I had a conversation with some early fans and brainstormed a proper title. I feel like it’s worked out quite well.
The idea for Walker forgetting to set an alarm was set up in chapter 9. Since this is set in the mid 1990’s setting an alarm isn’t as easy as turning on your phone since having a cell phone was rare. I didn’t get my first cellphone until around 2003-2004. My family was middle class so having a cell phone wasn’t a big priority.
Lacy forgetting about Walker’s clothes didn’t pop up until I was writing it. Murphy’s Law slipped into my head. It goes like this, “Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.” and it seemed fitting for the situation.
The situation also gave me a chance to allow Walker to step back and look at the circumstances from Lacy’s point of view. I think there was a maturity (and immaturity) that Walker showed that we hadn’t seen from him before. Most of the situations that have been thrown at Walker has seen him be a complete pushover. Walker does have a backbone but it’s reserved for a certain time and place.
Speaking of Walker’s resolve. Chapter 11 has him asserting his opinion on more than a few subjects that are not shared by the girls. I know him being a pushover has been a common complaint I’ve been getting so I made sure to slip something in there for you all.
Back to Chapter 10. We get to see that Walker has a lot of faith in his friend Vic(tor). Walker clearly mistook Vic’s facial expression for knowing who he was. The truth is, if Walker didn’t give that hand signal Vic would have had his suspicions but wouldn’t know for sure.
As for the surprise. We find out that Joy is exploring her attraction to Walker even though he is made up like a girl. I’d like to say that I planned this one out but it just came out. I didn’t even think about it. I’ve actually been struggling with keeping it in or not. Then my mind drifted back to how much Joy reacted to Walker liking girls clothes.
I started by re-reading chapter 6. Suddenly, it all made sense, Joy was struggling with still liking Walker when he was dressed like a girl. She defaulted to being angry and broke off the relationship. (She doth protest too much.) In chapter 9 when Joy reveals that Walker is model-esk pretty she had had a chance to think about his appearance. Then in chapter 10 the next day she takes a chance and kisses him. She instantly feels ashamed and turns away. In the 1990’s being gay was something you kept hidden.
Walker still likes Joy and took a big chance by trying to reproduce the circumstances in which Joy kissed him. It works and he’s riding the high life. Walker, at some point, is going to have to face the fact that Joy likes him dressed as a girl. For now she can get away with it because they are both riding on the high of their relationship taking a step forward. We’ll see how he takes it in the future though.
That’s it for todays Writing Walker’s Path. I hope the insight into my process helps you understand the characters a bit better and me a bit better.
As always if I missed anything or you have a question feel free to drop a comment below or send me a message via the Contact section.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter,
Katherine
Author Katherine Phillips 