I kinda took a break from following Jim and haven't read Peace Talks, so I'm quite out of the loop. Back before Peace Talks even had a release date, Jim was saying that the book lineup was:

Book 16 Peace Talks

Book 17: Mirror Mirror, about Dresden dealing with a world where he made a different significant choice.

Book 18: A mystery involving Professional Wrestling involving gods.

So what happened to these? Is Battle Ground the pro wrestling book? Because the blurb definitely doesn't suggest that. And what happened to Mirror MIrror?

I think Marcone somehow has grabbed credit for the con pulled against Nic, in Skin Game.  I think it was actually Mab and/or Vadderung who masterminded things... but it was Marcone's bank that was the lure that Nic bit on, and Marcone seems to have leveraged that.

If by con, you mean that Nic got the grail but Harry got the other pieces of the Holy set?

(As always, mileage may vary.  I work best when I know roughly where I'm ultimately going.  I've got milestones and an endgame, and I build towards that.  And other people do better sitting down with a basic concept and just fly by the seat of their pants.  My method isn't "better,"  it just works for me, and the stories end up deciding for themselves how long they'll be.)

Having an End point certainly helps. Although some ideas the problem is figuring out where they end. The "What happens next.

Although, if you know the ending, and you know the beginning, sometimes 'what happens in the middle' becomes your problem.

"Obsessed fan and celebrity stalker summons the ghost of the celebrity he is obsessed with, so he can be with her. It does not end well."

Why can't this idea be made into a full length novel?

This sounds like the first couple chapters of a novel.  It's just a matter of wanting to do something different with it.

Hm. That's interesting.

I think I see where I'm limiting my thinking. The characters in these stories are created for the purpose of dieing. They are unsympathetic bad people doing bad things for their own reasons and it gets them killed with a twist.

A book where these stories are the end would be unsatisfying. However, you are suggesting these are the beginning. If these characters were sympathetic and the focus was on complication, then there's more room to work.

There are other plotting problems I have, but this at least helps me jiu-jitsu a short idea into a longer one. Thanks.

Disagreeing with some of you over what makes a novel doesn't mean I don't want to write a novel.  I see "A novel has lots of x and y". I point to novels that lack x and y. That is not objecting to novel in general, that is objecting to some novels. The examples of novels that lack x and y that I keep using are the kinds of thing I want to write.

I never objected to subplots. All I said on the topic was that some novels lack a subplot, like Storm Front. What I have heard is "add a lot of stuff about the characters." I that is what I object to.

I've seen the suggestion of taking a book like one I want to write, and analyze it. Outline it, see how the author plotted it out and how those pieces came together. That is a workable suggestion.

But with both characters you mentioned, Bond and Hercule Peroit, their personalities are an integral part of their stories. But its integrated into the story and not as an explanation. Hints here and there to give it flavor. Hints here and there to give it flavor. That's what makes a good writer, the ability to weave it in so it doesn't distract from the story but instead gives it texture.

Hints of character interspersed in dialogue and action that provide flavor - that's how its done in short stories, so that's not what we're discussing at all. Showing the history, the day to day life and family of the detective - that's not hints. What is being suggested in this thread is making all those aspects take up chunks of the book.

(Also imo Peroit has next to no personality but that's besides the point.)

Let's use a set of movies as an example: The Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

We don't know who Jack Sparrow is. We learn that Sparrow had a ship, and his crew mutinied. His goal is to get the ship back and to take his revenge. We only learn that he was dumped on an island, and how he got off that island, because he ends up on that island again (it's plot relevant). We learn that he is a notorious pirate. That is all we learn about his background. All we know about his motivations are that he wants his ship, and that he enjoys being a notorious pirate, and that causes him to rub it in the face of the authority. Even in the third movie, we meet his father, but we don't know anything about their relationship, they don't talk about their past, nothing. And yet he is an interesting and fun character; it's what and how he does things that's interesting.

The same thing goes for the Joker. All we know about his past is that he was The Red Hood, he fell in a vat, he is now the Joker. His behavior is unpredictable, and his motivation is purely chaos. And yet he is still interesting and fun; it's what and how he does things that's interesting.

The way that you are talking, not only do we need to know all that other stuff about them because it's important, but we need to spend a good amount of time on them. But we don't.

Basically, look at any Pulp story. It's all about "What is happening right now". And what's happening right now is typically action, or the leadup to action. The story doesn't stay still. The descriptions are minimal, just enough to tell you a sense of something and then it's moving. There's next to no background, characterization is all in action or dialogue, etc.

So that's what they do; I wasn't clear on an agent's role and duties.