BRIAN SAYS:
Chris and I always tout The Shattered Visage Lies as an ensemble piece. Yes, the last time we discussed this book, we agreed that
it had a protagonist and antagonist in the forms of Michael and Marvin. But we
could also argue that they aren’t the only ones. There are more characters than
just Michael going through life trying to accomplish individual goals, and
Marvin isn’t the only one trying to stop them.
In The Shattered Visage Lies, people are waking up with super powers.
We really wanted to examine what different people would do when bequeathed with
these new abilities. We also knew that we were tackling some concepts that have
been done many times before in comic books over many decades. We wanted to put
our own unique spin on it, so we decided to give super powers to a woman in her
mid-sixties and a girl who was still in elementary school.
In Emma, we have an active widow
with strong Christian values. Her husband died as a firefighter and she never
felt the need to remarry, always content with helping her community. Then one
day she woke up with the skills to become a perfect killing machine.
We found Emma to be an interesting
character because she wanted to view these new abilities (enhanced speed and
reflexes with precision accuracy) as a gift from God, but she was unsure how to
use them. She quickly learned that there were other people out there who would
be more than willing to take advantage of her and her abilities. Her faith was
being challenged. Sometimes in speculative fiction, especially stories with
horror elements, a religious character is, or is quick to become, a zealot. Emma
was not a zealot, but a person who was steeped deeply in her religion, and
found it challenging when her faith wasn’t providing quite the answers she was
looking for. Sure, Michael viewed her as a zealot, but that was mostly his
viewpoint, one where organized religion was not a priority in his life. And,
obviously, Chris and I had a fun time writing any scene where Michael and Emma had
to interact. It’s always fun to annoy Michael!
Haley was definitely the most
tragic character of the book. Sure there were other characters who had to deal
with physique altering mutations, but Haley was too young to truly understand
what was happening, let alone have any concept of how to control it. Especially
since she could turn people to dust with a mere thought, making her one of the
most powerful characters in the book. She was different things to different
people. A cautionary tale to most. An advantage to others. A humanizing factor
for Michael.
As we discussed last entry for The Shattered Visage Lies, Michael was
the reluctant hero. For most of the book, the emphasis was on “reluctant,” but
when he learned about Haley, he shifted to “hero.” As a family man, he loves
his daughter more than anyone or anything, and Haley was about the same age. He
knew very well how Haley must have felt, because he knew how his daughter would
have felt had she gone through the same thing. It was because of that Michael
went toe-to-toe with Marvin, and why he had to deal with the outcome of the
situation despite doing all he could trying to avoid it all together.
CHRIS SAYS:
All of the characters in the book
go through a period of growing pains, as they learn about their abilities and
decide how these newly found powers change or don’t change who they are as
people, but one stands out to me: Derrick.
None of the other characters go
through a learning curve quite like Derrick does. His power is less definable
than the rest and he’s not really sure what he is actually doing through most
of the book. It’s true that he does learn how to harness it, but in the back of
his mind he always has some doubt that things will work out the way that he
expects them to resolve. This is a character that Brian and I agree is both fun
and necessary, especially if there were going to be future books. We wanted to
set a “power precedent” that makes possible the introduction of some less
classical, more fluid abilities to intrigue the readers and for
characterization aspects, as they certainly keep the characters themselves a
little uncertain.
Derrick also struggles with others.
Not just because he’s a slightly awkward young man, but he seems very sure of
the role that he needs to fulfill. He wants to achieve the greatest good
possible and he’s both dismayed and perplexed by characters like Michael who
are very reluctant to take an active role in improving society. Derrick is a
very outward thinker who simply refuses to allow Michael to shrink back into
the crowd, making him a useful motivational tool.
Brian and I were also intrigued by
the thought of a low-level thug using new talents to topple the hierarchy,
which led us to create Stone. A big guy who was destined to run into a bigger
guy sooner or later, Stone got as far as his brawn could take him. But what if
the brawn gets amplified? Unbreakable skin shields his nerve endings, rendering
him nearly impervious to pain.
Unfortunately for him, it doesn’t
make him any smarter, but now he can walk out of a sticky wicket with the best
of them… and unscarred to boot. The heightened fear factor alone makes him an
attractive underground boss. It also makes him a force to be reckoned with as a
character. Our heroes certainly have their hands full with this juggernaut. And
how does his special power affect his personality, you might ask? It amplifies
his thirst for a fight, naturally. And it leaves even me wondering if anyone
can quench it.
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