NEWS BULLETIN: A new version of this story has been posted, and this version is now DEAD.
net/s/10026541/1/
Story begins with the next chapter. Just a heads-up for those who don't want to read my ramblings.
Somewhere along the line, I realized that most self-and-or-original-and-or-AU character inserts in the ME portion of this site haven't touched on two potential plot goldmines. In the interest of preventing spoilers, I won't drop the first one here. It will, however, become obvious fairly soon. The second, however, isn't so spoiler-y. With the exception of "day-in-the-limelight" sections, oneshots, or stories that bounce perspectives between romantic interests, hardly anyone ever uses a focal viewpoint other than the most noticeable character in the tale. Namely, that of Shepard and/or whatever inserted characters they have.
Of course, that's not to say there aren't any. Bofomania's Quarian With A Shotgun, for instance, focused almost solely on Tali as a character during ME1 (without being a romantic fic). Even more intriguing was a particular way that he (I hope I'm getting that right; already goofed that one about Myetel at one point.) presented his plot. Namely, he fleshed out her character by showing what everyone else saw, rather than a straightforward smattering of events just from her POV. It was an eye-opening tale (for me) that made me wonder one single question:
Why haven't I seen anyone use the other characters to introduce their own main characters, namely OC's or SI's?
Thinking of that brought up the idea that every character should have their own views, their own experiences with the character and their own opinions of the events around them based on what they know or think they know. Of course, that comes with its own challenge: how to structure it in such a way that characters aren't totally "spoiling" one another.
Leave it to movies to provide the answer. Especially ultra-violent ones.
You may or may not have heard of Quentin Tarantino's first two movies, Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. In case you haven't, both present their plotlines in nonlinear fashion, with some details and events left out for later to build up dramatic tension. Reservoir Dogs, in particular, structured it around the individual characters: Show what one guy knew, advance the plot, introduce another character, backtrack to their beginning, and repeat.
I decided to try something similar with the first part of my ME character insert, though I'll try not to let it turn into something as complex as Memento (the film). Based on where I'd go with the second leg of the saga, I doubt I'd continue using this particular device after, but you never know.
At any rate, I hope you enjoy the story. Since I've said so much here, I'm trying to hold A/N's for between major releases instead of every chapter.
Goodness knows you've heard enough from me to last a while by now. ;)
(Oh, and p.s.: There will be pairings. One of them involves straight -if bicurious- Kaidan. Will I make them obvious from the start? Probably not, but I appreciate the patience!)
Revisions Log:
Feb 2013: Foreword added. "A Musing I" rewritten to show more of the "present". James/Lily subplot and characters removed. Yuri removed. Felix replaced with a new character. Intro chapters rewritten from insert's POV. Any reviews made before the 14th were for the previous version of the text.