Well, the series is done now. As fanfiction.net gives the opportunity for readers to open a dialogue with the writers, I decided I would take a few minutes to write some notes/comments on what went through my head as I wrote this series. I hope this gives some insight as to what I was trying to do, so that readers will know what I did and didn't succeed in as I wrote.
ForeshadowingThis was probably the toughest element for me to work with. The obvious reason is that it's sometimes hard to drop hints as to what's coming without giving away surprises. What I was shooting for was a reaction along the lines of, Oh, how did I not see that coming? In hindsight, it's so obvious. There were several plot points I addressed with a little foreshadowing:
Logan's Death. At several points I had him reflect on what he knew was coming, and how much he wanted to avoid it. One of the biggest hints was actually in a chapter title – Reporting Live From Gethsemane. For those that don't understand the reference, the Garden of Gethsemane is where Jesus went to pray before being arrested and executed. In Christianity, it's one of the defining moments of Jesus' life, because his mortality made him ask that he be spared from his fate. But he stayed and faced the music, just like Logan did. I always saw Logan as being extremely strong emotionally (a character trait offset by his physical handicap). So for me, it wasn't enough to martyr him, to let him die for the cause. To do the character (and his strength of will) justice, he had to know what was coming and accept it.
Syl taking over as Eyes Only. In the last chapter of Season Change, Logan muses that Syl would make a good journalist in her own right. He also goes about introducing her to his contacts, which was a necessary precursor to her taking over as Eyes Only.
Max having Logan's child. The only real clue that that was coming was Set sniffing Max when she showed up to visit Logan. She was in heat, and Set could smell it. It's why he asked her if she could handle being in there alone with him.
Basically the whole plotline of Dreams Torn Asunder. The title of the last chapter of Season's Change was 'The Horsemen Cometh.' I think everyone got that I was using the Bible's Book of Revelation as a rough framework for my story. (There was even a review that mentioned that fact.) The reason for that is that just about everyone is familiar with many of the facets of that doomsday prediction. (I could have tried something else, like maybe the prophecies of Nostradamus, but not only are his quatrains so vague as to be unusable, but the mythology I developed for the Familiars demanded a strong connection to the traditional Mediterranean apocalypse stories.) Everyone's heard about the four horsemen – War (Zack), Pestilence (Lillith), Famine (Logan, in a real stretch applying that name to his character), and Death (Alec). (And as a side note, if anyone knows the source of Pestilence, please email me. Pestilence is always spoken of as one of the four horsemen, but in Revelation, the horsemen actually appear to be the anti-Christ, War, Famine, and Death. Pestilence is absent, and I'd love to know where that one came from.) Everyone's heard about Armageddon (though they don't always know the source of the name, as I explained in Unnatural Selection). Some of the more obscure characters in general knowledge (though they're prominent in Revelation) are the dragon (that's Set, whose name is the same as the Egyptian god Set, a serpent), the Beast (Joshua, in a rather literal turn), and the woman who fled into the wilderness (Max, who was forced into exile). Most people have also heard about the mark of the Beast. That was the barcode, which Joshua had tattooed at the beginning of Dreams. Revelation uses the mark of the Beast as a means of buying and selling and stuff, which I used literally. I also added in the detail of having the barcodes be a method of destroying the enemies of the Beast – the Familiars. So I followed Revelation as a rough outline, with some massive liberties taken at some points.
Faking Max's death. I think Set's conversation with Max pretty much laid out the hints I'd dropped. (And of course, to have seen all of them, you'd have had to read Three Hail Mary's.)
Character PairingsThis was a tricky story element. Apparently (though I was oblivious to it), during the course of my writing this series, there was/still is a shipper war between those favoring Max/Logan and Max/Alec. Thank God my storyline was firmly in the shipper neutral stage at that point. I think my author's notes might also have helped deter some people from annoying, pointless flames. I'm a big fan of Unresolved Sexual Tension. Though he never said it, Alec had a bit of a thing for Max. (Then again, as I wrote him, Alec had a bit of a thing for every attractive female.) Max didn't have a thing for him. That creates a bit of friction, and therefore a bit of drama. To me, that's more interesting to write than a dozen chapters of sap about how Max and Alec are happy being together, shagging like minks. The same thing goes for Max/Logan.
So why Max/Logan? Well, as I neared the end of Unnatural Selection, I was actually planning on making this Max/Alec. (I even dropped a few hints that that was a possibility, as Alec is all kinds of regretful when Max 'dies' near the end of Unnatural Selection.) Then, as I went into Seasons Change, I realized that I would really be doing myself an injustice if I allowed those two to go there. First off, I would lose the playful, sibling-fueled banter between the two of them, and that had always given me an opportunity to inject some much-needed levity. (Until Alec went postal, anyway.) Also, developing a romance (properly) would have necessarily taken attention away from the overriding story arc, and that's not what I wanted. (Of course, I could have just had them start boinking for absolutely no apparent reason, but plenty of authors have already done that, and I have this crazy thing about trying to be original…) Most of all, though, when it came time to get the two of them together, I was surprised to find that neither of them really wanted it. Max was too busy being a messiah, and Alec was too busy developing his own agenda (essentially doing all the evil things messiahs need done, but can't do themselves). As compatible as they may or may not have been, neither one had any interest in pursuing it at that time. Timing isn't always right in real life, and I see no reason why my fics shouldn't be the same.
In the end, it seemed right that Logan and Max should get together. Cameron/Eglee had them dance around each other for two seasons. I had them continue through most of a speculative third. I knew I was going to wipe out most of the cast at the end (see my bio – I don't believe in happy endings), so the romantic in me demanded some kind of reward for three years of pining. The series started out with Max and Logan being the central relationship, and far be it from me to second-guess Mr. Cameron's ideas. However, as I wrote above, I don't do happy endings. So sure, the sexual tension gets resolved, but I fake the death of one character and actually kill off the other within a few chapters of their blissful resolution. That's what they get for hooking up in one of Nevermore's stories. :)
Why Logan/Syl? I think I answered that one well enough throughout the course of the story. In addition, from a writer's perspective, I also loved the opportunity to add in more conflict and guilt. There just wasn't enough of that before Logan had a fling with a woman who could be considered his true love's sister, while all the while grooming her to replace him as the voice of truth, justice, and the American way after he gives his life to advance those ideals.
Character DeathCharacter death is never something to be taken lightly. I gave a lot of thought to each character's death, and due to the affection many readers have for some characters I figure I should give at least a short explanation of what I was thinking.
Why did Alec have to die? Alec had become a rather evil bastard by the end of the series. Had the story been longer, I was toying with the idea of maybe fully developing some kind of psychosis similar to Ben's. (I really liked the idea of putting my psych degree to some kind of use.) He'd murdered at least two people in cold blood, and there were others off-screen that we never heard about, too. (And that's not even mentioning his little side adventure in Three Hail Mary's.) Joshua knew what Alec had done, and was about to tell Max. If Alec had run, it would have only made his crimes worse. Dying the way he did allowed him to 'save' Max one last time, and then die without her ever knowing about his betrayals (since Joshua never had the heart to tell her once Alec was dead and the point was moot). Dying when he did made it possible for Max to remember Alec the way she thought he was, and not the way he really was.
The funny thing was that I was originally going to have Joshua kill Alec for what he'd done to Zack, but I decided against that idea. Joshua really didn't want to do it, and Alec was certain that there was a more meaningful end out there for him. (I spend lots of time 'talking' to the characters, so to speak. I'm sure other writers understand…) His character benefited from the eventual outcome, though, I think. Anyone else have any thoughts on that topic? (Not flames – thoughts.)
Why did Zack have to die? Well, as I wrote in my A/N to start Seasons Change, Zack was originally slated to die at the end of Unnatural Selection. He escaped the axe then, but I knew his days were numbered. He was single-minded in his pursuit of freedom and security for his people, and powerful men with obsessions like that get themselves (and all too often, many of their followers) killed. The only question was how it would happen. My second plan for him was to be arrested and defiantly go to the gallows, willingly paying the price for his crusade. Then I was writing an Alec chapter and realized there was no way in hell Alec (a.k.a. Death) would allow that. He would give Zack the satisfaction of martyring himself for his cause, without the humiliation of being executed by the same bureaucrats he hated.
Why did Logan have to die? For very much the same reasons Zack had to die. He'd pushed too far, and in post-Pulse America I figure terrorism was almost certainly a capital offense. Logan knew the repercussions of his actions, and he went into it knowing he'd end up dead. As I wrote above, I thought it important that Logan not only die, but willingly construct a situation where he could give his life for Max's cause. It means more that way.
Unresolved Story ThreadsWho dropped the nukes in the Middle East? That was Set. I implied that, but never said so explicitly because while his actions and schemes had far-reaching effects, Set himself was a minor character and didn't merit much direct attention in the text. (Besides, he wouldn't really have been directing the action from behind the scenes if I kept including him in every scene.) At the end of Seasons Change, he bought several hydrogen bombs. Then he went and recruited one of Zack's pilots (who'd been mentioned in Chapter 10 of that story). In Revelation, the Dragon hurls the stars down from the sky or something like that. I interpreted that as the dropping of nuclear warheads, which I feel is a rather reasonable interpretation. Though in Revelation it seemed like the Dragon was only seeking destruction, it was never explicitly stated that there wasn't a practical reason for scorching the Earth. I took advantage of the ambiguity.
Who killed Logan? Once again, this was Set. He truly considered Logan a friend, and figured killing him was one of the greatest services he could offer. (And couldn't we all us friends like that? :) ) Set had grown up behind concrete walls, and he hated it. To him, it was a fate worse than death. He would never allow Logan to suffer that way. He also knew all along that Logan was planning on dying for the cause, and Set felt compelled to keep the promise he made to Logan in Chapter 8. (Oh, and btw, I know Chapter 8 doesn't have a title. I couldn't think of anything that would really capture the mood of the chapter, so I just numbered it.)
How did Set manage to get Max out of the limo? Now this was something I would have loved to have Set explain, but it wasn't really possible. For obvious reasons, Set didn't ever want to see Max again after that one conversation in the basement, so anything that needed to be said was said there. Between telling her about Alec, and explaining his role with McElroy, and giving all that exposition about Lydecker's beliefs and the role of Revelation in the story, the conversation was rather dense. In fact, I almost took out all the Revelation stuff because it seemed like all that text sorta held up the dramatic development of the story. Ideally, had this been an actual episode, when Max remembered Erin shooting her with a tranquilizer, we would have had one of those quick flashback shots with Erin opening the false bottom of the limo and passing Max down to Bucephalus (or someone else) waiting by an open manhole. That way Max was removed from the vehicle in that bit of a pause between Max getting in and the RPG being shot. It wasn't long, but one of the reasons for switching to Joshua's point of view was to show that there was a bit of time there. Set's people took advantage of every second. It sucked having to leave that bit out, but like I wrote above, I didn't feel I had time to include everything. So my solution was to cover only the things that Max would have felt were most important. She knew she made it out of the limo somehow, and I didn't feel she'd think the details important enough to inquire about. She really would have wanted to know about the other stuff, though.
Did McElroy get elected president? Well, with a name like McElroy, you gotta figure he's Irish. Nothing bad ever happens to Irish characters in my stories (except for Rory… but that's a different series), so of course McElroy won.
Was the guy (Logan) that killed Joshua Max and Logan's son? Yes.
What ever became of Max? Dunno. Wanna write a story?
What ever became of Set? He eventually becomes president, with Joshua as his vice-president. Revelation states that the Dragon cedes his power to the Beast. So that means that Set would have resigned or was assassinated. My guess is that he arranged to have Bucephalus kill him.
Is there gonna be a sequel? Not a chance in hell. I think I'm probably done with this fandom – I've said all I have to say about these characters.
Easter Egg HuntI like to put in little tidbits here and there, all of them meant to be mini-homages or just inside jokes/references. I figured I'd share a few…
-- Several of my chapter titles are inspired by or directly taken from Babylon 5 episode titles. I think that was possibly the best written show ever (Twin Peaks, Buffy, and Angel at their bests are comparable), and I like to include a little piece of that show in my stuff. Since it would be hard to throw a Vorlon into the Dark Angel universe, I settled for titles. Well, that and the name for the Special Forces units the transgenics joined – the Black Omegas.
-- The UN Registration Resolution was 81/599. The 81 refers to the year in which it was passed (the 81st year of the UN's existence), and the 599 is Zack's Manticore number.
-- The first sentence of Max's closing thoughts atop the Space Needle is the same sentence used when we first see her atop the Space Needle in the series pilot, and in the first season close with Logan in the same place.
-- I've always wanted to have a character named Bucephalus – the name of Alexander the Great's horse. As you can imagine, that's a difficult thing to work in seamlessly. I think I finally succeeded here, though. (Also, though it's rather irrelevant, Tiamet was the name of the Babylonian goddess of chaos and destruction, not totally unlike Greece's titans, from my understanding. She was originally gonna play a larger role, but in the interest of time, I wrote her out.)
-- Twice I show Logan reading books by George R. R. Martin. (First, A Game of Thrones, and then A Storm of Swords.) Not only do I consider this the finest fantasy series I've ever read (and I therefore recommend it very highly) but, as one reader who emailed me commented, it's a sign that all bets are off as far as plot developments and character survival rates go.
-- Some of the passages in the McElroy and Ashton speeches were taken directly from past American presidential addresses, primarily FDR and the current George W. Bush.
-- I renamed Max's first clone (Sam) to Ashley, after Ashley Scott. I'd read a bunch of irrational Asha-bashing fics, so I decided maybe a nod to that character was in order.
Thanks again to everyone that gave feedback at any point during the series. I'm really proud of this trilogy, and I hope everyone who reads it can find some level of enjoyment in it.