Rob's Notes:
Third Stage was, despite its appearance, a happy accident. After completing the second installment, I realized that there was still some more potential to develop the story as I could see fit. Unfortunately, all I had in the beginning was a couple of random setpieces that were disjointed and random in my head. But, after a week of finagling with the story, I finally cracked it and set to work with it in mind.
Throughout the series, I did enjoy the change of tone as the characters were developed throughout. You can tell that the first installment had an "alien encounter" vibe while the second was more of a space opera. This one was comparable to a political thriller and it was fun to use my inspiration influence what I would write. Initially, I had several reservations writing this, but once the story got rolling I began to relax as many new plot points came to mind, some of them at the last minute. I had fun writing this as I hope you all did reading it.
Prologue:
To properly sell this story, I needed to put my cards out on the table immediately. I had to show the audience what exactly is going on otherwise they'd just get bored. There are noticeable shades of the movie Contact in the first part while the second half was influenced by the video game Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes.
This was also a first for me in I introduced the villain right off the bat, even though it wasn't immediately apparent. It took some looking up of government and military terms to properly give this story an air of realism but I think I managed to pull it off.
Chapter 1:
After that interesting opening, the pacing in the story began to slow way the hell down. This was an unavoidable concept as I needed to properly develop the conflict and the characters in the story. I figured that a party scene would be light and atmospheric enough to do that. This also introduced the characters of Dayrl and Vaeri, Alec and Tali's children. They're the reason why I decided to set this story twenty-one years after the last installment. I don't like writing for little kids or moody hormone-crazed teenagers. I had to get to that point where they would not be annoying and tolerable as characters but I didn't end up developing them much. I just didn't find them interesting as characters but I couldn't just flat out ignore them in the story. I tried to put them in as many situations as possible so it wouldn't look like that they were just background noise…but it still didn't work, in my opinion. For that matter, I also believe that I didn't properly write satisfying enough arcs for Wrex and Liara in this story.
With a smaller tale such as this, I had to make a few sacrifices by cutting characters out. Wrex didn't contribute much and Liara was just bland. This is most likely from the fact that I wanted to focus on Alec, Tali, and Garrus first and foremost and they just got lost in the struggle. They served their purpose but I wholeheartedly agree that they were not fleshed out enough.
Chapter 2:
This was a very slow chapter. It might have been at this point when I was asking myself, "Why are you even writing this?" Even though it did serve a logical purpose, I had zero enthusiasm when writing it, just mindlessly typing away keys, desperate to bang it out before the end of the day. Many a chapter have suffered because of my laziness, it ain't pretty, let me say.
Chapter 3:
Still a bit on the slow side but I was gaining confidence as I managed to push the story along further. I can't imagine what I would have felt like if I had stuck to my original schedule which would have been two chapters longer. Those I either cut scenes out or combined them in the format you see now. But with this chapter I took the time to introduce Mordin (who would play a key role later) and Saren (who didn't really need to be here but I included him for form's sake). I still was frustrated at my lack of inspiration at this point but I continued to persevere, partly because I was receiving eager reviews at the time. Someone was enjoying it, at least…
Chapter 4:
By having the setting back on Earth, the entire story felt a little smaller than Second Stage but at the same time it felt larger as well. Even though everyone was confined to one space, the stakes were a lot higher and there was more tension as a result. This also gave me the opportunity to draw parallels to the first installment, in spirit and not a direct rip-off.
The idea to have a minor character from that story return as the villain was a design choice in order to make him have a relationship to Alec, setting up a personal bond initially. I had mentioned before that I hated how I wrote my bad guys in the first two stories and I think that I finally nailed it this time. Both of them have a complex relationship, they're reminiscing about their past while simultaneously musing over the other's change. It went a little bit deeper than the average "imma kill you" baddie and this made for a stronger conflict.
Chapter 5:
We got back to the slow pacing again. Having Alec and Anthony hold a conversation was an interesting move as it would further set them up as adversaries, a bad guy who understands the hero completely. Even though at this point, I hadn't firmly established him as the villain yet, but there were some sinister moments to be had.
Also, I did make a point to introduce Kasumi in this story as she was one of my favorite characters in Mass Effect. My initial concept for her was to be a computer tech and that Alec would find her on his adventures and subsequently convince her to try stealing for a living. However, that arc sounded very stupid so I instead wrote her up to be an ex-con doing community service for her country, which is still a little far-fetched but leagues better than the alternative.
Chapter 6:
Now was the part where things started to heat up. Quite literally in some cases. The frustrating talking with the politicians was designed to be the catalyst for Alec's encounter with Tali later in the night. That was a hard scene to script as I realized that I couldn't make a love scene again without shaking up the formula a bit. So I wrote it with a bit more roughness and it served to symbolize Alec's state of mind at the time. So it became a functional scene necessary for character development, which means that it had more meaning than just your average run-of-the-mill porn piece.
I also used some military jargon to craft Anthony's reasoning for attacking Alec later on. This was a plot point that I had labored over because I didn't know how to properly approach it at first. I needed to sell to the audience a good reason for why the US would indiscriminately attack aliens when our natural reaction would be to appeal to their better nature. The idea for a rogue faction was approached and made for an interesting development, which would get explored later.
Chapter 7:
This chapter was only supposed to set up the stage for the next one, as evidenced by the descriptive language during the tour of the capital. I got the hard questions out of the way for explaining how Anthony would take over, why the group was suddenly in the middle of DC, and how Alec and Tali quickly patched things up. And then the bomb blew up.
Chapter 8:
This was originally supposed to be two chapters but I figured that I didn't need to drag the scene out any longer than it could possibly be. Writing the intense combat is always fun and it was made tenser by the fact that Alec was unarmored that he could possibly get hurt. But…an invincible protagonist does not make for a good story (see: Wolverine) and I wrote the part where a lot of people get maimed at the end so that people would sit up and go, "…..shit."
Tali's leg was done to shock the audience into thinking that "hey, this isn't a game." Despite the fact that it would be resolved a few chapters later, it would be crucial into propelling Alec over the edge into trying to kill Anthony. I had toyed with the idea of killing Tali off initially but I found that I couldn't bring myself to do such a thing as I believed that it would be too sad and would leave a bad taste in the reader's mouth. Despite my dark streak, I still have my limits.
Recommended Music:
Capital Fight: James Newton Howards "Fall of Freetown" from the film Blood Diamond
Missile: Hans Zimmer's "Inferno" from the film Rush
Chapter 9:
This was another transitional chapter as I explained the motives for the actions of various characters. There was nothing particularly of note here, just the resolving and formation of plot points that would come to be of use later. I was eager with anticipation to begin the next one after finishing this. The audience turned out to love it.
Chapter 10:
This whole chapter was one long battle scene that could be considered over-the-top for some people. Me, I tried to get the whole encounter done so that it was realistic (to an extent) and basically turned it into a fun little rampage.
Not content with her one scene thus far, I wrote in Kasumi to be a squadmate for part of the action and would develop her more as a character later on. And because I wanted to throw in a cameo or two, I
made sure to include Hannah Shepard in there (not fully mentioned but it should have been obvious to the reader) as a way to subtly introduce the idea that John Shepard is still in this universe, even though we never see him. This implies that he will get to participate in the main galactic conflict later (a story I have zero interest in writing, by the way) but the ramifications of Alec's actions are fun to mull over of what it would do to that story.
Recommended Music:
Mall Run: Junkie XL's "Marathon" from the film 300: Rise of an Empire
Chapter 11:
The bike chase was one of the first scenes I had in mind when writing Third Stage. I wanted to draw a parallel between the motorcycle scenes from the first story and use them in a different situation here. I think that it was a fun setpiece, one that I enjoyed writing.
Although, not content with Alec's ability to cheat death, the idea to seemingly kill him off came to me at the last minute so I added that for extra shock value. Initially, it would have been a more straightforward scene as Alec and Kasumi would have merely sauntered through the building but I needed more tension here. This would also ramp up the drama as the characters reacted to his "passing," which made writing them all the more interesting.
Recommended Music:
Loyalty (Tali's Theme): Hans Zimmer's "Lost but Won" from the film Rush
Chapter 12:
What I always wanted to do was have a fight on a moving platform. A train car seemed like a place to start. I also wanted the fight to have more than one stage so that people would get a chance to breathe the action. It was quite different from any fight scene I wrote and was very powerful as I detailed the feelings Alec was going through as he was slowly killing his friend. I also made sure to finally overpower him with the consequences of his actions after the fact. Whereas the ME series had indoctrination, I wrote Alec to go into shock, a natural response as he is not abnormal.
I loved the interaction this caused as Tali tried to get him to speak but he was just too shell-shocked to even utter a word. This also brings up another point, it shows that Alec is not infallible, that he's just a regular guy underneath. The problem that I had with Second Stage was that I didn't think Alec was that interesting of a character as I didn't write many flaws for him. In this story, he's selfish, he's impulsive, and he's angry but all of that catches up to him in the end as he finally realizes the ramifications of his actions. It truly made him seem like a three-dimensional character as he went through a crisis of deciding where he truly belonged.
Recommended Music:
Human Alien (Alec's Theme): Akihirio Honda's "Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker" from the video game Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
Vs. Anthony: Hans Zimmer's "I'm Goblin" from the film The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Stranglehold: David Buckley's "Space Suicide" from the video game Call of Duty: Ghosts
Chapter 13:
The chapter opened with a brief explanation on how Saren would come to get a replacement arm as detailed in ME1. Of course this wasn't canon but it was something I wanted to acknowledge.
The brief cameo of Jack Harper (Illusive Man) was probably not necessary but I put him in just to acknowledge the fact that, "Oh look guys, here he is!" Like I said, not necessary but I had a little fun with the idea, even if I don't plan to go anywhere with it.
I also explored Alec's renegade side a little bit more before bringing him to make the right decision in the end. This is keeping up with the theme that the hero finds himself in a dark place before the end, but it makes his character all the more compelling and realistic.
Epilogue:
Crafting another love scene wasn't on the original agenda. It literally came to me the day before I wrote it and I thought, "Yeah…that makes sense." It turned out to be a proper bookend scene as their love for each other was well represented through their tender actions (still adhering to my rules on how to write the damn scenes, by the way!) It extended the chapter out nicely, which would have been a lot shorter had I not included it. But I did appreciate the bittersweet ending and I think that to continue Alec and Tali's story would be a disservice to the characters, seeing how far they have come. It was an appropriate end and a fitting retirement for my original character.
Recommended Music:
On Rannoch: Kazuma Jinnouchi's "Zero Allies!" from the video game Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
Bonus closer (inspired by YTs PhunnyNeon and Revolution72): "Stars Come Out" by Zedd
Closing Notes:
I did say before that this wasn't necessarily the end for Alec and Tali, just as far as the story will take them. I might be compelled later on to write a few more tales but I'm sticking to my gut feeling and leaving off where I stopped. It isn't a priority now to write more of them as I have bigger ideas on my plate. If you were to ask me where I imagined Alec and Tali in thirty years, then I'd would say that they lived the rest of their natural lives on Rannoch, taking the occasional time to explore the galaxy in the Alamo, seeing new worlds, experiencing different cultures, both of them standing by the other until the end. It's the type of footnote that needs little to no explanation, only that they remain happy together, which is what ultimately matters.
But, here comes the more interesting news. Now that I have completed this series, I feel that it's time for me to move onto something a little different. I enjoyed crafting a subtly different world in the Mass Effect universe for three stories, trying very hard to adhere to the lore and characters, even if everything was all jumbled around. With that being said, I am now planning to write a story that will take place within the timeline of the Mass Effect games, featuring Shepard as the main character.
Before you jump off the horse just yet, this will not be just some retelling of a random assignment that has little to no weight in the grand scheme of things. Actually, something different. I plan on writing my own headcanon on the ending to Mass Effect 3, taking into account my own perceptions and altering the story based on how I think it should have ended. I will be incorporating a few different elements and twists into the event and will begin production sometime in the next few weeks. Writing the For Her trilogy has given me the type of experience and practice that I think I can pull it off while delivering a satisfying climax that fans of Mass Effect can rally behind. I expect it will be a bit shorter than everything I've written so far (as I'm only going to be focusing on a few scenes depicted in the game) but I don't intend to skimp on detail (and yes, it will be a Tali romance, for those who were wondering).
Be sure to keep an eye out for when I finally decide on a title. Thank you all for sticking with me until the end of this saga. I'm sure that I will be seeing you quite soon!
Keelah se'lai.
-Rob Sears