Greetings,
It’s been nearly a month since my last post, much to my own
frustration, as my day job has recently also consumed my nights. Unfortunately that has equated to less time
for creative endeavors, though I aim to get back into the swing of writing
sooner rather than later. I thank you
for your patience with me and I promise to continue to churn out material that
I hope you find entertaining and perhaps even a bit inspiring.
This brings me back to “The Grid”. As I work to develop an integrated tapestry
of stories woven together by the actions of interesting characters, I decided
that I need to construct a central element that is currently missing. I need a main antagonist. This character needs to be directly involved
with Global Grids either as a CEO or a VP in charge of environmental affairs.
Like any good antagonist, they will need to challenge the
other characters equally. Yet I believe
in creating antagonists who are truly multi-dimensional. Similar to George R. R. Martin’s “A Game of
Thrones”, all of my characters, especially in “The Grid”, need to have both good
and bad qualities. In this way the
reader will, not only connect with them, but project their own flaws onto the
characters and see some of themselves in them.
This antagonist needs to be one of those characters. So they need to have a good side too. To make it really interesting, that good
side needs to be in direct conflict with the needs of the other characters.
Though the novella may begin to paint Global Grids as a
power hungry global superpower, I need to establish the paradox that we all use
energy and, more often than not, never really delve into where it comes
from. Dare I say that many of us don’t
even care? As long as we get it, we’re
fine turning a blind eye to it. I want
this novella to inspire people to learn more about where they get things from
and the ramifications their actions cause.
Else, how can we preach change?
It seems rather hypocritical to me.
This novella won’t be an advocate for any cause other than
fostering a healthy awareness. The topic
of energy spawns thousands of heated debates, all of which have some sort of
environmental impact. I just think most
of us agree that we need to get the most energy with the least impact
possible. I don’t know what the source is
but I think it’s worth researching. I
aim to do that and present many of those sources in this novella as a way to
plant a seed into the reader’s mind that, hopefully, will grow into a curiosity
they then learn more about on their own.
So this antagonist needs to embody the necessary evil that
energy production is. I think a good
place to start to think about this character is to create a crisis for them at
the onset. Being in crisis-mode can tell
you a lot about a person. So this
character is in a crisis. Why? Partly due to the loss of their climatology
research team that Lauren from “The Brink” was a part of. Global Grids has been getting a lot of bad
press lately, from reporters like Kevin Deerfield from “Twenty-Seventh Time”
and this antagonist seeks out an advertising agency to help clean up their
brand. This agency will just so happen
to be the one that Chloé
works for in “Longing on Las Olas”.
Come back to see how this antagonist in crisis will impact
the lives of the other characters you’ve already met.
Cheers!
Othy
