Character Bio: The Variants

Our first Character Bio will focus not on a specific character, but an entire group that forms the basis for the fantasy elements of the story. This group is, of course, the variants.

The variants are a race of genetically-evolved humans born with all sorts of incredible abilities, not unlike the superheroes or super-humans you often see in today's media. Some of them can fly, some of them can move things around with their minds; it's the typical "person born with a superpower" type of deal. What makes them a little different, however, is how their abilities work. Often there's no attempt at explanation for how a character's gift actually functions, or how and why it's able to be so perfectly efficient all the time. People with abilities on TV or in the movies never seem to get tired from using their ability, nor do they ever really seem to have to expend much effort to use it. I never quite understood that. Where were they getting the energy to do these incredible things? How were they able to sustain them for so long?

With the variants, I wanted to shake up the archetype a bit. I wanted to put a more "realistic" spin on the concept of having a superpower. The variants have incredible abilities, yes, but their abilities take energy to use, just like any other activity. Flying makes them tired. Constantly moving things with their minds wears them out, just like constantly moving things with your arms would. Despite their gifts, they are biologically still human, and thus are limited in their power.

At the same time, the condition of genetic variance is incredibly rare in society, to the point where the variants' existence is not public knowledge at the onset of the book. They are myths, stories, and nothing more as far as the world knows. The only people aware of their existence is a small sect of the United States government, which will be covered in the next Character Bio focusing on the AVA.

Viral Teaser 1

I've been working on putting some new content together in addition to the standard pictures and blog posts, and landed on the idea of doing a series of book trailers. I'm going to be starting off with a couple of teaser trailers before releasing a full length trailer in a couple weeks. The first of the teasers is below. Enjoy!

Music credit: This Is A Warning (Intro) by Thousand Foot Krutch.
  

On Complexity and Fragility

Another of the major themes of the books, the one I believe makes itself present in virtually every character, revolves around the idea that human beings are incredibly complex creatures, with a level of thought and emotion unparalleled by any other in our world. Every man, woman, and child on the planet is in reality two people: the one they choose to show and the one they keep to themselves. At any given moment a beaming smile can hide a broken heart, a vengeful gaze can mask the touch of mercy, and an icy facade can encase a fiery passion. No one can ever really know for sure what's going on in the mind of another. Trying to read someone, to truly understand them, no matter how well you know them, is still probabilistic in nature; even if you're 99.99% there, nothing is ever certain.

I tried to bring this idea to my characters to keep it as true to life as possible. Even the "bad guys" can have a justifiable reason for what they've done/they're doing, just as the "good guys" can be motivated by a less than "good" force. Very rarely are people so black and white as you see in the movies. Villains don't do villainous things just for the sake of being "bad". Even a character as bad as The Joker in the Batman movies was doing what he was doing to try and prove a point (or at least that was my interpretation, not trying to stir up a debate, lol).

This applies doubly to the main character of the book, as his mind has evolved beyond that of an ordinary human being. This makes him powerful, yes, but it also makes him extremely complex, which in turns makes him more fragile than you'd expect. Where a break in a regular human's mind can result in changes to personality, thought process, rational, etc., a break in a more advanced mind can result in even larger ripples (or at least in the universe I've created it can). I bring this up only so people can keep it in mind while they're reading the book. At times, I've made an effort to add complexity to the writing itself to parallel the complexity of a particular character's mind or a particular situation. At times, actions or reactions are intentionally blurred or contradictory...because that's what humans really are. We are unpredictable, fragile creatures. We react on instinct almost as much as we react on preconceived notion. We follow both our hearts and our head, two forces often pulling us in two very different directions. Hopefully, I was able to get that across with my writing.