I Got It Right

Good morning, Readers!

Napped this one from fabuloussavers.com. It's just such a cool concept.

A friend of mine recently finished reading Skylark, and we had a really interesting discussion about the character and the story.  No, JP is a very perceptive human generally, but he picked up on so much in the book; stuff that I had quite forgotten about myself.

The chat was great.  He caught all the major things, which gave me quite the ego boost.  One of the things he picked up on that so few others have was so how unhealthy Skye's relationship is.  No spoilers, so you'll have to read the book to discover what, precisely I'm talking about here.  He also caught on that it is so very unhealthy, and it is unhealthy precisely because  Skye is, in JP's words, "such a mess of a man."  The relationship he forms is dangerously dependent, and that is never a good thing.

I adore that JP caught this, and thought it noteworthy.  It's true, though, if I'm honest, I didn't give it that much weight when I wrote the thing.

More on the mess of a man that Skye was, JP noted:

I was kinda glad that he clearly started breaking, that his issues throughout the story just didn't go away and he was the big magically ok hero near the end
Felt more, reasonable? Logical?

I liked that he was glad for it.  One of my biggest peeves with "hero" characters is how little the absolute hell they go through seems to have literally no effect on them, either physically or mentally (in too many stories, in my opinion).  That just doesn't make sense to me.  My body aches after a workout.  I don't get how characters can be thrown against multiple walls by space bugs and just walk away from that, not even wincing at a cracked rib or something.  I lose interest in a character if their witnessing of the deaths of their friends and loved ones doesn't mess with their heads.

Skye led a traumatic life.  He was in top physical shape, but that isn't a match for five bullets to the chest.  His mind was utterly broken, stitched together purely with grit and fakery.  He wasn't alright, because real people wouldn't be alright after surviving what he did.

I wanted Skye to seem real the way that people are real.  He is deeply flawed.  He wasn't a hero because he was perfect.  He was a hero despite his flaws.

Which serves Skye well.  He'd be one out of spite, I feel.

The ending of the book made sense to JP, but he also offered an alternative:  Skye, after the final battle, leaves earth behind and takes off with the daemon, their first ever human soldier.  I didn't even consider that as an alternative.  It's intriguing as an idea, and even opens the door for more Skye stories set in the post-battle world.  As I said, the idea did not even occur to me, and I really like it as an idea.

So, and this is the longest way to possibly come to this place, this blog post is a permission slip to anyone who wants to write fan fiction if Skylark in an alternate universe where Skye does manage to head off planet on whacky adventures with the daemon.  Go for it.  You have my permission.  As long as you aren't making money off my intellectual property, I'm totally cool with that (otherwise, I expect to be paid royalties).   Oh, and be sure to let me know, 'cause I'd love to shout it out.

Right, I have more world-building things to do.  I'm off.

Ciao!