2 Arc 1 Notes - The Beginning

Arc One: The Beginning

Chapters 1 - 13

I kind of wanted the first arc of the story to be really short, and act kind of like a tutorial stage in any game. You know, when you first start it up and you don't really have any idea what to do. Except I wanted to ground this book in a lot more reality. I like system and litRPG novels, but there's too much emphasis on stats.

I wanted a game-like world that eschewed its own system. But that presented a great deal of problems. Namely, I had to get rid of all the cool gamified things that people normally love in system novels.

In fact, in early drafts, I had achievements and unlocks and all sorts of nonsense. But ultimately I felt they got in the way of telling the story. I felt as though giving focus to those things took away from the emotional and psychological challenges that the characters face.

The last thing I wanted was to have something like "Trauma Resistance" or "Emotional Scarring", etc. Doing things like that are narratively interesting, but developmentally flat.

I go back to the whole Power Level thing that Toriyama introduced for Dragon Ball Z. In the end, he not only limited himself narratively, but it ultimately got way out of control. I also want to avoid that pitfall. Eventually, things like stats will only serve to distract from the more important things going on with the characters.

In any case, I was considering giving Eva some sort of assistant drone, to help her acclimate (and have something for her to talk to). But that also didn't feel quite right. I didn't want my main character (or any readers) to emotionally bond with a narrative tool. This drone was never going to have character arcs of its own, and would have been a waste.

As a result, I ended up introducing Miko earlier than I expected. I originally meant for them to meet later in the arc, right around chapter 10. But I think that decision turned out to be a good one.

Recently, a reader noted that the Genetic Traits felt more like a hindrance. And honestly, it's true. I made them to seem special, but they represent a different view of what we would call disabilities in the real world. It's kind of subtle and I don't really call out the parallel, nor do I plan to (except in here, I guess).

Think of it like this: Eva has a learning disability. Miko is antisocial (you'll get to see her trait in a later chapter). But I never wanted to present these character traits as they are viewed by Earth standards, simply because they're seen negatively. As if being "normal" is so great, lol. So instead, I showed how they could be seen in a different light. Yes, they have huge flaws. But they're their superpowers, too.