A final note about The Clearing in this author commentary as I look at the influences behind the series. SPOILER WARNING is in effect, maybe for more than just the DSA…

Major Influences

The X-Files

I think there can be no doubt about the influence of The X-Files on DSA. The stories of Mulder and Scully continue to follow me to this day. I wouldn’t be the person I am today without this show and the vital impact in had on me as a teen.

Not only are the mystery elements there, but also the way the show ended episodes. I loved that open-ended feeling, that ominous turn that the danger never really ends. The creepier themes of the show can clearly be seen in the DSA, as well as the investigative nature.

Grounding the DSA in a bureaucracy, giving it that sense of reality, allowed the series to find its way in Season One, and Chris Carter’s The X-Files was a huge basis for where those elements came from and how they played out in the narrative.

Babylon 5

I’ve written about this numerous times. Babylon 5 is the greatest serialized television show ever produced for the screen. No one will ever be able to change my mind on this. To have the vision that J. Michael Straczynski had when developing the series continues to astound me.

He went in with a five-year plan and he achieved that.

That is my hope for DSA. When I finished Season One, I went through every installment, every chapter, every paragraph, to see the seeds were planted for what is to come. There are questions asked in Book 1 that are not touched on until near the end of Season 2. Elements are introduced, like the Utopia Protocol, that are not addressed in full until Season 3.

I wanted the reader to feel that there was a larger story at play with DSA, and Babylon 5 was truly the major influence when coming up with a plan for the series as a whole.

The problem (and benefit) of my influences

My brother-in-law recently mentioned a training he led at work. In it, he referenced Star Wars (A New Hope). The new hires didn’t know what he was talking about. They had never seen Star Wars!

Most of the people I talk to haven’t seen The X-Files or Babylon 5. X-Files ended twenty years ago, though there were more recent revivals. Babylon 5’s ending came twenty-five years ago.

Let’s just say it makes for a more challenging selling point when talking about what the DSA can be compared to. And damn, does it make me feel old…

The benefit of having “dated” influences? Steering someone toward one of my favorite shows of all time. If I can get someone to discover these treasures, and enjoy the DSA even more because of it, then I feel like I’ve achieved something.

Asking Questions and Searching for Answers

That became the heart of the series. Both of these major influences helped guide me with plotting the series at the start.

The Clearing author commentary continues this week with a look at Gregory Sullivan. SPOILER WARNING is in effect, starting right now! Ready? Excellent. Let’s take a look at one of the main baddies in Season One. (see how important that spoiler warning was?)

Conception of a villain

I’m big on plotting these days. I like to map things out pretty far in advance because I feel like it makes for a much better story in the end. That wasn’t always the case.

Did I outline DSA Season One? Absolutely.

Did I do it ahead of time before diving into The Clearing? Nope. Definitely not.

The truth was, I wasn’t sure DSA would work as a series. My confidence in the premise and the longevity of the tale didn’t measure up until after The Clearing was written and I was deep into Promethean. This was another reason why the opening installment required so many rewrites after the fact. (SO MANY!)

Greg Sullivan was one particular spot of trouble for me.

In the initial draft, Sullivan was barely even mentioned. He showed up in a meeting with Metcalf, which is still in the book but totally different than it was, and that was it. One scene, talking about the need for more field agents and how Metcalf hates bureaucracy, and then the sweater vest man was gone for the rest of the book.

What changed?

As the rest of the season came together, I realized Sullivan was a focal point for the series. Here was a man looking to create his own legacy in life, and will do anything to make sure the world remembers his name.

The initial drafts for Season One don’t put Sullivan in the spotlight until Book 4 as anything other than the standard manipulative bureaucrat. That didn’t work when looking at the season as a whole. There was a suddenness to the shift that felt disingenuous and unearned.

So I went back to the drawing board. Knowing what was to come helped, so I took my time to weave in Sullivan’s manipulations throughout the season. From the very start there is no question of who this man is.

The second he calls in General Adams during the Bellbrook affair, it is clear Sullivan is a threat to our heroes.

The rise of Greg Sullivan

Every time Sullivan showed up was an opportunity to build his motivation. I didn’t want a one-note villain. Sullivan needed some pathos, and a reason to completely undermine Metcalf’s efforts.

The legacy aspect was there from the start. It just came too late in the season to mean anything. So by layering in his actions helped establish him better so that when the turn comes in Broken Loyalties, readers know exactly who this guy has always been.

Up Next: The Climax

This time on the author commentary for The Clearing, I’m talking about juggling the leads. SPOILER warning is in effect!

Juggling the Leads

What am I talking about with this? Well, in Greystone, there are two main characters–Soriya and Loren–and they pretty much run the show for the series. Most of the scenes, if you go back and read the books, are straightforward with a back and forth pattern between two principal characters.

I found that dynamic worked best for those opening novels. But as I went along, I started to look for more complex setups, more intricate scenes and pacing to keep the reader interested and moving through the narrative.

DSA was the perfect exploration, especially with The Clearing.

When the team is sent to Bellbrook, suddenly there are four main characters handling all the action and dialogue. Four personalities that needed to be fleshed out and seen through their actions and their words with each chapter of the novel.

Was Ruth snippy enough? Do we understand Morgan’s fear of connecting with Ben? Was Lincoln too callous, or did that fit with his role as the soldier of the group? As I said before, Ben was no longer the main focus. There was an ensemble cast to build up and tear down. Each scene provided the means, and The Clearing threw them all together very quickly.

Challenges

I’ve heard from readers about the jumping around at the start of the novel. I’m not a huge fan of it either, but looking back each scene is absolutely critical to introducing these elements. If not for the opening ten chapters, why would you care about their journey to Bellbrook? Why does it matter when one is shot and another dies, unless there is that innate connection?

Another challenge I found when plotting came with how to stage each encounter. The initial drive to Bellbrook was one such scene, because each character needed to shine on their own without actually doing anything. They are stuck in the car for crying out loud, so that back and forth element needed to lean into their personalities more.

The electronics store offered another challenge. Who moves where? Who acts first? How to give each player something to do? All these elements ran through my mind while staging the beats for this scene and the rest of the novel.

Will there be more whole team adventures?

If you look at the rest of Season One, there wasn’t another time when all the main players are on the same mission at the same time. That might have been a mistake, but the choice also allowed each character to grow through their own plotlines.

There are a couple moments in Season Two that utilize the entire team, but for the most part there is a split dynamic that I believe works better.

So will there be more whole team adventures? Absolutely. I’ve plotted a number of them in Season Three, which looking at it now is a surprise. It could be a sense of comfort with the characters, or that the readers should know these characters almost as well as I do at that point.

Or it could be that the threats warrant it, which was the case with The Clearing.

What were your thoughts on the juggling of leads in The Clearing? Was it a case of too many cooks in the kitchen (voices in the scene) or did you enjoy that sense of chaos with so many disparate personalities constantly clashing?

Next time: The rise of Gregory Sullivan.