Welcome to the author commentary for Book 2 of the DSA’s inaugural season. Promethean was one of the absolute toughest books to crack. The concept started out very basic, but ballooned into a chance to showcase the growing conspiracy of the series as a whole.
SPOILER WARNING is in effect!
Initial Intentions
With every series I write, my goal is to tell a complete story within the confines of a single book. There is always some bleed-through to other installments, the natural evolution of subplots into main plots and such.
Promethean was very much a standalone adventure during the outlining/drafting phase. Henry Reed was the central figure in the tale, one who went too far when pushed. He was the threat in the original version, if you can believe that.
The FBI was involved, without a key Hendricks-type character in the mix, but their role was more competitive with the DSA than anything else. They were investigating on a secondary front and the DSA was obstructing their efforts. I still remember the handwritten outline for the book contained a massive car chase with the FBI near the climax.
One line on paper. “FBI chases DSA through the Chicago streets.”
That was where the story built from. It’s insane how the book evolved over time.
Growing Conspiracy
I’d like to think it was the development of Connor Hendricks into the story that changed the dynamic of the whole book for me. Having that type of character, playing both sides against the middle, really helped flesh out the true threat and create sympathy for Henry Reed’s situation.
Hendricks came about by way of Alex Krycek from X-Files. (Shocker, I know…)
I wanted Ben to have a foe he just loathed from start to finish. One of my favorite moments from X-Files is when Mulder sees Krycek show up and he just runs up and decks him. That’s the visceral reaction I wanted Ben to have for this guy–especially when things escalate at the end of the season.
Hendricks also allowed the birth of the Newton Group, a splinter-cell of the Trust that readers are just starting to learn about. Between Hendricks and Kane and Sullivan and Stallworth, there is a sense of the expanding conspiracy growing against the DSA. That wider scope was something I wanted to bring into the background of the series. It added a level of danger beyond the monster of the week elements, in my opinion.
Let the rewrites begin
The problem with a growing conspiracy, especially one that needs to evolve organically and feel like it’s been there the whole time, is the details! Lord, the details!
I wrote entire scenes of backstory connecting each player to the next in the hopes of having it make sense. Chapters were restructured and rebuilt to conform to the new dynamic between Hendricks and the DSA, between Sullivan and Hendricks, between Reginald Kane and basically everyone.
Promethean was, without a doubt, the most complicated book I’ve put together so far. A ton of elements were thrown into the mix, from the Ark at the end to the symbol for the Newton Group to Henry Reed’s mother’s role with the Trust. Everything had to make sense and fall in line with where the series was headed and what it meant for Ben, Morgan and the rest of the DSA.
For all the headaches this book brought me, Promethean remains one of my favorites. I loved playing with the spontaneous combustion lore, building the mystery, and putting together the climax which remains one of the strongest for the series (to me).
