Lou Paduano | Urban Fantasy Novels | Sci-Fi Crime Series

Tales from Portents Connecting Factors 3

By

Connecting Factor

Stories grow in the telling. They also grow in the editing phase and that tends to happen quite often with my own work. Ruiz and his relationship with his wife, Michelle, for example is one such instance of this. At the start Ruiz was little more than an ear for Loren. A minor character that assisted when he could but basically served to give Loren someone to talk to other than Soriya.

That sure as hell changed quickly.

Editing Signs of Portents, I realized how much I enjoyed Ruiz. His personality. His depth. And his relationships, both with Loren and with his wife.

When plotting The Medusa Coin, I knew Ruiz’s role was expanding with each pass. He was a vital component of the series, as much as Soriya and Loren.

Michelle started out much the same. A potential element of conflict for Ruiz but little else in terms of a character. When I explored her further, when I pulled apart their relationship and examined their family closely, I realized the potential to really build a strong background character.

Someone that helps drive Ruiz to be a better person, but also causes him to stumble because he wants to do so much for her.

The Great Divide

connecting factorWith Tales published between Signs of Portents and The Medusa Coin, I had the opportunity to put this marriage on display. I also had the chance to show the strengths and weaknesses of it from the beginning and compare it to the present day.

The Great Divide offered a glimpse at the happiness of the Ruiz family to be. How they shared all and Ruiz avoided the traps his parents fell into during his childhood. Of course, it crashes down on him.

But how to show the difference compared to the present?

Enter: The Consultant.

In the original outline, Soriya heads to the Central Precinct for information on Russell Kerr and hides at the approach of Ruiz. The focus here was more on how Loren’s absence had affected Soriya’s ability to do her work, the same as the previous chapters but that didn’t feel right to me for this moment.

And it would have been a missed opportunity.

By changing it and having Michelle call him, the reader easily recognizes the shift in their relationship from The Great Divide. It serves as a bridge, not only through the whole collection but also to The Medusa Coin where the divide comes to a head.

Resolutions are coming your way in September so get ready…

The final connection

Endings are tough. Just ask Stephen King. But they always come, some to more satisfying conclusions than others but they always have to arrive at some point.

And some are just so perfect you couldn’t ask for anything else.

Tales from Portents served as a prelude to Signs, so why not dovetail right into the first book in a natural way?

The final chapter of The Consultant does this perfectly. The text from Vlad about the missing women and the possible God involved. Soriya’s leap into the morning light of the city, ready for more fun connected the final moments of the collection to the first novel.

I tend to be overly critical with my work. (I know. Big surprise…) Not so much here.

Tales from Portents, to me was the easiest project to put together. Every piece, every connection, flowed from one story to the other naturally. Nothing was ever forced on the reader or the characters. Everything happened for a reason, every connection layered from the story itself, not shoved into the mix by my own hand.

If only every book came together so nicely…

Next time:

The BIG ONE. Resurrectionists! The whys and wherefores!

Thanks for reading.

 

Tales from Portents Connecting Factors 2

By

The next several months will bring author commentaries on all six stories contained within the Tales from Portents collection. My hope is to offer insight into the decisions made in putting the project together and the challenges therein. It’s also fun to point out the little Easter eggs throughout. (I love that crap.) So, SPOILER WARNING is in effect for the duration.

Connecting Factors

It was important for me to filter little threads that tied events in the collection together. I mentioned this previous when discussing the use of Robert Standish as a connecting factor. For me, short story collections tend to fall flat in that they have no impact compared to the full length installments.

I wanted to break that trend by connecting seemingly disparate events. Some are simple, a character that shows up consistently.

Others were more subtle.

Chaac and the Storm

When I was developing the collection the original idea was to offer a free story to fit prior to Signs of Portents. (What eventually became Resurrectionists… sort of…) This seemingly simple plan turned into two stories told concurrently.

One for Loren. One for Soriya.

Eyes in the Storm and The Consultant.

If I wrote about one it was important to write about the other. Two equal partners to the story. Balance.

I decided to take it further and make the connection between the two clear, to tie them in a way to show they occur at the exact same moment in time for these two characters.

Hence the storm.

Building that bridge through subtle references in The Consultant, including the end of the storm in the final chapter of Soriya’s story, kept the two main players in the series connected in a way during their separation.

Both need each other, something they need to be constantly reminded of, during the series. This was a nice way to keep them part of the same world, even if all Loren wants to do is escape it.

Evolution of the references

This connecting factor didn’t exist in the original drafts. Chaac was very much a part of Eyes from the start. He was the device used to pull Loren back into the insanity that tends to follow anything Portents related. But The Consultant had no reference to the storm.

Except for one line.

When Soriya is hanging outside the apartment of the first victim it mentions the spitting rain. An annoyance and nothing more.

From that little nugget I went through the entire story to filter more references to the rain and its unsuspected nature. When it ends Soriya is elated, the same smile she wears whenever Loren returns to her world. That was my way to keep them tied together.

Their partnership has become the cornerstone of the series and something that should be explored with each story. I was surprised by the sudden connection and completely overjoyed it was able to come together in the way it did.

I hope you felt the same.

Next time:

One last connecting factor and then the mother of all tales; Resurrectionists!

Thanks for reading.

The Consultant Commentary Part 2

By

The next several months will bring author commentaries on all six stories contained within the Tales from Portents collection. My hope is to offer insight into the decisions made in putting the project together and the challenges therein. It’s also fun to point out the little Easter eggs throughout. (I love that crap.) So, SPOILER WARNING is in effect for the duration.

Final messages.

When I write I don’t try to put personal philosophies over the story itself. I think that is the downfall of a strong narrative. The author has his own role but it should remain the invisible hand, not the idiot jamming rhetoric down your throat at the expense of the narrative.

Which made The Consultant stand out for me.

In the tale, there were three victims of the Cerberus. All were tied to the villain and the reason for his vengeance. They either played a direct role in tricking the guard dog of Hell or were rescued because of the trick.

There was the baker, the singer and the hero.

Two were young and vital. The baker and the singer appeared to have their whole lives ahead of them and a successful career on the way.

The hero (Heracles), however, was old and at the end of his life.

Why?

It wasn’t intentional. Believe me. I didn’t even consider what I was trying to say until I was in the editing phase. While putting the finishing touches on the narrative I realized it was a viable question to ask.

There are many answers I could offer for Heracles’ age and infirmity when the singer and baker remained at the peak of their lives.

I could brush it off as a simple fact as to how things turned out for the characters. (A cheat, for sure.)

I could speak to the irrelevance of heroes in the world today. Or their stance in the modern world. Heroes, the good people that strive to make an actual difference in the world are berated and prodded from all sides. If their morals don’t match 100% of the population they are mired in scandal, pulled apart and torn down for the all to see.

Heroes aren’t allowed in the modern world. A sad state of affairs and one I truly hope we move away from as quickly as possible.

A reflection of Soriya.

Putting aside all personal preference, the truth behind the infirmity of Heracles, is that he offered a mirror for Soriya. To see how her journey might end.

He dies alone, something she has always assumed would be the case.

It also offered a thematic tie to The Medusa Coin and its inclusion of a physical manifestation of Death. It is the ultimate test for Soriya and her encounter with the fallen Heracles plays a role in it.

Then again, maybe it means nothing at all and I’m just trying to find relevance in a simple artistic choice. That’s the fun of it all.

Thanks for reading.

The Consultant Commentary Part 1

By

The next several months will bring author commentaries on all six stories contained within the Tales from Portents collection. My hope is to offer insight into the decisions made in putting the project together and the challenges therein. It’s also fun to point out the little Easter eggs throughout. (I love that crap.) So, SPOILER WARNING is in effect for the duration.

The Consultant – Evolution of a tale

story researchEvery story comes from character. That is the lesson I take from everything I put together. I might start with a scene in my head, a discussion, an event, a premise, but until it connects to a main character and an arc is present it means little to me.

A story doesn’t have legs until someone can carry the load.

When putting together The Consultant, I knew it was a Soriya tale. In the absence of Loren I wanted to explore how she operated in the city. The early drafts focused on the lack of trust between her and the police and how it hampered her work.

But it wasn’t enough.

The introduction of Russell Kerr started the ball rolling in the right direction. Kerr as a surrogate to Loren offered insight into her process and her need to have someone at her side.

It also showcased her weakness, something explored further in The Medusa Coin in September. (plug, plug…)

Adding depth through story research.

Story research is great. It can add certain layers to stories you never considered. Or it can completely suck the life out a story and read more like a college paper instead of a thriller.

I enjoy the research aspect and dread it at the same time. Mostly because you can never know every angle. If I read four hundred pages on Cerberus there are still four thousand more out there that I will never get to because I have to eventually write the story.

What if I read the wrong four hundred pages? What if I take away the wrong conclusion?

A fear for sure when putting your work out into the world but there is also this:

Research builds a compelling narrative.

Having Russell Kerr, Cerberus, in the story gave me a starting point.

Until I had Cerberus in place I didn’t have a connection to the deaths involved. And they had no connection to the killer. BORING.

Research gave me my victims. What would Cerberus hunt? Who would piss off the guard dog of Hell so much that they would reach into the mortal world for revenge?

Delving into the lore of Cerberus offered me insight into its history, into its failures, and those failures gave me my victims.

The Consultant is one of my favorite stories because of the extra mile I went to include these small details. They never derailed the story, they never had to be explained by Soriya or other characters. They simply exist and add that touch, that flair, that if a reader was interested in knowing more of what was going on in the background they could do the research as well and find the answers.

I absolutely love that about the story.

Each element pulled from the research added details throughout The Consultant, and it all stemmed from character.

Easter eggs –

Russell Kerr’s name – Kerr or “cur” = dog. (Aren’t I a stinker?)

Barking at Hady Ronne – What the hell was that all about? All I can say is wait until you read The Medusa Coin! It will all make sense, I promise.

Thanks for reading.

Disclaimer: Links throughout this site may be affiliate links. All commission earned through these links go to Eleven Ten Publishing to produce more books for your reading pleasure.

You can view our privacy policy here.

Recent Posts