It’s been a couple weeks but the Pathways in the Dark author commentary continues!!! SPOILER WARNING ahead for The Apartment tale in the collection…
Starting Points
Truth be told, The Apartment was the very first idea I had coming out of Signs of Portents. At one point it was going to be a story tucked in Tales from Portents but then that collection turned out to be full of prequel stories and it didn’t fit.
From there, the concept of Soriya leaving the nest stuck with me. I thought it was a nice progression of her arc in the series, always looking for connections; always resenting Mentor’s stance of isolation for the betterment of the work.
When it came to The Medusa Coin, the initial outline had Soriya seeking out a new place to live. It was ancillary and really pulled people out of the story. Frankly, it didn’t interest me when looking at the overall narrative of the novel and it was quickly cut from further outlines.
However, I couldn’t let it go. I had been drawn to that moment for almost a year. In my head, it played more comedic as Soriya is forced to learn how to live a “normal” life amid the insanity that plagues her. A real super-hero dilemma compared to the nightmares she usually faces.
That wasn’t enough to sustain the story, though. Doing it for giggles, while tempting, offered no drama; no stakes and the initial concept petered out pretty quickly from there.
Telling a ghost story
I scare pretty easily. I don’t enjoy the feeling, the terror that comes with the horror genre. Yet, something always pulls me in that direction; some unnatural predilection to scaring the crap out of myself that made writing The Apartment so exciting.
When it came to finding a reason for why Soriya would pick a certain place to live, without relying a simple need to connect with people, I kept coming back to her work. Her commitment to Portents.
So what would draw her to this apartment at the Golden Palisades?
A ghost.
Something simple, yet mythic in how we’ve created lore around the idea of ghosts in the world. Those unwilling or unable to head to their natural end and remain stuck. What would they do? What would they want? These questions fascinate me as much as they terrify me and I wanted to figure it out.
The Apartment allowed that aspect. It opened Soriya to a new experience, multiple new experiences especially when taking into account the arrival of the kids – Davis and Kevin – to the story.
That was what Pathways was about; pushing this cast of characters into new situations to see where they would go. How they handle tragedy, violence, horror and even the mundane on their own…
Holding onto an idea
This one stuck with me longer than most and I was so glad it did. Soriya’s move fit perfectly with the themes being explored in the collection and it let me tell this haunting tale as a bonus.
Thanks for reading.
