Beth Asked Me Questions About Adam Black! + Black and Silver Recap and Update

in #fiction6 years ago

I will recap Black and Silver, and give an update on the future plans, but first. @bethalea asked me questions about the series, and I shall take this opportunity to answer them here.

The Questions

Where did this story come from? What inspired it, if anything?

From my head. Okay, I'm kidding. I guess it originates from the fact that I grew up on story-driven point'n'click adventure games, and always found myself enjoying a good story, which gave birth to this idea of creating my own fiction one day. I had several attempts throughout school and whatnot, but was never able to really create the story I wanted. There was something fascinating about a person creating a story and characters, by him or herself, that other people care about. I always wanted to be that person. I already explained in the earlier recap post that Spider-Man is actually a big inspiration for Adam's character, even though the genres are completely different. It's the reluctant hero who saves the world while fucking up his personal life that I'm drawn to.

Is the Black series the first fiction you’ve written? Have you written anything else?

It's the first I've thought through, start to finish. Like I said, there have been attempts, but nothing substantial. When I joined Steemit, I really wanted to do something like this, and spent a year or so formulating the idea with little progress. Then one day it just clicked and I started writing.

What is your writing process?

My writing process is pretty straightforward. It's actually a lot of freewriting. I use a program that blocks everything else until I reach a word limit. Let's say 3000 words. I come up with where I want the chapter to go to, freewrite to the cliffhanger, and then work out the details. Sometimes I add stuff, sometimes I remove stuff. I have a lot of storage space in my head, actually. My friend who's studying psychology actually said that the way my memory works in regards to this story is unusual. I have a lot of notes on my computer, don't get me wrong. Endings, alternative endings, storyboards, whatnot. But I mostly go off of what's in my head. I'll try to refer to my notes more in the future because there have been a few instances where I've had to write around accidental plotholes.

Break down what makes good dialogue … do you have a certain thing(s) you do to write yours?

I really do try to focus on dialogue. I absolutely love the movie Glengarry Glen Ross that tells the story of a failing real estate agency and the life of miserable salesmen, based on a play by David Mamet. Something that is peculiar about Mamet's way to write dialogue is that he sometimes purposefully makes the characters make speech errors. It's so rare, but it makes complete sense, and when I realized it, it really clicked with me. When people talk, we don't speak perfectly all the time. We make mistakes. I think that's what makes Mamet's dialogue so great: it sounds real. The thing about Steemit is, this is a blogging platform. And most people don't read, to begin with. So, I've tried to go straight into the action a lot of the time, which is why I've settled into telling a sizeable bulk of the story through the dialogue. That's why I've tried to make it entertaining. I just try to think of the characters as real people in these extraordinary circumstances. It's a challenge because I've never come across a person trying to stop a weaponized virus from being released, so obviously, I don't know how people talk in these situations. But that's what makes it fun. A lot of the "agency jargon" is made up, but I've also done research in order to make it somewhat realistic.

Why do you write? This series specifically, but also all together. Obviously you blog…

Because I love to hear myself talk. No one else ever knows what the fuck is going on, so society simply needs me to chime in on stuff. Writing was something I had a pretty strong grasp on already at an early age. So, I guess I just slowly built my identity around the fact that I'm the guy who's good at writing, and simply worked on improving. I'm not the best at it, but I did once run a Finnish blog that was pretty widely read, albeit niche. My big hit was a huge blog text about how the War on Drugs has failed miserably, and it spread like wildfire, it was everywhere. I became something of a name after that. I guess that's when I noticed that even if it's minuscule in the grand scheme of things, an impact can be made by the written word. The Adam Black series I write because I love Adam's character. I've really tried to make him into more than just a one none action hero, though I feel there's work to be done, still. I'm going slightly offtopic here, but my favorite thing in Black and Silver was when after everything had been resolved, Maria rejected Adam, and Adam took a moment alone to break down. I felt it humanized Adam. He stopped the bad guys, he stopped a deadly virus from killing basically two-thirds of California, but it came at a price, and in that one moment, it all hit Adam because we all have a breaking point. Moments like the ending where Adam walks into the sunrise alone, after saving the happy people he comes across on the streets are why I like writing the story. It's a story of life, really. Adam sacrificed everything in order to do the right thing because that's how he's wired, but society very rarely rewards those doing the right thing. Some people are just wired like that, regardless, and often they're the ones paying the steep price. And you can make absolutely sure no one's going to be there thanking them.

Do you find it difficult to write characters who are unlike you? ie women? Do you feel that one of the characters in the Black series is more like you than others? Do you feel that there is a bit of you in all the characters?

To answer the first question, not at all. In fact, Alexa's character in Black and Silver was one of my favorites. Her story was originally going to be different, but the very first scene she was in, I loved writing so much that I decided that I can't just kill her off, I need to continue on writing her. Unlike Maria, she's a female counterpart to Adam; a tough as nails fighter who cares about the mission above everything - but with a feminine side. The way I saw it was that Maria represents the family guy dream Adam has, while Alexa represents the life on the field. It's the duality between the two female characters that I started to enjoy a lot. There was a tease of a potential romance angle between Adam and Alexa, and people need to just keep reading to find out where it goes, if anywhere. And there's a lot of me in Adam, yes. That's needlessly egotistical, in my opinion, but it's the truth. I do feel that I oftentimes attempt to do the right thing, but end up getting shafted. That's where Adam's story arc comes from. Especially, say, the past 12 months for me had a strong theme of me putting other people first, and getting shit on in return. So, I guess it has an effect. As for a bit of me in every character, no. A lot of them are nothing like me. They often serve as the antagonists. Although, I do say that I've tried to work hard on making the antagonists less black and white, and more grey. And that's something I want to do more of: not having clear right or wrong answers spoonfed to people. Sometimes the bad guys have a point. And Adam is stuck between two bad choices.

How long does it take you to write your chapters?

It depends. A few hours, sometimes longer if the chapter doesn't come out the way I'd like. It'll probably be longer now in the future since I'm aiming for longer chapters.

What sorts of things do you edit out?

Unnecessary things that drag on and break the pace. I'm not saying stuff like that doesn't pass through the filters, but I try to make every scene matter, and have as little filler as possible. I don't want to artificially bloat the chapters into being longer just for the sake of.

What’s the hardest part about writing this series?

Finding the right balance between being too descriptive and not being descriptive enough. Having faith in the fact that the readers realize what's going on without my spoonfeeding them stuff.

Also, who do you like to read?

Myself. Growing up, I was the biggest fan of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. My aunt owned all of the books in English, and gave them to me. I read all of them.

Black and Silver Recap

Here is the first part of the recap. I won't repeat things already said in that one.

Black and Silver was the second in the "Black" series, taking place 18 months after Black Dawn. Adam was in prison, after being accused of the events in Washington.

This sets the stage for Alexa, posing as a government agent named Gwen DuClare, breaking him out. It turns out breaking Adam out of prison was a government-sanctioned ruse, carried out in order to use Adam in an undercover operation required to gather information on a weaponized virus that was possibly on US soil, potentially in terrorist hands.

The carrot for Adam was that if Adam successfully helped the government stop the virus, he would be a free man. Adam reluctantly agreed to help the government - not because of his freedom, but because of the fact that if the virus was indeed out there, countless innocent lives would be lost.

For the duration of the operation, Adam worked for his former employer, ATC/Anti Terrorist Coalition, an agency specializing in domestic threats. On a personal level, things were made complicated by the fact that both Adam's former wife-to-be Maria, as well as her new husband Paul, also worked for ATC.

Adam and Alexa go undercover and manage to secure the virus, but Alexa betrays Adam and the ATC and takes the virus to a man called Dietrich Schneider who went on to hold the US government hostage unless his demands were met.

Schneider's family were killed in Palestine in a US-funded airstrike, so the events of the day were the culmination of his plans for revenge.

After an intense race against time, Adam manages to stop Schneider, but not before he is assassinated before he can reveal the locations of all of the virus vials he has placed all around the state.

Just before Adam arrested Schneider, Maria's wife Paul was shot in the line of duty, taking a bullet aimed at Adam. Just in the nick of time, Adam finds out the location of the biggest virus vial, located in the SoCalGas gas plant, with the intent being to distribute the virus all over California through natural gas, but the only means of transportation is the chopper taking Paul to medical care.

Adam then makes the impossible decision to take the only chopper available to the gas plant, sacrificing Paul's life.

This puts an obvious strain on the relationship between Adam and Maria.

Adam nevertheless stops the virus from being distributed, but the day is far from over at this point.

In addition to getting revenge on the American government, Schneider was also after a piece of data secured in the government's database - which he wanted the President to release.

It seemed unclear to many what the data actually entailed, but with Kevin becoming involved, he let Adam in on the fact that the data included names and information on the high ranking members of the global conspiracy responsible for the charade in Washington a year and a half prior.

This was also what Alexa was after - she only pretended to work for Schneider, while in actuality being after the SG6 data.

The data was uploaded to Schneider's phone prior to being killed off, but Alexa got her hands on it before anyone else did, and ran off with it. Adam and Kevin retrieve the data once again, and are ambushed by thugs who turn out to had been hired by the President's acting Chief of Staff, Palmer Collins who worked for the conspiracy, proving that the data indeed had information that would compromise the conspiracy.

Palmer's hired guns prove unsuccessful, but Adam and Kevin are then met by an even bigger threat.

Black suit-wearing agents who had physical abilities far surpassing those of ordinary humans, it seemed. What ensued was an absolute ass-kicking that Adam and Kevin barely survive by the skin of their teeth.

The agents were also after the data, and they were on the payroll of Silverman himself who seems to serve as the head honcho of the conspiracy, called The Order.

Adam and Kevin examine the data, and the software turned out to have been programmed to be unlocked by Adam, for some reason. The program itself was called SYON.

Adam and Kevin catch up with Alexa who decides to explain to them what is going on, as far as she knows.

Alexa was a lot more than she had let on: apparently, she has ties with Adam's father AJ, and was working for a non-government organization in attempts to unravel the conspiracy that, according to Alexa, controls the entire world.

She explains that the powerful agents Adam and Kevin encountered were "MIBs". Results of human experiments designed to build better soldiers. She confirmed that they were indeed agents of The Order.

But it went deeper than that.

Alexa revealed a lot about the relationship between Silverman and Adam's father who were the best of friends during the Cold War era. I won't go into too much detail, most of it will come clear in the future anyway. Those interested can search for Chapter 31 of Black and Silver where the scene takes place.

Actually, since there's still no proper search function on this site, here's the chapter.

AJ and Silverman became bitter enemies after a big falling out, which lead to Silverman seemingly killing AJ, and assuming control of what is currently the global shadow government pulling the strings. The bitter ending of that relationship seems to be a big key in everything that has been going on since.

Alexa did, however, talk about AJ as if he was still alive, but not to Adam, though.

The Order learns of Alexa's involvement in the day's events, as well as her attempts at retrieving the SG6 data, and has an MIB agent hold Maria and Bruce hostage, demanding that Adam surrenders both the data card as well as Alexa in order to save them.

Adam and Alexa come up with a plan to use a fake memory card in the trade, and Alexa agrees to surrender herself to make sure that the data gets in the right hands.

Adam doesn't want to sacrifice Alexa, though, as he notices that he cares for her. So, after the exchange, Adam hands Kevin the memory card to keep safe, pursues the MIB holding Alexa, saves her, and everything seems to be fine.

After only a slight moment of relief, it turns out Palmer Collins had had ATC secure the memory card from Kevin, and wipe out whatever was on it.

The data was destroyed, and everything was for nothing.

Alexa gets angry at Adam for letting the card out of his sight, and disappears.

Adam and Maria have a brief heart to heart. Maria still cares for Adam, but after Paul losing his life due to Adam's decision, she figures she can't deal with having Adam around and decides that it's best that they go their separate ways for good.

Adam breaks down, leaves and walks off into the sunset alone.

The final cliffhanger has Silverman talk about Alexa, revealing she is his daughter.

That sets the stage.

A lot of things were only briefly touched on, and there are a ton of things waiting to be answered. I hope I was at least somewhat clear enough on the main things that took place. This can be hard to follow.

My "illustrator" has been busy with school, and I'm waiting for her to draw me the picture to use for the third part.

A few things I'll say about it.

The story I have for the third part is my favorite thus far. I've had time to do escapism and really work on the nuances of it all, and I think I have a pretty cool story ready. It will deal with some political issues, it has its share of philosophy, interesting characters, mixed emotions, conflict, and of course yet another terrible day for poor Adam.

When I get to it, I will dedicate Mondays to it. A new chapter will be posted every Monday. I will aim at around 5000 words per chapter.

I want to do a disclaimer here. The story will feature Muslim bad guys. But before anyone gets up in arms about it, I urge people to either read the whole thing to get the full picture, or just not say anything at all just based on a lone chapter or two.

I don't want people taking things off context when I've worked hard to make the story take different perspectives into account.

I'm excited about the third story. I think Black and Silver was better than Black Dawn, and the third story should be the best yet. I will focus more on three-dimensional characters, avoid some of the pitfalls that were present in Black and Silver, and try to deliver a tight story for people to enjoy.

Look forward to that.

Sort:  

TL;R

Schatt is an amazing writer and you should read more.

SMDH

He said "tl;r", not "tl;dr". :D As in he read it. @ocrdu is one of my real readers. SMH.

um.

HAHA! JUST KIDDING! I KNEW THAT'S WHAT THAT MEANT ALL ALONG.

(sorry @ocrdu )

Women!

For real, dude...

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