Author’s notes for the Epilogue

In a way, an epilogue is extraneous. There shouldn’t be anything left to tell. And materially there is no effect on the previous stories. But in a way, i felt and explanation was in order to justify Kevlar’s Decision in the previous chapter. Given a choice between salvation and spending eternity in heaven with his love, he rejected that choice to try to help his friends.

For a lot of people that choice makes no sense. And they’re right. For most people that choice would never even cross their minds. But for Kevlar, the idea of making a difference in someone elses life means more to him than eternal salvation. You can argue till you’re blue in the face that nothing would be worth giving up salvation. But for Kevlar, there is no debate. If salvation means sacrificing your friends, or eve potentially sacrificing them, then it’s not worth having.

Rhee knows this, and as she pointed out at the end of chapter 12, There is no doubt in her mind what choice Kevlar would make. In fact, she is glad he made that choice. because in her own way, she wants to continue making a difference in her own way. which leads to the second part of the epilogue.

Interestestingly enough, the last part of the epilogue is the only part of the story that is *not* told from the POV of Kevlar. Having the story crafted this way was intentional, and in fact several pieces of story were left out (the converstation between Kay and Lauren that would have occured in chapter 12) or somehow shifted so Kevlar experienced it (Lauren being assaulted after being captured).

The Second part of the epilogue sets the fate of Kay. She is insane and trapped in her own self denigration, and the best efforts of Rhee to reach her fail. Her decision to step off the side of Stone Mountain was unexpected, and in fact I didn’t even think of having her do that until I was literally writing the last paragraph. My one consession to the fact that I like Kay as a character, She stepped off, but she’s a vampire, and vampires are damn hard to kill, so it’s quite possible she could survive and show up in another story.

Specificly, I think a story following her in her efforts to find self redemption could be an interesting one. and I don’t want to crush that idea. But certainly the shock value of having her try to kill herself is an interesting way to end the book.

I have a story in mind that follows this one. So, not to worry, I think it’s viable. I also as people probably are aware, have several more stories that fill in the gaps. So, yeah, I could write about how Burton became known as Kevlar, how Burton became a ‘monster’ What vexxes me, is i had a good start on the first chapter that explained what really happened to Rhee. which was wiped out by the hacking attack. I know enough of the story to have recreated it fairly well in this story as a flashback.

I like the Lauren character, which has ended up being a combination of elements of several people I’ve known. She’s motivated by a sense of curiosity and hope. She has a strong empathy for people, perhaps because of the events that helped craft her life experiences. But of all the characters, she’s probably the most changed from the start of the story till the end. In a way, she grew up in the story. Though she still keeps that energy and some innocence.

Part of the struggle of this story has been trying to keep in mind certain elements. Kevlar’s humanity, the back story of Burton and Rhee. How certain events will affect future events. etc. The first few chapters need so much work, Fleshing out the pack, helping tie together things so there is more foreshadowing of the third act.

Kevlar’s ultimate motivation is self sacrifice. He tries so hard to be the good guy, even though deep down he considers himself a monster. But as the story moves into the second act, Kevlar is forced to become more proactive and he has to give up some of his principles in order to try to save Lauren. Then, when confronted with a choice, He chooses to give himself up as a sacrifice to save Lauren. No Kevlar is not Louis. He is not paralized by power. There are some motivations that are similar. But in the end, I think Kevlar hasn’t succumed to ennui, nor has he let himself despair.

Rhee is a role that has been difficult to write, simply because she knows so much more, but doesn’t tell Kevlar what’s happening. I have to fix that. She either needs to not have any idea. or she must have a reason why she can interfere in Kevlar’s life in some ways, but not in others. Without that explanation. I think the story is going to have issues.

I’ve tried to keep the story from having too many contrived plot devices. But it’s not the easiest thing to do. The bad guys need to be fleshed out further. Also, the whole political nature of the society needs to be fleshed out further. So, There’s a lot of work to do on the rewrite.

But I don’t think it’s a hopeless task. Just going to take some time. I didn’t exactly mean to write about the entire book, but I suppose at some pointit’s gotta be done, Just didn’t think of doing it at 6:30am, and besides, the first draft still isn’t quite finished, it’s got those 3 scenes in chapter 12 left. (which is also why I didn’t post this onto the other diary yet)

Anyway gentle readers, This part of the journey isn’t quite complete, but it’s close enough to say thank you for your time, and your energy you’ve dedicated to reading and critiquing my story and thoughts. Take care, hopefully I’ll get some more work done and we’ll have everything up on ‘disintegration’ very shortly.

PS: yes I know, there was no spell checking done on the epilogue, I started writing that sucker around… oh, 2:30Am. so Deal with it. 🙂

Be safe and be well.