I confess, when it comes to writing I often feel like I’m inserting things that most people are never going to notice.
Which is how The Scion Suit became a love triangle.
It’s not the stereotypical “Which guy will she choose?” sort of thing, though, because of the branching timelines. Carol never attempts to pursue both men in the same story arc. She’s not remotely the sort of character who would even think about doing such a thing, considering that she starts out completely asexual.
Aaaand I’m not remotely attracted to the sort of woman who plays/exploits multiple men. It’s a quirk of mine to write female characters that I would marry if I were a man, which drastically changes how everything plays out. Hence why Carol’s romantic prospects both make around $80~90k a year, and will never buy her any expensive cars or jewelry, lol.
Instead, it’s more about exploring a number of “what ifs”.
What if Carol’s human nature overrides the Commander?
What if Carol never gets back into the Suit?
What if Hartmann is the antagonist?
What if Lambert is the antagonist?
But since I’m not bluntly labeling each timeline with my underlying reason for writing it, I figure that most of my themes are going to slip by unnoticed. People are going to assume that I’m aiming for “Team Hartmann” vs “Team Lambert” and not realize that one of them works with the Commander, while the other fights against it.
Not to mention, Carol starts off as a blank slate, and the final shape of her personality depends on which man she interacts with the most, versus how much time she gets in the Suit.
By Autumn Rain 