“Have you played Final Fantasy X?” I ask my editor who had expressed a concern that wasn’t entirely new to me. The problem was that he, like readers before him, didn’t understand how humanity could have such a devastating backslide.

Personally, even without a demon narrative, I don’t think it’s that much of a stretch given our economic backslide which is phasing out the middle class, making it near impossible to get an affordable rental situation let alone get into the housing market (and get to keep your house). With promises of a recession on the horizon, I’m somewhat confused that my editor can’t see that there ARE (not will be) people who have to live like wild men and those who live in technological comfort.

But I don’t want to think about that because it embeds some real deep fear in to my roots – and I have to pretend that the sky isn’t falling just to get through my day.

There were two issues that cropped up. One was the mix elements of the high-technology that suited for Sci-Fi vs the Fantasy elements of magic, swords, and demons. “Readers aren’t used to seeing this combination,” he said while pointing out areas that I’ll have to add some context to, especially terminologies that while may be familiar to one group of readers, will still have a contextual flavor that they are unaccustomed to.

“Have you played any of the Final Fantasy games passed Final Fantasy 7?” I asked. As much as I would have liked to have him read the work blind, it’s obvious to both of us by now that I need him to have a surface level of insider knowledge of what I’m trying to accomplish so that he can point to key areas for more setting clarity.

He nodded, indicating that he was a fan of the series.

“That’s the combo,” I said.

His excitement was palatable. It was as though I had watched him connect the clues in the story in real time. I chuckled at his expression. I laughed at his reaction. He was fully onboard now.

“Okay, but I don’t get how humanity has this terrible survival rate,” he said.

Okay. That’s fair. And it’s not exactly a thing I directly explain in the story because none of the living characters really know why. I wanted to show how devastating the threat was and hoped that the readers would understand through repeated onslaughts of devastation.

It’s a bit a weird situation to find myself in, because I have to account for the readers personal biases going into the fiction. I start the story in a pretty dark place – granted not an uncommon starting point either.

Kay, I have to back track here, just a bit.

You see, there’s been this thing in fiction and media where I feel like they’ve removed the teeth from the baddies. Especially on the supernatural front. Demons are something to lust after, not something to be feared. I wanted to put the fear back into the supernatural threats. I want them powerful, oppressive, sinister, manipulative, and intelligent.

In fiction these days, it’s all humanity is the superior force. The End.

I mean, it’s a nice story to tell ourselves. I do like a nice narrative of everyone coming together for the greater good. We need stories like that. But the challenges within these limited narrative tend to be superficial. I think that’s what gets under my skin. People are just more nuanced than this is the hero and because he’s the hero everything he thinks and does is the right way.

It’s a bit self-indulgent. I’ve written characters like that too… so I get the need to feel like you’re in control.

I look at the world today, at myself too, and I’m like we’re all a little too full of ourselves aren’t we? We’re the heroes of our own stories after all. All of the stories we’ve been exposed to tells us that the hero is always right.

In Awakening, Humanity is NOT the superior force. They, in the grand scheme of things, are basically sentient cows who have propensity of fighting back when gathered to the slaughter house.

I needed something bigger than what we think we are. It’s what I loved about the cosmic horror vibe of H.P. Lovecraft’s work. I think sometimes we need to be reminded of our own insignificance. It’s a theme I enjoyed in Bloodborn and Dark Souls.

But how to expressed that futility of fighting back? To demonstrate our insignificance in the world of the awakening while maintaining some thread of optimism?

I’m reminded of the time a military buff lectured me about how he couldn’t understand how nuking the demons couldn’t solve the problem. I remember thinking: ‘You wouldn’t use a nuke unless you wanted to ruin your food and water supply’. I’m reminded that the world is a big place. But in the Awakening, humanity has been forced to the retreat to the frozen tundras of Canada.

Then it occurred to me how to express to my editor what I was going for with the state of humanity.

“You know Sin from Final Fantasy X?” I ask.

He nodded.

“You know how he would wipe out built up areas? There were survivors, sure, but they’d have to move on or rebuild.”

Again, I see the dots connect and he’s positively humming with excitement. Thinking back on the narrative, I’m still at a loss on how to express a fact that the main POV characters are either oblivious to, or take for granted. But it’s a starting point in refining that level of clarity that my readers may need.

It’s not hard to imagine that the societies leaders would have eventually built a city type bunker to protect themselves. It’s not hard to imagine that the people inside those walls would have sent their ‘lessers’ to risk the demonic hordes to sustain the population within those walls. It’s not hard to see that those who live in relative comfort, how they might deem those who live outside of the city walls as criminals who deserve their suffering. And that is how we end up with a massive technological difference between the upper world and lower world. It stands to reason that the where ever we see the capital’s influence and control, we’re going to see spikes in technology.

Granted, while there are regions who are basically technological black holes, these are not areas that I’ll be exploring in Awakening: Hunter’s Gambit.

My last conversation with my editor was in the last week of October. Now I need to rebuild my chapter outline because Plottr has decided that saving new data is for noobs.

P.S.

I may have developed a perfectly healthy addiction to Pressure Washer Simulator.

Before and after screen shot of Final Fantasy 7’s 7th Heaven. I’m pretty sure it did not take me 3-hrs to wash.