by Nick Hayden
November 8, 2013
Not these rules…
Vicki & Chuck Rogers via Compfight
I hope you’re enjoying the beginning of The Rules Change. I certainly enjoyed it first time I opened the document on my computer. (I still think the opening chapter is wonderful at setting the stage.)
While our new author, John Bahler, is busy finishing up future chapters, I’d like to focus on one particular aspect of this novella that really stands out in my mind.
When we were busy concocting Children of the Wells, the Cataclysm was a necessary event to propel us into events we wanted to discuss and examine. The Select’s Bodyguard and The Fall of the House of Kyzer took us into the immediate aftermath–the shakey cam, blockbuster disaster movie backdrop where we met our characters.
But the world adjusts after a cataclysm. Life goes on. We saw a bit of that in The Doctor’s Assistant, but I think it’s in The Rules Change where we really begin to see how mankind adapts to the social and economic realities of a post-magic world. And John does that better than I could have, that’s for certain.
I mentioned in an earlier blog that I was influenced pretty heavily by Babylon 5. Creator J. Michael Straczynski talked once about how the aftermath of an event can be as interesting as the event itself. (Scouring of the Shire, anyone? Different author, same point.)
I think that’s true here. As we unravel in what ways the world has changed, that’s where we’ll find our story. How do you pick up the pieces? There’s more than one answer to that, as our characters will find out.
In the end, breaking the world was the easy part.
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