Welcome back to another look at Spectral Advocate. As with the other author commentary pieces, there will be spoilers so watch out! This time I’m talking about the subplot threads in the book and the constantly changing team dynamics.
Team Dynamics
I’ve always said I like to play with the team when it comes to the DSA. For me, there is nothing more fun than seeing how the main cast handles their interactions with each other and with the randoms they come across. It is infinitely more satisfying to write a Lincoln/Sullivan exchange than yet another briefing from Zac to the entire department, because those types of exchanges don’t occur regularly, so they have to pack a lot of punch.
In my mind, I’ve always viewed the DSA as starring Ben Riley and Morgan Dunleavy. Everyone else is a supporting character behind these two leads. They are my Mulder and Scully. Everything centers around them.
Looking back on Season One, I find it funny to see that, though they might be my leads for the DSA, they really weren’t together a whole helluva lot. My personal memory imagined them together constantly, yet reading through the first season, only Promethean so far has had the two of them as primaries on a case.
It’s weird how the mind remembers things.
This was, of course, by design to some extent. In The Bridge, I needed the cast isolated and dealing with their own problems. Spectral Advocate, though, opened the door for Ben to feed off someone new. (Not to mention someTHING new as discussed last time.) I thought it was important, again, to keep Ben isolated especially in light of Abigail Winslow’s clear deception with the DSA. She was brought in to spy on Ben, but he couldn’t possibly know by whom.
That level of distrust made it easier for him to want to handle things solo.
But what about Morgan?
I’m not going to delve into her sexy time with Zac. (That’s for a different forum.)
Her time tracking down Lincoln, though, is something I thought was very important to develop for the series. Lincoln, since Promethean, has been M.I.A. in his search for the Witness. For me, subplots work best when there are touchstones to the main plot and/or main cast. You’ll see that again during Season Two, Book Three.
Bringing Lincoln and Morgan together again cemented the importance of his search and everything he had learned up to that point. He is carrying this massive weight, knowing what the Witness has seen with the DSA and the threat against them. Instead of questioning that knowledge, Lincoln hangs onto it like a lifeline.
Motivation was the key.
His motivation comes from grief over Ruth’s loss.
Morgan’s comes from somewhere else completely. Her rage at the Witness for Bellbrook puts her at odds with Lincoln immediately, something she never thought possible.
I really wanted to pull at the DSA cast. With each book, I want them questioning everything, even themselves. That’s where the true heart of the series comes from–through these relentless tests and situations no one could possibly understand.
Morgan, blinded by rage for the Witness’ crimes, can’t support Lincoln’s decisions. And Lincoln, lost to grief, can’t see any other way to move forward. The Witness is his only path in his eyes. That separation really sold the tension between them in the junkyard scenes.
Unintended consequences
Every choice needs weight. The scenes developed in these subplots were opportunities to give the cast a chance at redemption and to show the reader why some didn’t take that chance.
Building these moments, layering in the tension and the conflict behind the main plot, are some of my fondest memories from Season One. I wracked my brain with each one, wanting more and more from the characters, and they absolutely delivered.
