The author commentary of Promethean continues! Lincoln MacKenzie starts a journey here that carries through the rest of Season One. Keep reading to find out where Lincoln’s path came about. SPOILERS AHEAD!
Splitting the team
I am a big fan of juggling plotlines. I love subplots and how they evolve through series into much larger events. That was one of the appeals of working on the DSA. The size of the cast allowed for the team to be split apart depending on the needs of the story. Not only did this allow me, as the writer, to jam more action/exposition/backstory into the mix, but it gave the reader (hopefully) a new dynamic to explore while the main plot fleshed out over the course of each installment.
If you look back at The Clearing‘s author commentary, you’ll know how stressed I was putting the enter field team into play. Four strong personalities pulled for attention with each scene, and staging everything was a real challenge. Maybe it was a cop-out to go the so-called easy route with Promethean, but I wanted to give the cast more time in the spotlight.
Lincoln’s injury in The Clearing opened the door to splitting the team. Because he is still recovering and can’t join Morgan and Ben in Chicago, Metcalf offers up a new assignment: tracking down the Witness.
With that simple introduction, all of a sudden there is a clear connection with the opening novel and a path for Lincoln to follow for the rest of the season.
Lincoln’s Path
Lincoln was one of my favorite elements in Season One. I loved his dedication to doing the job, from his time as a soldier to now, all in the cause of what is right. The Clearing introduced a new element of doubt to his life, though, and I felt that was compelling to follow. Not only did it create a real conflict–both internal and external–but that initial doubt allowed me to play with the concept of loyalty when it comes to a secret organization like the DSA.
Promethean is very much the first step of Lincoln’s path through Season One. The first draft offered little in terms of screen time for his journey. There was no library scene, no Stephanie Atwater briefing, no Sullivan interaction, just that initial conversation with Metcalf and the final scene where he goes off the grid to hunt down the Witness.
I wanted to flesh it out. Using the novel format helped in this regard. I had space to play with. I love how the Atwater scene came together, where Lincoln calls out the fact that the secretary is the only one giving him his intel. His animosity toward Sullivan felt genuine and clued the reader in on Lincoln’s loathing of stuffed shirts. That comes into play in Book 3 with his love for Morrison Engers and the devastation he went through with that loss.
The Library Scene
I’m proud of this addition. It was fun to give that little glimpse of the Witness and the power of his manipulation of Lincoln from start to finish. Lincoln’s interactions at the library were also something I felt were important to his overall arc as a character.
My editor wanted me to remove the subtle racism included in this section. I don’t know if you picked up on it, or if I’m confusing subtle for blatant, but I wanted to keep that moment. Lincoln is African American and his experiences would obviously be different than Ben or Zac, so offering that candid reflection on how not one single person offered to help him find what he needed, yet trailed his every move through the building, was a clear indicator as to what he endured in his life just because of the color of his skin.
I’m not a social commenter. I’m not attempting to stir up trouble politically on one end of the spectrum or another. I hate the level of discourse that floods social media these days. There is a time and place for such things, and a better way to express one’s opinion on, well, everything.
But I felt this was important to keep. Lincoln is the odd-man out in the DSA, and I wanted that expressed in his experiences with the world.
I will be talking more about where Lincoln’s path took him, and how that came to be, in future installments.
