Main Characters
It has been quite a while since I posted a blog entry. In this season of reflection and thanksgiving I am thankful that I don’t have to write these entries on any type of deadline. Since my last entry much has happened. Summer has turned to fall, and fall to winter. Sherila and I have gotten married and Christmas has come and gone.
I have continued to write and am closing in on the end of chapter 21. I believe Chapter 22 will put me solidly on the downside of the book. A milestone of sorts. Today I thought I would write about the four main characters.
As this book is an expansion of a screenplay, the characters are fully formed in my head in a cinematic sense. However, within the novel format, they are barely formed. As I work my way through the pages converting and transforming the screenplay into a novel, several things happen simultaneously: the grammatical tense is converted from present tense to past, the descriptive narrative is expanded and detail is added, and the characters are fleshed out becoming more human and more emotional. Without actors to give them the dimensions of humanity and character, it is up to me, the writer, to do this so that they become fully formed in the readers’s mind. It is during this phase that I am able to enter the minds of the characters and discover, explore and manipulate their thoughts, feelings and motivations on a much deeper level. It is very rare in a screenplay that the writer is able to explore a characters thoughts and feelings, unless they are relayed through their actions, spoken out loud to another character, or spoken via voice over.
It is through his interaction with the other characters that the lead character, Adrian Start, finds growth. Without them, he likely disappears into a bottle and never climbs out again, becoming just another sad story instead of the hero he was meant to be. He is dragged reluctantly into the sphere of these other characters and they ultimately save his life, even though one of them is trying to kill him and may even eventually succeed.
Adrian Stark
Detective Adrian Stark, the lead character in this story, is a broken man. Once a rising star in the LAPD, the brutal murder of his wife and their unborn child have basically caused him to check out. He has submitted his retirement paperwork and is packing up his desk on his last day on the job when we meet him for the first time. At this point in his life, there is very little he cares about other than his dog Samantha.
Because his wife Veronica was murdered by an escaped felon, Stark was awarded an eight figure settlement. Stark has spent well, purchasing an expensive car, a downtown penthouse loft and an expensive watch, but none of these things have dulled the pain of losing the love of his life. He has spent this money in rage, as a way to somehow take revenge on the organization that no only was responsible for his wife’s murder, but also employs him. Finding no respite or relief in his rampart spending or in the day to day activities of his job, he has concluded that it is time to move on. He has purchased a small beach house on the coast of Mexico with plans of moving there with Sam and disappearing into a bottle.
He is alone, wounded and giving up on life when the call comes in that changes everything. It’s late and he is packing up his desk when the phone rings. He tries to ignore it, but he is the only one in the office and his conscientious nature won’t allow him to let the call go unanswered. he answers the phone and that single call completely alters the course of his life. Slowly, as he is sucked into the investigation, he is brought back to life. He is a good detective, a cop who believes in right and wrong, and while he has been wronged greatly, he can’t allow others to be harmed if he is able to prevent that from happening.
Throughout the telling of the story, we follow him as he grows, changes, expands his mind, alters his belief system and eventually falls in love. How and with whom will have to be withheld here, but will become quite clear upon reading the book. The changes within Adrian Stark don’t come easily, and they don’t come quickly, but when faced with obvious truths he is a man who accepts reality.
Quentin Rutherford
Stark’s nemesis, Agent Quentin Rutherford is in many ways a lot like Stark. He is smart, conscientious, dedicated, has given his life to public service and he loves his wife and child. That is where the similarity ends because he is also a power hungry, sociopathic control freak who is rapidly moving toward psychopathy. Rutherford has a single purpose in life: complete the mission that he has been assignment. Whatever that mission may be. In this story, his mission is to track down and eliminating a clutch of bioengineered human beings. He sees these beings as a mistake, an evolutionary dead end and is happy to see them destroyed. He also sees everyone he comes in contact with as being somehow inferior.
His single-mindedness coupled with his intelligence make him extremely effective at his job, but he is not perfect and neither are the people who work for him. Whenever he is confronted with this reality, it usually causes him to over react in some way. Recently leading to death. It is this dark journey that we follow throughout the story.
Rutherford also has a secret. The secret he carries affects him both physically and mentally. and drives him in a way that makes him relentless and unyielding. He tries to hide this secret from those around him, but knows at some point his secret must be revealed.
The one soft spot he holds in his heart belongs to his wife and daughter. His wife is loving and caring, everything he is not when he is outside of his home. His daughter is the apple of his eye and it breaks his heart every time he sees her, because she is sick and there is no cure. Not yet anyway. If he can complete his mission, perhaps there is a small chance he can help her, so he will not stop until the hybrids have been exterminated and he has captured the last one.
Melissa Hampton
Doctor Melissa Hampton is a mystery; she is not only beautiful, smart and alluring, but is also very private and good at keeping secrets. Early on she frustrates and angers Stark with her lies and deception, and he arrests her in an attempt to elicit cooperation. However, she is strong and willful and his bullying tactics have little effect on her. He needs her cooperation and keeping her in jail for obstruction won’t get that from her. He releases her with the agreement that she will help him in his investigation, and although they have been forced to work together, he still doesn’t trust her and she remains secretive.
It is only later when he discovers that she is first and foremost a mother trying to protect her child that he begins to soften toward her. It is then that they each begin to accept the other’s need to see this through, finally beginning to work together to attempt to save the hybrids from extinction.
As it happens, the doctor’s company is good for Stark. Her strength, intelligence and wit help break down the barriers he has erected and over time he begins to rediscover his appreciation of humanity. Because of her, he begins to live again.
Rebecca Hampton
Rebecca Hampton is Melissa Hampton’s daughter. And while she isn’t introduced until later in the story, she is an integral part of Stark’s journey. She too is extremely intelligent and willful, and she also holds a secret. Without giving anything away I can reveal that she plays a very important part in Stark’s “rebirth”.
Rutherford discover’s her existence around the same time Stark does. Since she is Doctor Hampton’s daughter, it occurs to him that she may be the key to saving his own daughter. Because of this, Rutherford will stop at nothing to find her. But Rebecca is a formative foe and will not succumb to Rutherford without a fight.
Stark, initially uncertain of her motives, eventually puts his life on the line to protect her. It is because of her and her mother that Stark realizes that there is more to life than grief, self-pity and remorse.
Perhaps I will examine and explore the other primary characters in a later entry, for now i will simply name them. They are the Hybrids, (Eve, Simon, Adam, Michael and Jacob,) Stark’s supervisor, Captain Grady, and Doctor Laura Kawamura, the head of the LAPS science division.
Summary
In a nut shell, these are the main characters, however there are other important characters (like the hybrids) that impact the story. Perhaps we will explore them in a future segment. Thanks for reading, please leave any comments you like, and have a wonderful 2015!
