Out of Control

Now that you have met Anya, it’s time to talk a little bit about her. Anya carries half of the story’s load along with McConnor. She was originally part of the much larger Metasearch team I had envisioned, but as I kept polishing the concept, she ended up being a secondary character. Her look, personality and supernatural ability remains the same, but with a twist. Anya was supposed to be the team’s astral traveler, but in my research I found out that this is an ability that can be purportedly learned by anyone. Consequently I decided that Gabriel--the member of Metasearch with abilities that grant him greater cognitive sense--should be an astral traveler as well. This is due to the alleged fact that awareness plays a major role in controlling out of of body experiences.

Nevertheless I liked Anya and, with the little twist to her gift, I wrote her into “Reverie.” The alteration was that she couldn’t control her astral projections, and her uncomfortable extra-physical experiences were synthesized from the supposed repeated incidents of two people I know. This incorporeal meeting between the psychic vampire and Anya gave the story a whole new interesting dimension. Her occupation, a Doctor in Art History and Anthropology working for the British Museum, was also part of her original concept. This is a set of skills I thought could come in handy in future stories.

As a plot catalyst, Inspector McConnor represents the skeptical, pragmatist side of the reader. On the other hand, Anya is the guide into the unknown. She is the fear, reluctance, and helplessness of someone unwillingly touched by preternatural forces. So hold on to your bodies, and let’s see where this hapless traveler of the unknown takes us. I’ll see you in the page.

Oddman Out