Mar 16, 2025
To:Mara
Interestingly, in my original draft, Akira and Victor had their roles completely flipped and he did have a breaking point. However I thought it would be more interesting if Lien had the "inner demon" reveal. I felt like repeating the "quiet is crazy" troupe more than once wouldn't work. Plus Victor has a stronger motivation.
Also in that draft, all the characters were in their mid 20s and Emma and Akira were married so when Tucker kills her, it makes him snap and reveal his personality. We got to see more of this because the story was longer.
In then end, aging them down, cutting several scenes and making certain changes made the story move faster and have this thrill ride feeling that's difficult to keep up in a reader's mind day by day.
It's so interesting when another writer senses your instincts, so I'm impressed that you can tell that's how he was originally written.
