*Warning: Possible Spoilers!*

 

I know actual debut of The Underground series was just this past October, but today, Christmas Eve, is when I first conceptualized the idea of the black mercenary fox and began writing. On that note, I guess its time to share a little behind the scenes' trivia.

 

I've been writing stories for some time now. Someone told me once that I enjoy complex characters, and I do. I like giving the people I write about a history because in effect it makes it that much easier to not only write for them, but to care about them (sometimes that becomes a problem, but we'll come back to that).

 

When I started writing what would become The Mercenary a year ago I wanted to do something completely different from anything else I had written. I felt that the protagonists in my other stories were becoming clones of each other. I was getting sick of writing for the stereotypical "Jack Ryan" character, you know, the "honor above all else" guy who does the right thing all the time. So I went for a complete opposite of my last story: a flawed character, someone who was living on the fringe whose only care in the world was their own survival. Ergo, the birth of Alias.

 

Of course, Alias was much different in his younger days. The only things that remained the same are his species/fur color and the fact he is an assassin. I blame Brian Jacques for Alias's transformation into the current anthropomorphic version of himself, as I was a huge Redwall fan as a child. At first I found it difficult visualizing Alias as a fox rather than just a regular guy, but now I can't see Alias as anything else. I also ran into a problem when trying to figure out a name for him as well, which is why in the first chapter Alias is strictly referred to as ‘The Mercenary’. I wanted a name for him, but nothing seemed to fit, so for the time being I just stuck "[alias]" in for where his name was supposed to go. Eventually, I just started thinking of this dark character as "alias" to the point where the name stuck and anything else just didn't seem right. As Alias himself says "It's fitting enough."

 

The overall plot of The Mercenary was pretty much the same. However, the original treatment was not was as... optimistic, so to speak. Originally, the Invisible War was being fought between species mostly on a predator/prey relationship. Later on it was changed to the current idea, but some of that idea still linger in the finished version. Atir, a gazelle, brutally interrogating Melissa, a cheetah; the crazy rabbit and his treatment towards Jenna, a fox; even Hets mentions a horse being killed by a pack of predators and Alias being a mercenary who won't go after his own species. I eventually dropped this idea when I didn't like having to keep up species boundaries.

 

The plot was also much darker. My first outline had Alias leading the interrogation of Melissa though it's entirety, the gang that grabbed Jenna actually going through with her rape; Alias subsequently and horrendously murdering them all, Alias discovering Mick had been the one who sold Alias out to Hets when they found him at his apartment resulting in Mick killing himself when Alias confronted him about it, Alias getting to Jenna too late after she was abducted and dying in Alias's arms, and finally Alias being mortally wounded by Atir, and blowing up Lazarus Plaza killing both himself and Hets. Quite different from the story posted.

 

I changed this for a number of reasons. First of all, I got sentimental over my lead character (going back to caring becoming a problem). Alias had the potential of being a total BA, but I felt like I was portraying him as a monster who learned nothing rather than a resourceful merc seeking salvation. Had Jenna been gang-raped, the actual trauma would have scarred her beyond recovery and it would have been that much harder to find a way for Jenna to open up to Alias. Alias rescuing Jenna opened the door for a bond to develop. As for Mick... well darn it, I just liked the guy too much to do that to him. Needless to say, the deaths of all the characters were dropped to leave it open for continuations of The Underground.

 

Although The Mercenary is not all peaches and cream (as Jenna will whole-heartedly agree), my final version is much lighter than the original idea that offers hope with Alias taking the first step in changing his life. I really like writing for Alias, and we will see him again at some point, just not sure when.

 

So, with that said, here's to you Alias; I'd buy you a round, but you probably already have a glass of Scotch in your paw!

 

Cheers!