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Computers, Demons, and ANGEL John Passarella discusses writing, the Internet, and his ANGEL novel Avatar

Continued from previous page... Besides the major Internet based theme there was an undercurrent of sarcasm in Avatar. In American Society there is this huge emphasis on physical appearance. In Avatar the main demon would actually lure his victims based on physical appearances of the person they most desire. Through the Vishrak demon John was able to subtly poke at the superficiality of American society, "I was definitely working on the whole LA theme where image is everything. However, his was an empathic demon so it went beneath surface appearances as well; the character of the demon also became what the victim desired. The original theme was about images and the faces we project that might not be who we really are. Later, the theme evolved. It became more about 'you are what you do' not just what you look like or your personality." Through this, John explained that the theme of redemption that follows Angel is exemplified as well, "It might take eternity for him to make amends, but he is also defined by what he does now." Ghoul Trouble Avatar tends to be structured much like an actual ANGEL episode that, as a novel, gives it a unique and enjoyable feel. There appears to be a teaser, separate acts, and cliffhangers that would parallel commercial breaks. However, John did not explicitly model the novel after the television format. Because of his aforementioned use of an act system he explained how the novel often parallels the structure of the show, "The teaser is the equivalent of the prologue in a book,, and the epilogue would be like the tag of the show. You look for natural breaks and turning points in the story." When writing about a television show such as ANGEL the author has a core group of characters which the fans are already familiar with and have a visual representation of due to the series. While this is helpful it can also make developing original characters more difficult. John feels that the original characters in the novels, such as Elliot in Avatar "are the bit of freedom that you get in these kinds of novels so you tend to apply your creative energy into those characters." With the main group he believes that, "you are basically trying to make them ring true to the readers." However with ANGEL he had a little more freedom to develop characters than with Ghoul Trouble because, as he explained, "at the time Doyle, Cordelia, and Angel were the only main characters, whereas with Buffy there were about eight regulars that I had to constantly keep in mind." Also John commented that he would never write for a show that he did not watch and enjoy. When developing original characters John elaborated on how he tries to stay with the rhythm of the show, "With Elliot I was trying to find that line between the horror and the humor that often pops up in ANGEL and Buffy. One of the reasons why I love the shows is because they make you laugh one minute and scare you the next." He noted that while he did not see a total representation of Elliot in real life, he "saw pieces of him in various people. I see the fanaticism of gamers and a lot of times people into technology are very obsessed with online gaming so it's kind of an exaggeration of some of those qualities to go for the humor." "Sometimes, ... editors see the big picture better than the writer, and they can be more objective early in the process, if not right from the start." Many authors use character names as a way of subtly saying something about the characters personality through etymology or symbolism. In some instances John used names that just sounded the way the character would feel, "I thought the name "Elliot" might be a name that's hard for a little kid to live with and might give him a stand-offish attitude," he said. Also he felt that Elliot's last name, Grundy, "just felt right. A combination of grubby and grungy. With Shirley Blodgett, Shirley seemed unglamorous and the first syllable of Blodgett sounds like blah, which is how Elliot felt about her. The Sakorbuk demon name I created from the word scarab." So he does choose names that fit the characters personalities. However, in ANGEL "there was a high body count so I started using the names of friends for victims, after making sure that was fine with them. Most were thrilled to have their name appear in a book. I've also used the names of co-workers, family and former teachers," he said, laughing. Overall John felt that if he could, "put in the name of a friend and have them get killed off and they got a kick out of it, then that was fine with me." Besides making up believable secondary characters like Elliot, John had to create enemies like the Sakorbuk demon and the Vishrak demon. Once again he did not have the visual aid of television so he had to rely on carefully selected details to help the audience create a picture in their head. With the Sakorbuk, or beetle demon, he explained how he was, "trying to go for a different type of image of a demon. A lot of people have phobias about bugs, so I pictured these huge maggoty larva things crawling up people and trying to go down their throat as a particularly horrific image. So part of it was using an image that I thought would be horrific and scary. I thought it was an interesting visual concept that most people would picture right away so it wouldn't take a lot of description." The Vishrak demon, Yunk'sh, went through several stages of meticulously planned evolution. John sent his initial plan into his editor who suggested he tie the lore into some celestial event, an idea that was not present in the original draft. So he said he "went out and did some research on different celestial events that occurred a hundred or thousand years ago and just tried to find something that I could tie into the demon's mythos." While many writers are irked by their editor's suggestions or changes, John was thankful, "There are people who gripe about editors chopping their words, saying 'every word is sacred.' Sometimes, however, editors see the big picture better than the writer, and they can be more objective early in the process, if not right from the start." So after much thought, research and two or three careful phases of evolution, the Vishrak demon was born.' "an episode of the TV show is about fifty pages long, whereas a novel needs to be about three hundred pages. So you need to build subplots into the story..." Avatar is also unique because there are three different degrees of evil: Elliot, the Cult, and Yunk'sh. Since the reader gets the perspective of all three you are almost torn about who to condemn as completely evil. By creating different layers of "evil" John explained that he, "wanted people to see how something like this might happen to an ordinary person. How you could go down the slippery slope, compromising your morals and rationalizing things that aren't right. You lose any sympathy for them at the point where they become evil." He describes Elliot as, "basically this hopeless guy who thinks he is entitled to a better life without having to work for it or achieve it." Yet John isn't looking for sympathy for Elliot, he just wants to show how he went down the wrong path, "You need to take responsibility for your actions," he commented. The Cult, on the other hand, was a way to complicate the plot, "when you are writing these books the creative challenge is that an episode of the TV show is about fifty pages long, whereas a novel needs to be about three hundred pages. So you need to build subplots into the story," John explained. He realized that if, "it was just Angel and the demon, I would have run out of material fast." Yet he said that ultimately the end result in portraying evil is that, "it's not as simple or as interesting as black and white, often shades of gray are more realistic." Angel himself, John noted, is a classic case of this, "he's done all these evil things but, because of the person he is now, you root for him." One of Avatar's most prominent features is its intricate fight sequences. They are one of the hardest things to construct because the author has to take something that is completely visual and transfer it to words without confusing or losing the reader. In Avatar John presents us with flawless scenes full of amazingly choreographed fighting. While many authors may use storyboards, John did not. Instead John described the process saying, "I try to picture it in my head, I think I reach that state when I'm writing where I get into the story and I have a screening room inside my head. I'm doing choreography in my head and seeing what works. My goal is to get that down on paper." Through his style John manages to keep the reader focused by using visual cues as aids, "Since there is a lot more fighting in Buffy and ANGEL, its something I try to approach by giving the reader more visual cues. I give a lot of visual clues about what's happening so I don't need to fill in all the blanks," he said. The product of all his hard work is astonishing fight sequences that make the reader feel as if they are actually watching the action in person. "I reach that state when I'm writing where I get into the story and I have a screening room inside my head. I'm doing choreography in my head and seeing what works" While the horror genre is John's current niche, he commented that it was not always his main focus, "It just happened that a horror novel was my first professional sale." Since Wither did so well he is trying to maintain and expand his current audience by staying within the genre. The transition from Wither to Buffy and ANGEL was successful because he felt he could keep his Wither audience while expanding, "I try to appeal to the same audience, because I don't want to lose any readers I've already won over. At this point, the publisher wants me to stay in horror, even within a specific range of horror. I had one idea my editor thought was too horrific, too far out of the mainstream. He worried I would lose my mainstream readers by writing hardcore horror. By hardcore, I'm not referring to excessive gore, just more obscure subject matter. So I thought Buffy and ANGEL fit in well especially after getting that review quote. People who enjoy Wither might take a chance and read Buffy and ANGEL even if they haven't watched the show. Just as Buffy and ANGEL fans might give Wither a try." Ultimately he is trying to build a solid fan base in the horror genre due to the success of Wither. Also, horror books are flourishing right now. "It seems to be a good time in horror now because after almost a decade of very hard sales in the field it seems to be picking up in all areas," he said. But will John delve into the world of ANGEL or Buffy once again? "I told Lisa I might submit another Buffy or ANGEL novel in the future. I did submit a very brief Buffy idea, not even a full outline. So I haven't ruled it out," he admitted. Currently he is working on his third book in the Wither series which follows the main character. The second novel, Wither's Rain, was just purchased by Pocket Books and should be out in spring 2002.   Written by CoA Staff Writer Jeff Ritchie  Jeff Ritchie and the entire City of Angel staff would like to extend our utmost appreciate to John for the interview. Visit John's homepage at http://www.passarella.com

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