#sidekickwithsideburns

however, the story is less about warders and more about the fact that warders can be possessed by abyss spirits, which usually leads to full spirit control, but a rogue warder, Milakov, damaged seven abyss spirits in such a way that while they can possess warders, it is much more like sharing a body than possessing it. indigo and violet learn that two of the spirits chose them on the morning of violet’s birthday, and eventually find the warders with the other five spirits. (over the course of seven stories)

the core arc is that Milakov essentially wants power and control over abyss spirits to become one himself; he has a master plan involving an ancient idol created by egyptians to speak to their gods (who were actually abyss spirits), [and later used by greeks and other pantheistic cultures]. the idol can control abyss spirits, but to use the full power an enormous amount of energy must be created in one spot. Milakov tries a few power ploys, but ultimately his goal is to release the four horsemen of the apocalypse (who are each the only abyss spirit of their kind, death, war, famine, pestilence) and unite them in a location to create an enormous amount of energy.

violet’s story is also about growing up, and largely about betrayal- there are two key points in her life where she feels betrayed, and each part of her life is different because of these moments

another important theme is possibility and future- while love is not an important part of the stories, violet has three (dare i say) love interests (more like love concepts) which each represent something different to her… there are three main villains (including Milakov), which embody different reasons for acting villainous (lost love, scorned by society, and bad for the hell of it)

i also really find it important to represent types of characters that don’t show up often in literature…. violet is ocd, triggered by anxiety, and incredibly terrified of her abilities… her best friend mallory is mute but more the typical heroine, a childhood friend of theirs was a lesbian, one of the main characters is not special in his own right at all….

okay but now here is the special part. within these stories is evidence of other stories, these other realities that coexist. obviously, there could potentially be trouble with borrowing stories from existing print, so instead my plan is to create other stories to overlap with this one.

the first character that violet meets who has her own story to be told is allison halloway, who lives in earth circa the year 3004. allison lives in a very advanced society where life is good and fair and the government isn’t screwy like those other dystopian novels, and your life is written as it happens in a book. there are multiple levels to live in on this earth, but the sea level is not advanced and some people still live down there without knowing a more advanced civilization exists above. allison accidently lands down there ten years after first meeting violet, and becomes confused, not understanding this strange glimpse into the past

the second character is genevieve, a vampire, who lives in a reality where vampires are not sparkly or mystical but in fact their own biological species. genevieve’s story is largely about reconciling with her lover will, who she has met many times, and fallen in love with many times, only to clear will’s memory of her each time he finds she is a vampire and freaks out. genevieve appears briefly in violet’s stories as a helpful vampire.

now, in an entirely different book, about reality warping, centers on two college student in a reality where they are the direct descendants of sherlock holmes and john watson. these two girls, scarlett and juliet, learn that an organization called mandrake kidnaps people and sends them into other realities to absorb the energy created by the travel. when their mutual friend gigi is kidnapped and sent into another reality, they learn more about realities and the mandrake society. once gigi is recovered, she turns out to be genevieve, who after being sent into violet’s reality and recovers, realizes that this is not her rightful reality either, but that she belongs in one with will. meanwhile, after the secret of reality warping is uncovered, another friend of scarlett and juliet, becomes disillusioned and angry with society, and uses the mandrakes to end up in violet’s reality, where she becomes the white lady, a main villain in the stories