Start As You Mean To Go On

Hello readers,

I thought I'd voice my thoughts on what I think The Grey Arbiter is really about. As is probably self-evident in the opening chapter, I started off wanting to do a story that focused a lot on crime, and how the protagonist goes about solving them. Usually, this type of story begins with a detective or whoever taking on a case with a simple premise e.g. 'Get proof of my wife's adultry.' or 'Get proof that this guy is smuggling drugs across the border.'. Then the unfortunate protagonist, just by following leads, winds up in a topsy-turvy world where nothing is as it seems and must solve the case in order to save their life or satisfy their personal curiosity or whatever. I love crime, reading about it, that is, so that's the kind of story that I set out wanting to do.

At some point, however, things took a bit of a surreal turn. I stopped focusing so much on the crimes themselves and more on the characters. How they interact with one another, their fears, what motivates them etc. I found that a crime story was a near perfect setting to explore the evocative questions of morality, redemption, love, hate, right and wrong, things like this. I still enjoy writing about the crime itself, and I think that's what the characters of Shell and Spyglass let me do, but it became secondary. For me, The Grey Arbiter has become a sort of vessel to explore uncomfortable observations.

That is what I think I'm writing The Grey Arbiter for - to show that there aren't really big-bad-evil guys or champions of justice. I think it shows each character as victims of circumstance, and that even good people can end up doing bad things given the wrong environment. Maybe I'm making a mistake by sidelining the crime facet of the story, but the way I'm going now, I can give full attention to the characters, and make them as real as possible. If I had a motto for this story, it would probably be: 'be as real as possible.'. Maybe that's a ridiculous motto in a universe of technicolour ponies, but that's the honest truth. I've done my best to present a world that has evolved from developments that are completely possible.
That's not to say I'm ignoring the crime/crime-solving aspect, because the crime is pretty much the plot, and I can't ignore that or i'll just be writing a social commentary.

Perhaps you disagree about the message in The Grey Arbiter, and that's fine if you do. Hell, maybe there is no message and I'm just seeing phantoms. This being my first venture into fiction of any kind, it's very possible that I'm just blowing smoke and not even realising it. The main thing, though, is enjoyment. I'm not asking anyone to understand a deeper meaning (that might not even exist). Just knowing that you're reading and enjoying it is enough for me.

Lots of love,

Shrike