Why the Characters Became the Heart of OS
The science-fiction premise may be what gets the story moving, but I’ve always thought the characters were the reason The Opposite Sex worked.
At the beginning of the story, Michael Chandler isn’t exactly Mr. Popular.
He’s smart, introverted, and far more comfortable with chemistry than people. Years earlier, he had been a gifted Little League player with a promising future in baseball. Then he abruptly walked away from the game and, in many ways, from everybody else.
By the time we meet him, Michael has gotten pretty good at disappearing into the background.
Then one very bad night changes everything.
Enter the Pack
One of the unexpected consequences of Michael’s situation is that he gets pulled into the orbit of a group of friends I’ve always called the Pack.
They’re loud where Michael is quiet. Social where he’s withdrawn. Opinionated, complicated, funny, occasionally irritating and fiercely connected to one another.
In other words, they’re teenagers.
The Pack gave me an opportunity to make the story about much more than Michael’s transformation. Friendships change. People fall for the wrong people. Jealousies pop up. Secrets get harder to keep. Somebody inevitably says something they probably shouldn’t.
The science-fiction element creates the problem.
The characters create the story.
Nobody Stays in One Box
One thing I never wanted was a cast where everyone served a single purpose.
The funny character couldn’t always be funny. The confident character couldn’t always have the answer. The quiet character couldn’t remain invisible forever.
As the story grew, so did they.
That’s especially true once the series moves beyond the first book. Relationships shift. Old assumptions get challenged. People who seemed to have everything figured out discover that they don’t.
And Michael, who once preferred being unnoticed, finds himself dealing with circumstances that make anonymity nearly impossible.
More Than a Supporting Cast
Over time, I stopped thinking of the Pack as supporting characters.
They’re an ensemble.
Michael’s situation may sit at the center of the trilogy, but the people surrounding him give that situation its weight. They’re friends, witnesses, troublemakers, protectors and sometimes part of the problem.
That’s probably why, after all these years, they still feel very familiar to me.
Spend enough time drawing the same group of people and apparently they stop asking permission to live in your head.
