So, you've made it this far, have you? It takes dedication to find this page hidden deep within the Tagonist Knights Website.
Congratulations!
As a reward, I present to you five new ways to immerse yourself within this novel. Some of it is insightful, other aspects of it is meant to make you laugh and smile. Hopefully, by the time you're done, you'll be eager to explore the book if you haven't already, or take a moment to read through it once again knowing what you do now.
!!!WARNING!!!
--- SPOILERS AHEAD ---
!!!WARNING!!!!
Seriously, go read the book, enjoy the mystery of the experience then come back here for insight into the details of how it all played out.
Thank you!
“Life is more than just survival. It is about staying true to who you are and finding hope when it feels as if there is no reason to continue.” - Mysterious Voice
Say Hello - The Protagonist of Prisoner of Silence
“Every waking moment of my life since the day I was born has been one endless chain of evil acts being inflicted upon me.”
Avita
Tortured Prisoner
“Failure can be a teaching tool if we use lessons learned correctly rather than allowing it to crush our hope.” - Mysterious Voice
Relevant Artwork
“I’m glad that there is at least a spark of hope still buried underneath all of that pain, that you haven’t given up yet. You’ll need that if you’re going to survive this.” – Mysterious Voice
Origin Story:
Back in College
I wrote a story called "64" when I was in college. The idea was sixty four people with super powers. Some more impressive than others. Some evil, some good, some neutral. There was also thirteen "demons" invading their world. One would lose their powers or get killed (more often they died), and then someone else with unique abilities would vanish. When thirty two individuals remained, suddenly they came back. When they did, the outer boundaries of reality shrunk in size. The Universe becoming nothing more than our galaxy.
This happened again as thirty two became sixteen. Again, their reality shrunk in size down to just the solar system. This continued from sixteen to eight, eight to four, and finally the last two remained. The last surviving hero is confronted by a man named "Mr. X". This mysterious figure transforms into a teenage boy. The hero represents hope. The boy represents his depression and how destroying the world he had created in his mind, was his way of destroying his lingering reasons to live. He is working towards the goal of committing suicide.
That is the origins of Prisoner of Silence. That's why there is a number at the beginning of every scenario. It is a representation of the current human population on Earth that when halved, will eventually lead down to two. All because of a story I had come up with in college.
Origin Story:
A Horror Story
When I began Tagonist Knights Publishing, I needed a horror story to go with Raven, Knight of Shadows. Thing is, though, I'm terrible at horror stories. At least, I thought so. It was my weakness when it came to writing various genres. So, I dug up this concept from "64" and took a new approach with it.
I refused to write the book until I knew its purpose and its ending. That's why I typically don't like the horror genre. It's just blood, gore, and pointless death. That was an issue I had with "64" until its end. So, I began there. Going into the book I knew it was about a woman struggling with depression. Someone who had led the worst possible imaginable life. Where nothing went right for her. Everyone in her life stole from her, abused her, and did everything they could to destroy her.
I began with 8,589,934,592, the closest number to the global human population that was also derived from 2x2x2x2 and so on. I added up how many times it would take to reach 2 by dividing by 2 at a time. That gave me the number of scenarios I would be working with. Then I began making a listing of traumas this woman endured and how I can have a symbolic scene concerning that trauma. For example, a drunk woman representing her mother. A man on drugs representing her father. Fading away to nothing due to memory being symbolic of her grandmother's Alzheimer's disease.
Origin Story:
A difficult path...
Originally Avita would wake up in a prison of sorts and see other people in other cells nearby. The "voice" she speaks to is a man in the cell next to her. I quickly threw out that idea to make it more of a mystery. Who is this voice? What's going on? Since there was only one main individual that was the focus of the story, I wanted someone for her to interact with. Someone to communicate with and respond to, allowing her to explore her thoughts.
Going into the book the goal of the story was that all of this was her confronting her past and the trauma she endured. Moments when she finds happiness like flying for instance, reflects her embracing reasons to be happy in her life, to live it fully. The "they", the ones punishing her being her nightmares, the negative emotions, all this self hatred was the threat she was contending with.
I knew that she was in a car accident, that all of this was in her mind, going into writing the book. I kept throwing in misleading information in the form of "she thinks maybe... that this is true." The unreliable narrator in that she doesn't know what's going on and is only guessing. My way to mislead the audience without lying to them.
I didn't know he was dealing with cancer, that he was struggling to live through the treatment until nearly the end of the book. I did want a deeply spiritual bond connecting these two people that explained how they were able to communicate during their struggles.
Origin Story:
In the end...
The original title was "Countdown". The final title reflects that she's stuck in her own mind, torturing herself as it is mentioned at the end of the book. My goal was to create horrifying image to leave psychological scars in people's minds concerning being haunted by what I wrote.
I knew the ending before I began writing it which is rare for me. I typically have no clue where the story is going to go or how it will end until I get there. An original ending was Avita moves in with Edgar and they start a new life together. However, I quickly discarded this concept in that I felt it took away from her empowerment. She needed to do this on her own, to prove her strengths as an individual without relying on someone else for help.
That's what this book is for me. It was my hope to help those who haven't dealt with depression to have an insight to the struggle someone is going through. It's an internal battle in fighting one's innermost nightmares, their past trauma, and memories that haunt them.
I wanted it to be a story about hope, being able to overcome these internal threats and to find the strength to endure as we find a reason to be happy again.
Lastly, this is a story of empowerment. Avita had nothing. She had everything taken from her. In the end, she finds the strength to take on the world again, hope rekindled, and a yearning to take on the challenge that is life.
“When hatred becomes all-consuming, you lose yourself in it. It slowly destroys you from the inside out.” – Mysterious Voice
Easter Eggs and Inspiration
And now... My Favorite.
Spider-Corpse-Baby or Spider-Demon-Baby was inspired by a close friend of mine. When asked what she fears most, her response was three things: Dead bodies, evil children, and spiders. So, I found a way to combine those three fears into a single, horrifying image which wasn't even in the original draft! I added it in the second draft.
“They repeat that phrase for you over and over, training you to believe in what they are telling you, that the rules they have given to you are restraints you must exist by. What if you didn’t have to?” - Mysterious Voice
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