I'm having a problem that really shouldn't be a problem, so forgive me if this thread turns out to be colossally stupid. 
As many of you know, I have a character, soon-to-be-former FBI Special Agent Kimberly Riley, who is about to become a vyca, which is a collective being that is otherwise similar to a vampire. All's good on that front (to my knowledge), but I have found myself a bit betwidddled on one part of this: the transition period.
Now, as we all know, the transition from human to vamp happens whilst the person in question is unconscious (or, more precisely, dead). That's not an issue. What is an issue is her transition as she joins the rest of the collective. That happens after the transition to vamp finishes and she's conscious.
I figure that a transition of this magnitude would take a minimum of 12, but likely closer to 18-20 hours to complete. So, it's a very gradual process. I want to take the reader on the ride through this gradual process as Kim goes from being "me" to "we."
I'm trying to find ways to show the reader that the transition is coming along through its various stages, from the very subtle beginnings all the way through when she's fully transitioned. Ideally, the reader would notice the signs before Kim would, as I have a scene planned where she has a little mini-freak when Ike points out to her the first time she calls herself "we" instead of "I." As of now, I know how I'm going to show things when the transition is almost complete; that's easy. What I'm having trouble with is the very beginning, when the signs are so subtle she most likely wouldn't even notice, and the middle portions of the transition, when things are a little more obvious.
My original idea was to have Kim and Ike in the car and Kim suddenly - and unknowlingly - starts channeling one of Ike's old girlfriends right in the middle of the conversation and rehashes some argument from, like, 1992. But, upon further review, this is nowhere near subtle enough for the early stages of the transition. Maybe it would be good for somewhere in the late middle stages, but not the beginning. I need something smaller and less sudden than that. Any ideas?
How do you show the audience that a character has begun the process of going from being a single person to being 1/10,000,000th (or so) of a whole of a collective without the character catching it at first? What's a good way to finally let her see it (before the transition is complete; otherwise, there wouldn't be anything to notice)? Like I said the end of the transition and beyond are no problem whatsoever, it's just this period of change that I'm not quite sure about.
Oh, and to make matters more complicated, something like 90% of the story will be in Kim's POV - all the scenes she's in will be in her POV; the one's that are in other POVs, she doesn't appear in.
One more thing to keep in mind is that she's been told that this is going to take place, so she knows its going to happen. She just doesn't know exactly how it will happen or how it will manifest itself, at first, because that's just impossible to predict.
As usual and always, thanks in advance.
Kyle
As many of you know, I have a character, soon-to-be-former FBI Special Agent Kimberly Riley, who is about to become a vyca, which is a collective being that is otherwise similar to a vampire. All's good on that front (to my knowledge), but I have found myself a bit betwidddled on one part of this: the transition period.
Now, as we all know
, the transition from human to vamp happens whilst the person in question is unconscious (or, more precisely, dead). That's not an issue. What is an issue is her transition as she joins the rest of the collective. That happens after the transition to vamp finishes and she's conscious.I figure that a transition of this magnitude would take a minimum of 12, but likely closer to 18-20 hours to complete. So, it's a very gradual process. I want to take the reader on the ride through this gradual process as Kim goes from being "me" to "we."
I'm trying to find ways to show the reader that the transition is coming along through its various stages, from the very subtle beginnings all the way through when she's fully transitioned. Ideally, the reader would notice the signs before Kim would, as I have a scene planned where she has a little mini-freak when Ike points out to her the first time she calls herself "we" instead of "I." As of now, I know how I'm going to show things when the transition is almost complete; that's easy. What I'm having trouble with is the very beginning, when the signs are so subtle she most likely wouldn't even notice, and the middle portions of the transition, when things are a little more obvious.
My original idea was to have Kim and Ike in the car and Kim suddenly - and unknowlingly - starts channeling one of Ike's old girlfriends right in the middle of the conversation and rehashes some argument from, like, 1992. But, upon further review, this is nowhere near subtle enough for the early stages of the transition. Maybe it would be good for somewhere in the late middle stages, but not the beginning. I need something smaller and less sudden than that. Any ideas?
How do you show the audience that a character has begun the process of going from being a single person to being 1/10,000,000th (or so) of a whole of a collective without the character catching it at first? What's a good way to finally let her see it (before the transition is complete; otherwise, there wouldn't be anything to notice)? Like I said the end of the transition and beyond are no problem whatsoever, it's just this period of change that I'm not quite sure about.
Oh, and to make matters more complicated, something like 90% of the story will be in Kim's POV - all the scenes she's in will be in her POV; the one's that are in other POVs, she doesn't appear in.
One more thing to keep in mind is that she's been told that this is going to take place, so she knows its going to happen. She just doesn't know exactly how it will happen or how it will manifest itself, at first, because that's just impossible to predict.
As usual and always, thanks in advance.
Kyle
