Writing The Seven

When work on THE FALLEN began, I had several problems, but one of them was that I needed to introduce seven new characters all at once. I’d mentioned in THE OUTSIDE that there were seven other former students of Dr. Talirr’s, besides Yasira, who’d tangled with the angels in certain ways. And I did not want to forget those seven, especially given that they all played a minor, indirect, anonymous role in THE OUTSIDE’s big finish. It didn’t seem right to use them that way and then forget about them. I needed the Seven to play a role and come into their own.

But also, that meant seven new characters arrgh why do I do this to myself. Not just seven new characters total in the novel – that can happen naturally, as I find a need to invent people to play particular roles – but seven new characters who were all in basically the same role, a team of friends with similar backgrounds helping the protagonists.

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