Inspiration - Data in a Sundress
Throughout the course of writing Wardenclyffe there were many stories that helped to inspire my writing. There were books that helped me figure out my characters, tv shows that inspired the worldbuilding, and even playlists of songs that I would make myself to help inspire the overall feel of the writing as I worked on it.
When originally drafting out the story, I knew I wanted it to revolve around the character of an android who yearned to be more human. The character of Bit went through many iterations before the one who finally made it to the page. And while writing her I took inspiration from some of my favorite science fiction stories. Before I even put pen to paper I went back and rewatched Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (as well as the lesser known anime adaptation), picked up a copy of I, Robot, rewatched My Life as a Teenage Robot, and caught a late-night showing of Blade Runner at my local theatre. I felt that it was important to see how these other stories had written androids and all of them helped me understand where I wanted to take my own character.
But perhaps the biggest inspiration for Bit was Lieutenant Commander Data in Star Trek: The Next Generation. We used to joke in my writing group that Bit was essentially ‘data in a sundress’. An affectionate nickname for her since their two stories were very similar. Both androids had a desire to become more human and learned more about being human by meeting different types of people on their journey.
Even with all of these inspirations, Bit was probably the part of the story that changed the most through all the different drafts. When the story was told from 3rd person point of view Bit came across very differently. She was only ever seen from an outsider’s perspective and I wrote endlessly about frivolous things like what she wore and what her hair looked like. Then things shifted when I started writing from her point of view and she started to come together as a character. Suddenly all her features, clothing, overall appearance were left completely up to the reader’s imagination and her story became more about her trying to understand humans.
This was always the intention of the story too. I wanted to show how Bit experienced humanity and tried to learn from the different people she met. I introduced her to types of people that she had never encountered before and didn’t know how to properly socialize with. It gives her chances to learn more about all the different people and continue in her quest to become slightly more human herself.
Out of all the characters I’ve written, Bit really holds a special place in my heart. I’ve been writing her for close to three years now and it’s hard not to be attached after that long. And while she originally had many inspirations from other characters, I no longer think of her as ‘data in a sundress’, I just think of her as Bit.
