Beginning and End, In the Company of Shadows

I'm sure everyone knows In the Company of Shadows is finished, but I'm blogging for my own, nostalgic records.

I still have the AIM conversation from when ICoS first came into being in our minds. It was December 31, 2005. Below are some excerpts but the entire conversation and some others can be found at our forum post How Important Decisions Are Made. You can find more at our Story Bonuses section.

It was 2:44 pm when Sonny said this to me on AIM:

Sonny: i want to write something but i cant think of any ideas
Ais: original or fan?
Sonny: hmmm
Sonny: i want to try original
Ais: different idea than one you've done before?
Ais: you had that baseball story you'd started
Ais: or planned to
Sonny: eh
Sonny: i want to start something newww
Sonny: you have to help meee
Sonny: you want to cowrite something?
Ais: sure ^_^

We didn't have a clue what we felt like writing but we both agreed that futuristic/realistic might be fun. How Sin got involved was by a throwaway comment of mine:

Ais: ive been mad about all these rp chracters i created that flopped
Ais: because the rpgs died
Sonny: yea
Sonny: me too
Sonny: like sin
Ais: yeah!

And when Boyd came up, I couldn't even remember his name.

Sonny: we could use characters we already have
Ais: and i never got to do much with ......i just forgot his name -_-
Ais: B...
Sonny: who
Ais: fuck. the son of the supermodel. Lou's friend.
Sonny: ohhhh
Sonny: shit
Ais: i forgot his fucking name XD
Sonny: me too
Ais: it was a little weird
Sonny: i dont know
Sonny: senile
Ais: i'll find it
Ais: i still have the d9 info
Ais: boyd!

RPG Sin wasn't exactly what he became in the series, but he served as a starting point that became more nuanced as the plot was decided. When we first were planning ICoS, we were thinking of writing a series of multiple people as main characters. Sin and Boyd were going to be just one partnership, and we were still basing Sin on the RPG version of him. He was going to be a psychopath who liked to torture and kill women, and who was only lucid some of the times.

We were still deciding on Sin's partner at the time, trying to figure out which of my RPG characters we could adjust to the new setting and use as his partner.

Ais: i think it'd be kinda hilarious if it were Boyd, but he's not badass. i just think it'd be funny XD i could make him badass of course. or i could just use someone else entirely. i dont really care.
Sonny: thatd be funny xD
Sonny: it has to be someone that can keep sin in line
Ais: just the idea of a scrawny girly-looking boy obsessed with dark poetry trotting along next to a perverted psycho-killer XD
Sonny: yea XD
Ais: through, what? being bad ass enough to lay the smackdown if he goes all psycho?
Ais: or would he have something over sin? like the collar?
Sonny: hmmm
Sonny: then sin would eventually turn on him
Ais: true
Sonny: if it was like the collar
Ais: it should be something that has some sort of respect in some way
Sonny: it could be mental control
Sonny: yea
Ais: by being intelligent enough to control his emotions? talk him into or out of anything?
Sonny: yea
Ais: also should he be a cold person? like, if he's working with Sin he obviously wouldnt care about people dying
Sonny: yea
Sonny: in a way he like would give sin the orders i think?
Ais: that works
Sonny: except when sin just wanders off to get some girl
Ais: probably the jobs come to him first, and then he brings them to Sin's attention.
Sonny: yea
Ais: yeah except when Sin wanders off XD and he's like "...damnit."
Sonny: im trying to decide if sin is a raving loony or if hes lucid at some times
Ais: i really want it to be Boyd XD like, he was already a sort of cold person in d9, emotionless in some ways. i could see him easily becoming emotionless and cold, and i could make him a decent fighter but of course Sin could kick his ass. if i figured out his past i could even make it so that he's emotionally controlling. i mean he was already really intelligent... would it bother you if it were a variation of Boyd?
Ais: itd make a funny picture so i dunno if that'd detract from the story or add to it. XD
Sonny: no thats what ive been imagining
Sonny: that its boyd
Ais: ok yay!
Ais: i liked Boyd, but barely got to play him.

But even then, the series wasn't planned to be any particular way as far as the sexual orientations.

Sonny: is this het or gay or both
Ais: doesnt matter to me. both?
Sonny: whatever works
Ais: we could just create characters or use characters and see what happens.
Sonny: yea
Ais: i always liked that the most ^^
Sonny: yea me too

Originally, we were actually assuming that Sin was straight, that Boyd was only going to be his keeper, and that their relationship would be strictly as partners, probably strained.

Eventually, we figured out a rough idea of a plot and started writing, and then we found to both of our surprise that Sin and Boyd had a strange chemistry between them that became undeniable. It became evident pretty quickly that they would be attracted to each other, but originally we were just randomly starting scenes based on whatever sounded interesting at the time. It became too difficult for me with Boyd because he was opening up from being closed off completely, and I couldn't keep track of the progression without it being chronological.

So we sat down, decided to outline an actual plot of sorts, and started over with writing. The series was never going to be a series at all. It was going to be one story that was mostly Evenfall but had incorporated parts of later books as well. We didn't go into it planning to share it with anyone, it was just something we were doing for the hell of it to pass the time when we were bored.

Sonny was the one who wanted to share it on AFFN. I thought he was insane and that no one was going to read it so why bother, but I told him he could go for it if he wanted. It didn't matter to me, since I knew it wasn't going anywhere.

But I was wrong.

It's been 7 years and 2 months since ICoS first became an inkling of an idea in a random AIM conversation, and 6 years and 3 months since we first started sharing the story on adultfanfiction.net.

I never would have guessed we would end up with the length of story that we did, or that we would be lucky enough for anyone else to want to read it, let alone like it so much. It's been a bit of a roller coaster ride but if I had to give one word for how I feel with it done, it would be 'relieved.'

It's the first long series I've ever been involved in finishing in its entirety, and we got to tell the story we wanted to tell for these characters.

Thank you to every single one of you who has been with us from the start, and to those of you who joined later and kept going. I know the series brought out a lot of strong emotions in various ways, but when it came down to it, that's how life is... it's not straight and simple and easy. There are pitfalls and detours and moments of frustration. With several main characters with moderate to severe issues, when we went to tell the story we didn't feel we could tell it any other way.

Thank you again, and I'm wishing you all the best!