Jake’s Comments (group member since Jun 08, 2014)

Jake’s comments from the Ask Jake Soister About 'The Life He Knew' group.

Ben was seventeen when he and Ollie became what they were so he was already a semi-functional adult. Ollie, being the kind of person he is, has sought to control Ben or - at the very least - influence his decisions ever since. Ben, being very much afraid of not only what he was/is but the possibility that he may very well have lost his mind, clings to Ollie's teachings for as long as he can. Eventually, though, he rebels... hence his move to New York. Their bond is a very complex one... a love/hate relationship to the enth degree but what they went through, they went through together... with David's help.

I think there's definitely an opportunity here for a prequel story... but to elaborate on the current incarnation of Ollie, his entire character can basically be boiled down to two words/a single question: what if? Growing up, my Dad always told me they were the two worst words in any language and I wanted Ollie to embody that. Whereas Ben was a victim of pure circumstance the night of their car accident (and unconscious to boot), Ollie was at least awake (and lucid) enough to attempt something like a decision. Granted, it was a horrible situation with no right answer and lasting regret either way but Ollie chose all the same and he's been haunted by the inherent "what if" of that night ever since. What if he'd gone back for his brother and sister-in-law? What if he'd been driving instead of his brother, Frank? Would he have reacted differently behind the wheel? Would they still have gone off the road and ended up where they had? I think Ollie has replayed that night over and over and over again in his mind thousands, if not millions of times and it's been eating away at him ever since. I always got the sense that he felt it was his fault somehow and that everything "wrong" with he and Ben was also something he could have prevented if he'd just been a little faster or done things just a little differently. At the end of the day, I think - perhaps more than anything else - Ollie is defined by his guilt and regret. After years and years it's all he knows and there's a fierce self-loathing there that Ben is absolutely terrified of developing. To Ben's point: "He's not the same Ollie he once was" and it's true. Ollie clings to his pessimism and negativity because they give him something to hate/blame in a world where he's struggling to find answers: himself.

Great questions! Thanks so much for writing in! Ben - like Zach - represented different aspects of my personality. While Zach was mostly comprised of my feelings of frustration, insecurity, and yearning for something more Ben was more about my uninhibited side. He was (occasionally) dangerous and spontaneous where Zach was introspective and more likely to hesitate instead of act. Ben also spoke to that part of myself that has always been afraid people would not accept or love me for who I am.
As far as sequels are concerned I'm currently in the process of writing several companion pieces that will take a few of the characters you're already familiar with in new directions.
I had the last line of the book "dog spit" and the idea for a epilogue (which I thoroughly enjoyed writing) and then took a round-about approach from there.
Any advice for other beginning writers? Stick with it, listen to what people have to say, and leave yourself open. A fresh set of eyes/different perspective can open you up to entire worlds of possibilities you never could have imagined on your own.

That's easy. Twilight (and other takes like 'True Blood')seem to go out of their way to romanticize their 'monsters'. In most depictions, the creatures we're all supposed to fear have it 1,000 times better than we ever will... and I think there's something inherently wrong about that. These 'things' shouldn't be envied. You shouldn't WANT to be one of them. They're not super heroes or demi-Gods... they're cursed. In 'The Life He Knew' my 'monsters' aren't super human in the slightest and, in an even further departure all those Twilight-like depictions out there, every last one of them would give anything to be just like you and me. They're victims of circumstances beyond their control and there's nothing enviable about their fate.