I owe K a response, but Amy's reply is easier to tackle. I'm not disagreeing with you here, Amy, just giving you details of what's to come.
- Joseph could use an antagonist. Perhaps. I'm considering a highly placed Imperial spy or android who repeatedly targets Joseph to undermine or even kill him. I'm also thinking about Joseph's God being a strict disciplinarian. Admiral Windsor will be his primary guide throughout much of the book. God being strict with Joseph messes up my desire to make Joseph's God the NT God, while Apollo's God is from the OT. TBD.
- Joseph's universe does however serve as an antagonist. A homophobic decision that he makes in v3 causes the deaths of his cadets. He also decides in v3 not to make a plea on Andrew's behalf before the hanging, even though it's in his right to do so. Andrew dies and winds up in his head looking for a little revenge. His video of Anikh dying kills his mother. He's thrown into a violent prison (to be fleshed out in v3).The shogun humiliates him with the toilet bowl baptism, then chokes the life out of him. He blew up Lupus, resulting in the full-scale bombing of New Beth. He has zero luck (in v3) trying to attract followers to his religion. Eve is killed in battle. Those reasons combined cause his last actions on the cliff. Those are a lot painful events arising from his pursuit of the Christian Heresy.
- Joseph and Apollo will definitely both remain in the story. I just need to do a better job at putting them at each other's throats. Maybe I can figure out an ending that has them on opposite sides, but the bombing cannot directly be the fault of Joseph, Apollo, or Caligula. That's what Lupus was for. I need the others later. Did anyone catch that Lupus was Joseph's only kill? It's also the only place where someone's head explodes. I saved it for that moment.
- I'll see if I can find a way for them to interact more. One change I'm considering is for Apollo and Joseph to be dueling with public, hostile messages over Galaxinet. However, they're already together for most of Acts II (the conference) and IV (the battle). I intend to reinforce the animosity between them at the conference.
- As for Apollo's old man (Nero), there's a chapter in v1 that I'm going to reuse. There's tons of pain and humiliation inflicted upon Apollo, raising the animosity between them. I'm also definitely putting Nero in his head later.
- Caligula's role will be more prominant. I need him to be vicious toward Apollo, because that changes when Caligula's head is partly blown off. There will also be foreshadowing about his secret scheme for power.
- As for writing plot with characters later, in my opinion, they go hand-in-hand. v6 of chapter one (in my v3 book) evolved based on both. For example, I wanted to make the chapter one more realistic, so I threw in Colonel Montford as head of the marines, and I gave him plenty of screen time and a great death. I didn't know before I created him that he would be such a powerful figure in the battle with the classiarii. Brain evolved into a useful (humanish) character, which drove me to the whole drag queen subplot. K really loves that part. The subplot with Caligula's scheme for power came about as I tried to fit Caligula into the final battle. It almost ended very differently.
- I think I hit all your points, Amy. Please let me know if have questions or more suggestions.
