Solving a Character Dilemma

Sometimes writing character conflict can be hard. Understanding why a character has a strange and irrational fear of something can be especially challenging.

For the longest time, I couldn't figure out why my female protagonist, Nova, who exists in a world where people teleport everyday, would have such a strong fear of teleporting. In a sense, it would be like someone in our world being afraid to drive or fly on an airplane.

Did something traumatic happen involving a teleporter? Or was she always afraid of the concept?

Sometimes to figure out character conflicts and dilemmas, you just have to start writing and go through trial and error. Experiment with different scenes and outcomes.

That and a lot of pondering.

Often times, it's my characters that lead the story and even I as the writer am surprised.

And now I've discovered why Nova has been terrified of teleporting:

Nova wasn’t due into the lab until later that afternoon. Until then, she spent her time in the lawn of the disturbance shields. This time she was alone as she most often was.

Her mind reeled from so much as she stared out into the distance where Insight loomed. There were so many mysteries surrounding the eventful incident with the explosion. There was an even greater mystery of where Donovan was from and he always seemed so secretive about it.

Her holographic screen flashed in front of her signaling it was soon time to head to Insight. She always gave herself ample time so that she could take the Expedite System.

Taking the Expedite System to Insight would take about ten minutes. If she’d teleport like everyone else did, she’d be on the grounds of Insight in an instant.

Nova tapped her Pulse band to deactivate the disturbance shield. She jolted back as the system glitched before the disturbance shield resumed deactivating like normal.

Nova shook her head. She was well aware that Insight was in the process of doing an upgrade to the Pulse code system. She was the few assigned to conduct the last phases of the update so she wasn’t needed in the lab until later.

She proceeded towards the Expedite System and tapped the holographic screen that appeared in front of her as she approached closer.

Using the Expedite System had become a monotonous yet comforting routine to her. Traveling below the city of Illumina on the Expedite System’s illuminated track gave Nova a chance to relax, enjoy the moment and forget all about the everyday stresses in life. At this time, with her unwilling involvement with Dr. Maddox’s telepathic device and her possible involvement in Donovan’s whereabouts, life had become even more troubling and uncertain. More than she could ever imagine.

She started to tap in her destination.

INSIGHT TECHNOLOGIES

Right as Nova finished tapping in her destination, the holographic screen glitched again, the words becoming distorted. She frowned in annoyance. How many times has this been happening? Hopefully this upgrade to the system would fix these problems.

The holographic screen resumed as normal before flickering madly in a distorted manner. The hum of the approaching Expedite System ceased and there was nothing but an unnatural and unsettling silence.

“What? No!” Nova cried out in a hushed tone of disbelief and horror as the holographic screen in front of her glitched then disappeared altogether.

Unsure what to do, she tapped her Pulse band in a frantic attempt to bring the holographic screen back up. No matter how much she tapped, nothing happened. “Please tell me this can’t be happening. Not now!” The time for her to be at the lab was quickly approaching.

Nova took a slow breath to calm down. She was overreacting. It was probably just another glitch. Give it a moment and the system would be back up and running. It always did.

Critical seconds passed but the system remained silent.

Everyone, including Nova, was well aware of the one exception to the Pulse system. And that was that there was only one thing that wasn’t affected by it.

The teleporters.

A strong fearful reluctance fell over Nova as she continued to wait in vain for the system to resume function. She could continue to wait and waste valuable time. She could walk but that would take nearly twice as long even if she ran.

Or she could …

No. She couldn't.

Nova never used the teleporters since she was a child.

And now, memories of her awful teleporting experience many years ago resurfaced. They were memories she had shoved to the farthest corner of her mind.

A seven year old Nova rushed ahead of her parents through the lively city of Illumina. Full of energy, she twirled and laughed as her parents told her to stay close and in sight.

Nova couldn’t help it! Today was one of those very special days in which she and her parents went shopping. The shopping area that Nova’s family preferred was on the other side of Illumina.

Nova stood close to her parents as they waited in line to use the teleporter. She fidgeted in excitement eager to finally get to their destination. She teleported with her parents before. Like for many, it was just a part of everyday life.

The blue ring of the teleporter glowed indicating that it was now activated and ready. Nova loved seeing the glowing electric blue as it illuminated as a ring around the teleporter.

Full of excitement, she rushed towards the teleporter ignoring her parent’s firm instructions to stay away.

The teleporter hummed as the person stood on the center of it with Nova standing dangerously close.

The upper part of her body was within the range of the teleporter while the rest of her was off it.

“Nova, stay away from the teleporter until it is time for us to use it!” her father called out. “We told you before. They are not some kind of game.”

The last thing Nova heard was a whoosh.

As the teleporter came to life, a sense of fear and nausea came over Nova. A more horrifying realization fell over her as she felt as if part of her body was being pulled between places.

She tried to move but couldn’t both because of fear and from the teleporter’s force. For what felt like an agonizing eternity, the person before them was gone, the teleporter reset, and Nova fell back.

Confused and terrified, Nova cried as she felt the warmth of her mother’s arms around her.

As much as her parents tried to console her, Nova want nothing to do with the teleporter.

“Should we just take the Expedite System?” her mother suggested as if she was deciding on a huge gamble.

“Just this once. I don’t think we should let it become a regular occurrence,” her father replied. The Expedite System was too costly for everyday use. “She’s just shaken up. She’ll be okay in a day or two after the whole ordeal wears off.”

But the ordeal never wore off. Since then, Nova developed a strong fear and reluctance with teleporting. Until she was old enough to venture out alone and walk instead, she would stand close to her parents, gripping one of their hands and squeezing her eyes shut until the teleportation was over.

When she became old enough to work, she always put enough money aside so that she could take the Expedite System.

Nova shuddered at the memory she had repressed all those years.

She never had any problem teleporting before that traumatizing incident.

People teleported everyday and they did it as naturally as breathing. Why couldn’t she?

***

I was not anticipating such an awful experience like that to happen to poor Nova. No wonder she didn't want to even look at another teleporter ever again!

Just goes to show, the final result of a story can be completely different than what you originally intended.

And that's not a bad thing!