Lincoln Delabar, Blank, will always be a kid at heart. At least in my mind. And though his actions and troubles have caused him to age beyond his years, I believe he longs for the innocence and simplicity of his youth. At least the youth he had before the public school system swallowed him up.
In the first Blank book, we met Lincoln as a newborn. In fact, within those first few pages we learned that he was aware of things most are not and even remembers time in his mother’s womb. Right off the bat, we knew Linc was something special.
His father, mother, and sister, all connected to him and each other, with their house a kind of crazy, hectic, noisy environment where you had to learn to accept people the way they were, or leave, was only the beginning of Linc’s adventures. I don’t know if I could have handled it. But then again, I’m older.
Linc’s father sure couldn’t.
When I wrote the book, I tried to imagine what my life would have been like without my father’s influence. And in that place I saw Linc hidden away in the house. Learning about the world from his mom, sister, and computers. Maybe afraid of what was out there, but always wondering. So, I brought Joey into the story to bring him out of his shell.
Football was always a sport I loved. I was too small in high school to play it, but I never tired of hooking up with kids for a little backyard game, or watching it on TV. So, it was fitting that I would allow Linc to re-discover his “talent” while learning about the game from Joey.
Why did it take so many years for Linc’s telekinesis to finally mature? Maybe that is the key word. Mature. It first showed itself on that fateful day when he was an infant and sick, the paramedics jabbing a giant needle into his throat so he could breath. A day where his father flew across the room moved by invisible hands as Linc’s reflexes showed his hidden ability. But it was an extreme reaction to an extreme situation. Anger rearing its ugly head in a little boy’s life. That anger would prove to be a liability and a life saver as he grew older.
But it was maturity that allowed him to control it.
Or was it?
He had a lot of growing up to do and, at times, his lack of maturity allowed the rage to run rampant. It was then that things became scary for him.
Enter Avril, his pink angel that soothed even the most primal rages within him. As the story unfolded, Avril was originally going to be a temporary, quirky, love interest that I wanted in the tale to kind of ground him. But if you’ve read the books, you know she became so much more. And for that I’m thankful my imagination and subconscious mind helped guide these Threads in my stories (so to speak). If not for that guidance, Avril would have faded from the story rather quickly.
But as Linc “spoke” to me, (he still does, BTW) he made it quite clear that Avril was too important to toss aside. Without giving too much away to those who have yet to read the series, Avril is central to the entire trilogy. Without her, it wouldn’t be the same. She is his light, his hope, his love, and some of the most powerful scenes in the book are tied to her.
You might laugh at me, but I’ve since found out from other authors that the emotional impact of writing is quite intense for all of us who put pen to paper (or fingers to keys). One of the most powerful scenes in the first book, brought me to tears as I wrote it, and it still does when I read it back. The scene where Linc “heals” Avril so she can walk again is that powerful to me. But I give away too much. Read the book. You’ll see.
I think if I had to pick one trait of Linc’s that I would like to possess, it would be the connection he has with animals. Haven’t we all wondered what it would be like to see into our dog’s mind? Or, understand just what the hell the cat was thinking when it pounced on you in the middle of the night or brought you a “treat” in the form of a dead mole dropped at your feet?
I know I would. My little buddy was not feeling well the other day and I had to take him to the vet. As she was looking him over, I commented that her job must be tough, since she couldn’t ask him what was wrong, or where he was hurting. She had been manipulating his spine at that moment and he yipped in pain.
“He’s communicating with me,” she said.
I guess. Still, it would have been nice to have asked him and received a reply.
So, with Sadie and her puppies, Linc found a soft spot in his heart for the innocent creatures in nature. And though they were the first loves of his life outside his family, we also see that the primal instincts the animals in the story possessed had a very huge affect on him. The fact he can channel some of their instincts and aggression made for the final scene in Episode 1 of Blank one of my favorites.
I’ve always been a sucker for vigilante type justice, and especially if it can be doled out by those innocents who suffer at the hands of the whackos of this world. To me, animals and children are our closest things to pure innocence we have. At if you take advantage of that, you get what you deserve.
That defining moment at the end of the first episode is where Linc’s innocence is lost. To him, the world, and himself, will never be the same. And the rest of his story flows from that one moment.
Grab the book. You can find it here. If you’ve already read the first two books, the third is out this Monday, February 1, 2016. I can’t wait for you to read it.
Be well,
Richard