The status quo is often invoked as a negative thing. People try to escape it, war against it or moralize about it but rarely do they embrace it. Yet, for the fiction writer, the status quo is an incredibly useful tool.

Building a story from the ground up is an incredibly demanding task, requiring the construction of coherent characters, worlds, conflicts and story arcs. Once the story is over you need to start that process all over again – unless you have a status quo. If there is a predictable place that your stories starts from and ends at then you can save yourself half or more of that work. Coherent characters and worlds continue to exist, you only need to add conflict and arc. Certain kinds of conflict can even bake themselves into the fabric of the status quo.

These reliable touchstones in a story aren’t just there for the benefit of the creators, either, audiences like them a great deal as well. It can be incredibly draining to spend so much time learning new characters and worlds every time you crack a book or sit down for a movie. Sometimes you want to slip into a story like an old pair of slippers. The familiar is a powerful draw for consumers who will often read the same story with a different coat of paint over and over again. In more optimistic terms, TV shows have perfected the craft of offering viewers the same character solving new hurdles every week.

That doesn’t necessarily the status quo is a good thing.

Like many things that creep up in artistic pursuits, the status quo is not strictly positive or negative. On the other hand, it is something you must be aware of.

When I set out to write Firespinner, Roy’s first adventure, I made it a point to set a status quo that I thought would facilitate the widest variety of potential stories. Roy was a travelling mercenary, moving about the Columbian West, doing whatever was needed. He would never be in the same place twice. He would ostensibly work alone but forever be pulling in favors, expertise and allies from various parties.

I always knew Roy had a “home base” he worked out of, that it was called Oakheart Manor and that I wanted to set a story there. In point of fact, A Precious Cornerstone was one of the first two story ideas I had after I started on Firespinner (the other being Night Train to Hardwick). Ironically, that alone broke from the status quo of one of Roy’s adventures. He’s not there to work, he’s there waiting for his next job and keeping in touch with his broad library of connections.

That’s a pretty passive role and makes it difficult to build conflict out of. The idea that he’d picked up an object someone else wanted and would try to steal quickly occurred to me and the events of Cornerstone eventually grew out of that. However, given the nature of storytelling, the balance of things made it difficult to make Roy the protagonist. He’s not pushing events forward. Largely he reacts to input from Cassie and Marius, which makes his point of view very important but not really that of the main character.

That’s Marius. He’s the one on a job, he’s the one who wants something and, I quickly realized, he’s the one who should get it. That was another break from the status quo. Roy doesn’t lose very often, which makes sense because he is the protagonist, he’s well equipped and very experienced. That means the person who bests him needs to be all those things, except moreso.

At the same time, just being equal or better than Roy on all counts doesn’t mean all that much given that our hero is usually behind the ball. He’s quite used to people who outclass him one way or another. He’s also used to winning. I needed another element to break Roy off from the confrontation. There had to be something beyond physical defeat to ensure that Roy doesn’t pursue the conflict perpetually because he’s a stubborn man. That was the origin of the three coin duel. That was also the origin of Cassie’s betrayal.

Either one of those things might not be enough to stop someone like Roy from pursuing Marius to the ends of the earth (or at least southern Tetzlan). However, I felt like both of them are enough to tell him he shouldn’t pursue the path. At the same, the Fairchilds have become a steady part of Roy’s status quo, allies that are nice to have for the characters and the audience. Putting a wedge between them is another change to the status quo…

Will the breach ever be mended? Time will tell. But you shouldn’t be surprised if Roy is forced to work in solitude again, at least the next time he turns up around here. Will that become the new status quo? That’s harder to say.

In the meantime, I hope you’ve enjoyed this story. I had a lot of fun writing it. Now my attention turns back to the wild realms of Nerona, where Cassian Ironhand and his friends are finding their way through a new city with new problems…

But before that, I’ll be taking a week off and indulging myself in a few more essays on the art of writing. I’ll see you April 4th!