It really killed other writing for me, which is good and bad I suppose. My LNH work withered and died, and I struggled to finish my last PULP novelette. Fact is, the interaction, feedback and universe building that continues to this day was more compelling and vital than me writing to myself with fingers crossed for a voice from the void saying 'Saw it.' Part of that is the gratification of being incorporated as an equal partner despite my conspicuous hesitation.

(Who else can say they took out a major league sport?) They do have better stock options though. It helped that I came in with a concept I'd been toying with for a while that fit well with the OMEGA universe. At the time, before Pete came back and stole my thunder, then proceded to bludgeon me about the head and shoulders with it, there wasn't a lot done with the common man and his view of this psionical/magical place.

Up stepped Voyeur.

For a while I'd had this thought excercise of a normal man really campaigning against crime—how it'd have to work to work at all. The obvious points are legion: no one can dodge bullets; no one knows where and when crime will take place; authorities must treat vigilantism as crime; there's only 24 hours in a day and you've got to have a normal life or someone will notice; masks don't work to people you know, and neither will your voice be a mystery; anyway you get my drift. Somewhere along the line I decided outright physical confrontation was out—even accomplished fighters can't win all the time, in all scenarios. Once I landed on the video vigilante idea, it cascaded from there.

It'd be a lie to say I brought this conception whole cloth into OMEGA. It was more of a germ and really looked different (jeezuz, wave runners in the sewers? did I really think that idea was worth writing down?). OMEGA shaped the concept, gave it home, a grounding, and thematic impulses. And from that start point I just developed as coherently as I could an everyman (ok, slightly twisted but...) that could succeed because he needed to, and because he thought things through.

And it turns out that Video is a mileau rich in conflict and themes (Truth v. Illusion, Perception v. Reality, Public v. Private, Mass Media v. Independent Thought) So despite a galcial pace, I've got ideas out the wazoo for this title. There's a lot of angst (no, the good kind!). There's very little fighting, and what there is ain't fun or glamorous. There's a lot of relationships and greed and pride and plot twists. I'm proud of most of it (and there ain't a lot), but mostly I'm grateful to the originals to moving over and letting me in the sandbox.