My mission in this episode was simple: write a golem giving Our Heroes a hard time. How could I lose? I get to tell you a story about a big clay monster rolling around Prague breaking things, while political shenanigans dog our heroes’ steps back at headquarters. Seems golden.But in writing, as (I’d imagine) in spy work, you have to be careful with stories that are too good to be true. Sometimes good ideas really do happen! But often they encourage you to take quick action, strike when the iron’s hot, and then—well, you can end up in a lot more trouble than you thought.In speculative writing, especially in short fiction, the temptation’s to lead with the high concept. Golem! Oh no! But that only gets you so far. The characters’ solution to the problem the setting poses is, at best, an act of sleight of hand, since you, the writer, have always invented the constraints under which the characters operate. (This is true even in very hard SF, or strictly realist fiction, since the writer frames the story’s initial conditions. If an out exists for Our Heroes, that’s because the writer placed it there; if no out exists, that’s because the writer didn’t want one.)The question is, how does the problem of the story drive characters to relate and respond to one another? What web of character issues does the golem reveal?At this point in the season, the secrets and mysteries are layered deep. Everyone’s asking: who can I trust? Gabe’s far down the magical rabbit hole, in this regard, and his isolation is starting to wear on him. He’s always been a go-to guy, but with ANCHISES looming, he worries that he won’t be there if anyone actually goes to him.Tanya, meanwhile, thought she knew who she was, and who she could trust—but in the aftermath of certain recent revelations about the Ice and her role in it, she’s almost as alienated from Nadia as she is from the rest of the KGB. Tanya gets a taste of Gabe’s isolation, and starts asking whether there’s anyone she can trust. That space between Tanya and Nadia, in turn, lets her form a new connection with Gabe—but can they trust one another, or are they really using one another?At the same time, Josh, at risk of exposure, finds himself tossed into the deeper waters of fieldwork, something he never anticipated. And to succeed, he’ll have to rely on Gabe, even as Gabe’s been less than reliable of late.Once those bonds and questions are clear, the golem takes shape. It becomes a concrete expression of their threat—the looming magical distraction drawing off Gabe’s identity, endangering the mission, and forcing Tanya to betray herself.And once I have that sorted out, I can go back to writing about a giant clay monster rolling around Prague breaking stuff, without fear of writing myself into a trap.Now that we've heard from Max, let us know what you think about this episode! Join the conversation by commenting below or tweeting us at @SerialBoxPub.
