No Love Lost

Learning moment from this page:  Evolution of characters. So, in earlier drafts, Cecily was on a consistent path towards being an ally, caring about the solemnless and supporting Jona’s goals. But then I thought about the kind of character you get when they play by ALL THE RULES and DO IT RIGHT and DON’T ASK FOR FAVORS in not-a-great-system-to-start-with. And then you throw in Jona who is… trying to be a person who isn’t able to do the cognitive dissonance to cave to the system, but also not quite courageous enough to challenge it head-on. I realized that Cecily would despise Jona. That sucks. They could’ve been friends. But Cecily got where she is by hard work and emptying herself while still keeping up appearances. She doesn’t see herself as a role model for Jona. She sees herself as an aberration that managed to get settled properly in the social sphere. Anyone who does less than she did is cheating.