Duality Paradox 2

So where was I?

Oh yes, the paradox of duality or in other words: how the heroes of our book series, Simon and Sally, must first find their individual strengths only to give it up and merge their abilities to defeat the bad guy. It's actually classic monomyth (Joseph Campbell). The heroes start off knowing nothing and over the duration of the first act (out of three) they gain power by understanding their 'magical' abilities. I quote magical, only because the monomyth does not necessarily involve powers beyond the natural world. In our case Simon and Sally actually tap in to their natural energy, called Chi, and use a device from the Renaissance period to project their power outwards. A sort of a mash between Eastern philosophy and Western mechanics. Trust me: it's going to be very cool.

The second act during the course of the series involves the downturn, the 'bad news', the betrayal, etc. Here the siblings will understand that their individual powers are not going to be enough to solve the main problem. They become confused, desperate and depressed. Male power (Yang) is bright, active, hot and expanding. It also relates to the progression of compassion. Female power (Yin) is dark, cool, passive and contracting. Yin relates to development of wisdom. Simon and Sally will have to understand that even as siblings being each other's polar opposite they have to work in unison to conquer their problems. This of course leads into the 3rd and final act.

The last act, which is also the smallest, but most intense (and probably will only encompass the final book) revolves around our heroes adapting, under excruciating circumstances (chased/hunted down by the bad guy), how to use their powers in cohesion with each other. Finally they will come together as a tour de force, combining the strengths of each side to become larger than the sum of parts.

What is the paradox you may ask? The paradox is ironically two-fold, but then again not. Okay, Yoda, quit the mumbo-jumbo I hear you say. The paradox lies in the fact that in the series Simon and Sally think they have two separate set of powers, yet they turn out to be two halves of the same one power. That is why they cannot work without the other to reach their full potential. The duality is an illusion. But because they are two different people they don't understand the other person's power. This they have to learn. The irony lies in the writing of the series, in which Nancy and I have also have to learn how to mesh our vastly different writing techniques, ideas about how and what to tell and interests in development of the series. Nancy loves non-fiction, I love fantasy fiction. She writes dialogue, I write action. She's and example-led viewer, I am a top-down viewer. So we both, like Simon and Sally, have to learn that our project is just split in two halves, but ultimately must tell the story as a whole and not two different ones.