Afterword - Tackling The Debt - Chapter 1

Please do not read this unless you have read the story I posted last Friday, Tackling The Debt, Chapter 1. This post may contain spoilers.

Where to start? Where to start? I've always been a fan of sci-fi TV series. I don't watch TV often, but some shows influenced me more than others. Tackling the debt is not a sci-fi story per se, but obviously, Chloe borrowing a clone is very sci-fi. That idea directly came from a Canadian show called Dark Matter where, at some point, the characters are using cloning technology to travel around.

I always liked this idea. What would you do with your cloned body if you knew it was not your real one. Would you try more dangerous things? Would you like it better than your previous body? Would it change your sexual behaviors? Perhaps you'd try to sleep with the gender that you were not attracted initially? And what would you do for your lover if he were in love with your original body and not your new one? 

This was the heavy burden I had to juggle with when I wrote the story. The most troubling part is when Chloe had a crush on Matt and vice versa, but because they didn't have time to explore their feelings, she offered her own body to him. I cannot tell you how many times I rewrote that section of the text to make sure the consensuality was crystal clear. 

Even after that, I feared that it was unethical to have a guy have sex with a sleeping girl. But yet, I knew Chloe was the one wanting this badly. She is kinky and liked the idea. (that is enough to make everybody uncomfortable) To ease my mind, I transferred my fears to Matt himself. That is directly the reason why he couldn't proceed with Chloe's wish. I suppose there will be a lot of discussions about this between the two of them in the next chapters.

Besides my (unjustified) paranoia, another aspect of the story was to make Chloe a flawed person. She made a big mistake that dragged so many people to her personal hell, and yet, in the first paragraph, we learned that she still dated a guy, even though she was in a huge mess, and it led to a nasty breakup. And right after, she falls in love with Matt ... That is a problematic character trait.

Yes, Chloe is nice and well-intentioned, but she needs learning. She needs life lessons. This is why her encounter with John is rather important. At many points in the story, Chloe is judging him because of his attitude and physical look. Because of the situation she has chosen, she bumped into elements that made her realize that she was quite wrong and mean. But her desire to do good things for people helps her to get back on the right track and be a bit more understanding.

Originally, the story was supposed to end once she left the recovery agency. But it was only 6000 words or so, and there was not a lot of deviancies. This is why I decided to add her first encounter. Finding a way to give her a few dollars, would make the beginning of the second chapter much smoother.

Overall, I'm not entirely sure how I feel about my decisions. If I had not watered it down due to my values and ethical conflicts, it would have been a much more trashy and immoral story. I didn't discard my ideas, though; I decided to bring them in in a more smooth manner for the readers. I hope you can forgive me for doing this. (or perhaps you agree that it was the right decision?)

On that note, I just want to thanks everybody that read it and, please, comment honestly, so I know what you loved or hated. Chapter 2 will take a very unexpected turn, and I hope you'll want to read it. 

Once again, thanks for your support and guess what ... the next story is Feliformia 9 in two weeks. It's coming along great, and I can't wait to share it with you. :)

Thanks so much

Tigerstretch