BoM/TWS Message Forum

Maybe Seuzz will want to follow up with his own thoughts once he's reached the end of what he's written, but I figure I can give a few of my own. First of all you can start reading here: "Student Bodies: Transfer Students" .

So, what was the intent in making a new new Student Bodies when a new one already existed? Simply put, I asked Seuzz if he'd be willing to contribute to Student Bodies Redux and we eventually agreed that starting over completely fresh would be the best way to do it: new twists to the abilities and of course a new protagonist. Zachary Dillon was a name and some associated traits I'd had floating around as an Eastman student for a long time and when it was decided to use someone other than David as the main character a lot of details regarding the character's personality and status alligned with how Zach had seemed to me so it was decided that instead of creating an entirely new character to just use this one who'd never actually shown up anywhere beyond some reference material.

The intent was to not just repeat Will Prescott or David Johnson who are, of course, similar enough that Will is basically just a more complete version of David. Zachary isn't a bottom of the totem pole type, he's a fairly middle of the road to slightly popular type who desires more. There's a bit more of an entitlement to him and he's kind of a shit although the intent isn't to make him unlikable. But it's the type of personality—a restless inability to be satisfied with what you have—that I feel works in a story about someone who is quite literally stealing bodies. The very nature of Student Bodies is darker and thus I feel like it requires a protagonist who's both more decisive and prone to action than Will and also has a bit more moral flexibility. Zach has some lines that he'll try not to cross (for now at least) but overall he's definitely more gray. Of course there are storylines where Will goes down a decidedly darker path but those require a lot of external forces to get him there whereas I don't think Zach would need quite the outside push to eventually end up that way; not to say it's inevitable but the possibility is much stronger than with Will.

Another big difference between SBTS and the original is the nature of Zach's powers; how they work, how they develop and where they come from. Where they come from is an in story mystery that could always be visited one day (though needless to say, both I and Seuzz know) but given the nature of this new take on the concept... it's much more dangerous and potentially horrifying than SX-2 ever was. That goes along with another break from the previous version of Student Bodies: I described it to Seuzz as falling closer to erotic horror. I don't hold any illusions about this or the original Student Bodies or even Book of Masks being fetish stories despite the fact that they obviously go far beyond mere titillation and are proper stories in their own right; BoM especially. The erotic element is always going to be present but again, the nature of Student Bodies is much darker, so I thought it best to also lean into the horror elements. You can see it in the opening chapter when Tina is taken over, or the way that "Beth" acts when her personality is being adjused by Zach. It's more unnatural and unsettling; it's wrong. I think that unnerving element is important, that the reader at times feels a bit uncomfortable by how inhuman it can seem.

With the abilities, I think redoing the way that they work is both good and necessary. Part of the issue with the original is that David is too powerful too fast and that makes it hard to write. You're having to juggle shifting perspective between multiple characters and differentiate between them and there's nothing really stopping David from just taking over a dozen people. But that also leaves you with a sense of "and then what" that can be usatisfying. I feel like a very important part of BoM is the sense of progression. Will doesn't just start out with the ability to make anima bands and chameleon masks, he has to work his way up to it and even then getting that far is rare. I think taking that same general idea and applying it to Student Bodies helps to keep things more managable and create interest in seeing how Zach's abilities develop, how he figures things out and possibly even figuring out different applications of them that might not seem immediate obvious.

Beyond all that there's other changes as well. There are things and characters that are exclusive to the BoMverse that aren't showing up here: characters like the Stellae or Blackwell for instance. Blackwell has a replacement that we may or may not see depending on if things ever take Zach in that direction. The Stellae... perhaps or perhaps not. Magic, at least in the sense of how it is in BoM, isn't a thing but there is certainly something going on and things that are beyond our human understanding. There's also some general retcons too as in "The School Cafeteria" . Seuzz asked me to help out a bit with that one (specifically the section regarding Alex Day) which is where I came up with the idea of Zach and Rae Caldwell being cousins. AFAIK Zach exists in BoM which means this would carry over to that as well.

But anyway that's enough out of me for now. I hope people are enjoying and/or are interested in this new interpretation.