Where to Begin?

The Biowars tells two epic stories in parallel—one in the familiar ‘human world’ we all inhabit, and the other within the vast living world that exists inside the body of a college student named Alex Hawking.

Our first challenge in creating this complex narrative was where to begin. Do we start with the external world to show how Alex gets infected and drawn into his desperate quest, or do we thrust the reader into the alien, sci-fi environment of his inner world?

We decided on the latter. We wanted to draw the audience into "The BioCosmos," and introduce them to this wondrous new world and its defenders. To accomplish this, we introduced the reader into the mysterious realm of Alex’s "Thalamic Chamber," located within his brain area. This is where the exotic Council of the Mind resides and maintains contact with both the subconscious thought and the BioCosmos.

We decided to start at the moment that the Council of the Mind learns that a new infection is threatening their world. In this way, we could immediately show how the structure and organization of the internal universe works in action, and who the main players are. Below is the excerpt from Page One of the initial script, highlighting our introduction to the Council of the Mind:

Wide establishing shot of the Thalamic Chamber and the eight members of the Council of the Mind. It’s an awe-inspiring, seemingly limitless space that is dominated by a ball of energy high above, almost like a miniature sun set within the upper echelons of an unimaginably vast cathedral space. The Council is arrayed in a levitating circle beneath it, and continuous bursts of energy spurt from the ball of energy, drawn into the heads of the Council members below.

(Gabriel: I think it’s important to start with an establishing shot of the space and the Council within it, so what I’m doing here is expanding that first shot into a two page spread, which I believe will give our artists the room they need to really establish the majesty of the environment. More splashes follow, expanding upon and giving more detail to what we establish here.)

CAPTION: Nestled between the twin hemispheres of the brain lies nature’s greatest mystery—The Thalamic Chamber.

CAPTION: Here, eight majestic, wizard-like figures levitate in a slowly rotating circle beneath a brilliant ball of energy that fills the domed ceiling high above.

CAPTION: These mystics are the COUNCIL OF THE MIND—

CAPTION: —supreme neuron cells that receive thoughts from the mind and disseminate them via an elite corps of Messenger Cells to all parts of the body.

This is the first layout done for this page: