Selene Charbon – Introduction
- CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR...Books One, Two, Three, and Five
Any good high school drama needs a clique of mean girls, and the leader of the Heart High pack was Selene Charbon, a cookie cutter cruel blonde bully who torments Lucy and Amber and suffers various punishments including being possessed, accidentally causing multiple deaths, and psychological torment. Selene is a bitch and so is karma.
Many high school dramas redeem their “mean girls” and that was always my plan—show Selene as a racist snob then have her grow into something slightly less than.
Blonde Ambition
In fact, I had big plans for Selene Charbon, because originally she was intended to be part of the Fictorial Four. Her barbed personality was to be a source of constant discord, with Lucy torn between friendships with Selene and Amber. Book One was to end with Lucy, Amber, and Henry established as the core group and in Book Two I would cement Selene’s place in the team.
However, when Big Bear inserted himself into Book One, he displaced Selene’s future position in Lucy’s inner circle. This was for the better, I think. While Selene brings conflict, while writing Book Two I found her presence simply too negative, usurping Lucy’s own tendency towards pessimism.
This had the most immediate impact on Book Three where I had planned for Selene to be dragged to Sweet Sorrow with Amber and Lucy. Instead, I had her shuffled off-stage earlier in the novel.
