In its original form, the character of the hero, Orlando Novi, was meant to be a more ambitious version of me; he has my vulnerability, my insecurity, my ambivalence, my doggedness, and my lyrical sensibility, as well as my attraction to the dark side, to isolation and solipsism, and my tendency to overthink matters. From this template sprang another, more valiant form of myself; a form of self-flattery, perhaps, and a hope that I can still amount to something more than my meagre parts.