10 Fun Facts about ‘Sins of the Father’
Fact 1:
Rosemary Gravely is a reference to Rosemary Woodhouse of Rosemary's Baby, and Regan Gravely is a reference to Regan MacNeil of The Exorcist. Interestingly enough, Rosemary is 5 years older than Regan, a reference of the release dates between Rosemary's Baby and The Exorcist (Rosemary's Baby was released on June 12, 1968 with The Exorcist was released on December 26, 1973 - the films were released five years apart of each other).
Fact 2:
The street the Gravelys live on is 999 Milton Avenue. 999 upside down is 666, a number often associated with the devil. Milton is a reference to John Milton, writer of Paradise Lost.
Fact 3:
Many of the supernatural entities in the series (the angels and demons) are based off their counterparts from Christian/various theologies.
Examples: Lu, Mike, Gabi, and Raph are pretty obvious; Lilith is based off of a demon of the same name from Jewish mythology; Moloch is based off a demon/pagan god of sacrifice; Legion's name comes from a swarm of demons called a legion referred in the New Testament.
I think you get the idea so far.
Fact 4:
Lilith was the first demon I thought of when creating this series. I thought it would be fun to have a very likeable, spunky character that I thought would be a great addition to the cast. I also intended for her to be bisexual, something the character is very open about. The reveal for this was back in the story of 'Ladies of the Night' is when she expresses to Carmen both interests to a man and a woman with the subtle quote, "I'm not picky for whom I share my love with."
Additionally, since I'm a big supporter of the LGBT community there have been a couple characters that are open about their sexuality, such as Lu's older sister and archangel Gabi and Carmen's coworker Marcus Marlow, and there may be a few more to introduce along the way. But keep in mind that a character's sexuality is less important than a character's attitude and personality, meaning that the revelation shouldn't be as big as a deal.
Fact 5:
Ms. Kat, Regan's kindergarten teacher, was not originally considered to be Muslim. When creating the character I was not thinking about her ethnicity, I was just going to introduce her as Ms. Kat; however I didn't think that Kat would be a suitable name. So I decided that perhaps Kat could be short for something. I was originally going to make her last name Katzenstein after one of my professors but then I did a quick Google search and found the name Katan under an Arabic name list. And going through the list I found the name Malaika, which means angel in arabic. That's when I really decided to flesh out the character more and decided that it would be better fitting if she was a Non-denominational Muslim.
I'm honestly glad I've created this character. Ms. Kat is a character that supports love and peace and fights back against hatred and bigotry. She also dives into topics such as how some Americans treat Muslim communities, yet she still stands tall and fights for everyone's rights. I found it funny when someone once thought that with the character I was voicing as a social justice warrior, but I'm far from that. I, like Ms. Kat, am more of an activist.
Fact 6:
As you can see the length of each story varies. There can be one story that is only 150 words, or a lengthy one broken down to 8 parts. It just makes it easier for me to write them all.
Fact 7:
God will not make any physical appearances in the series. He'll be mentioned but that's as far as it goes, same with other biblical characters. Yet the truths of some of these characters may surprise you.
Fact 8:
Despite being powerful and immortal, I've toned each of the supernatural characters down to feel very human. I feel that this is important because this is how you'll connect with the characters. Just because they seem all powerful doesn't mean that they are no different than anyone else. They have problems and issues, but what really matters is how they deal with these problems and issues.
Fact 9:
The writer (myself) of this series is an atheist. Yeah despite what you think and what I write, I don't believe in God. I don't believe in what the Bible states is true, I don't believe there is a heaven or hell after we die, I don't believe there is a devil, and I think that all religions are the same thing despite people arguing that theirs is way cooler or whatever bullshit they believe. Now why would I write a series like this? I'm just doing it to entertain people. Once in a while I'll make a jab at religion but there's no need to get offended by it. Just take a moment and have a laugh like everybody else. I'm not writing to offend you or your beliefs, but I would like you to consider having an open mind to everything around you and what you do believe in is actually true. Maybe if everyone did this there wouldn't be so much conflict in the world.
Fact 10:
My last epic story arc was centering around Hell. My next story arc will be taking place in Heaven, and I will be introducing some angelic characters to the series, such as the Archangel Council, Gabi's girlfriend, one of Lu's siblings, and a new antagonist.