I was sitting there reading an interview with Stephenie Meyer about The Host, and I got to, “Did any of the characters surprise you while writing?”

And she said the usual, “I am constantly surprised by my characters when I write—it’s really one of my favorite parts. When a character refuses to do what I had planned for him or her, that’s when I know that character is really alive. There were several characters who caught me off guard with The Host.”

And I was sitting there going, “Oh please, Smeyer, whatever, don’t give me that crap, you can write your characters to be whatever you want,” when I read the next sentence.

“One in particular was slated for a bit part as the wingman to the villain. Somehow, he knew he was more than that, and I couldn’t stop him from morphing into a main love interest.”

And then I went, “OH MY GOD. ORION. IAN IS ORION. HOW DID I NOT SEE THIS BEFORE?”

Orion is a character from my Atlantis fanfic, The Dark Ones*. He’s an original character that I originally intended to just be a wingman to the villain, but then all of a sudden he just morphed into this really important character. He also happens to be the most popular character in my A:TLE fanfic universe. I have had people send me fanart of this character. I love Orion to bits and I laugh about how originally he was supposed to be this little toadie and OMFG I AM SMEYER. I AM SMEYER!!!!

And I love Ian so. I can’t imagine how that book would have been without Ian…or Orion. *facepalm*

*(Okay, shut up, I was 15 when I came up with that title)