Consider Carmen D’Angelo, One of My Original Characters
Who is Carmen D’Angelo?
Carmen is kind of a fun, take-no-prisoners kind of character. She is one of the most important characters in the Time Addicts universe.
Where Did Carmen D’Angelo Come From?
I wanted a smart, take-charge boss. At the same time, I also wanted to have someone who could intelligently relate to the characters. As a result, I made her a psychiatrist.
This did not just make it easier for the character to relate to time travelers. It also created a separate application for time travel. Because apart from its obvious historian application, what can you do with time travel?
So, what if you could use it to help patients recall and work through trauma? Or, perhaps, help them be able to testify against abusers?
The Past is Prologue — Backstory for Carmen D’Angelo
Before the story starts, Carmen works as a psychiatrist. One of her patients, Robin McKenna, seems to experience life differently from other people. Other sane people, that is. Robin seems to be able to recall alternative realities.
But she seems to be mentally sound. What the hell is up with Robin?
When Carmen meets Peter Ray at a party, they get to talking and she explains she has a patient who can see alternate realities. Ray realizes that Carmen’s patient likely can tell the differences between timelines. That is, like Josie James, Robin is temporally sensitive.
Fascinated by Carmen and her unnamed patient, he hires Carmen. Carmen, in turn, hires Robin to be her assistant.
Description
Middle-aged by our standards, smart, and driven, Carmen is a caring, creative boss. She listens to her employees, treats them well, and gets right into the trenches with them.
She’s also from a British enclave on Rhea. Saying it’s a Rhean thing, she calls everyone Mister or Miss or the equivalent. It keeps her at arm’s length from other people.
And, she’s an alcoholic. But I confess I haven’t shown a lot of that. I might even take that out.
She will also, at times, lapse into Italian. I tend to see actress Annabella Sciorra in her.
Purpose/Theme/Motivation
Her primary motivation is to protect what she sees as the primary timeline. But since she isn’t temporally sensitive, her idea of that changes with every time change.
However, in many of the particularly nasty timelines, she believes Josie when Josie tells her things were better. And more importantly, how they were better.
Quotes (Carmen speaks first, and is talking to Josie)
“I can still deposit into your mental accounts book. Or, rather, I can at least not be the one who’s withdrawing from it all the time.”
“What do you mean?”
“I am making the conscious decision to believe you. I can’t speak for the others; so they may still be skeptical about your reports of changes. But I shan’t be. You have my word on it.”
Carmen D’Angelo and Her Relationships
Without getting into her employer/employee relationships, here’s how Carmen gets along with others.
David Wesley-Smith
In the original timeline, they’re divorced. It’s not due to any sort of argument or wrongdoing. Rather, he wants to see the stars, so he leaves on an Obolonk-centric mission. They divorce before he departs.
In other timelines, she is widowed. And in at least a few timelines, they are still married.
In the timeline where Josie meets him, David turns out to be a nasty anti-Obolonk jackass.
Robin Campbell McKenna
Apart from David, the only other person Carmen regularly calls by their first name is Robin.
And so that has led me to wonder—did they have any sort of a romantic relationship? Did it go past psychiatrist/patient? I honestly have no idea, but the concept intrigues me. Perhaps I’ll visit it eventually.
Conflict and Turning Point
Carmen’s conflict and turning point match those of the overall story line. Her mission is to preserve and protect the original timeline as she understands it. And the biggest part of that is keeping Josie alive and well.
Continuity/Easter Eggs
The main continuity is a similarity to another time travel agency boss character I wrote. That was Carmen Calavicci, and she was a product of fan fiction. Are the two Carmens the same?
Well, the Carmen of Time Addicts has more depth, and no time-centric surname to clue in a reader. Rather, her surname just defines her as being one of the ‘good guys’.
Future Plans for Carmen D’Angelo
Because there will be a third trilogy in the Obolonk universe, there is a possibility that her name will come up again. But it will take place a good century after the middle trilogy.
So, even in a futuristic society where people live a lot longer than we do, she’s unlikely to still be kicking then. Then again, these people have time travel. They can always confer with her by going to her time and just, you know, talking.
Hmm.
Carmen D’Angelo: Takeaways
Carmen manages quite a bit like I do, in the sense that I try to be collaborative versus commanding. But she’s a lot more likely to head to a bar than I am. And I don’t call everyone Miss or Mister.
Carmen D’Angelo — because why the hell wouldn’t time travelers need psychiatric care?
Want More of Carmen and the Rest of the Obolonk Universe?
If the story of the Obolonks resonates with you, then please be sure to check out my other articles about how our society turns tripartite, with humans, robots, and Obolonks.
Character Reviews: The Obolonk Murders
Humans
† Peri Martin
• Greg Shapiro
Robots
† Tommy 2000
• Selkhet 3000
Obolonks
† TSTITO
Character Reviews: Time Addicts
The Good Guys
• Josie James
† Carmen D’Angelo, MD
• Dalton Farouk
† Tad Lewis
• Cyndi Mendez
† Bobby Brodie
• Keisha Darnell
† Vera Travers
The Bad Guys
• Peter Ray
† Dae Ou Xiang
• Elston Young
† Corwin Zachary
Self-Reviews: Obolonk Trilogy
• The Obolonk Murders
† Self-Review: The Polymer Beat
• The Badge of Humanity
Self-Reviews: Time Addicts Trilogy
† No One is Safe
• Nothing is Permanent
† Everything is up for Grabs
She has a good mix of snark and smarts, and feels like she could play a character who swears pretty much nonstop, but is also, most of the time, the smartest person in the room.
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