Let’s Consider Benjamin Chase, One of My Original Characters
So, who is Benjamin Chase?
For The Enigman Cave to work, I needed for Marnie to be not only okay with space but downright happy to be there. But one of the flies in the ointment would be her ex.
And while Ben may be almost a negative version of a Mary Sue, he does have his moments, one of which is in the Quotes section. Besides, it’s more than a little bit fun to write a character who is perpetually pissed off. Or, at least, he seems to be.
Where Did Ben Chase Come From?
To round out the cast and give Marnie a smaller antagonist before getting to the bigger one, I came up with the idea of an ex. And, originally, because I named her Marnie Chase, I first thought that I would have her catch him cheating and divorce him in the book.
Then I thought better of it, and made them already split as early as page one.
The Past is Prologue — Backstory for Benjamin Chase
The chief botanist on board the Valentina Tereshkova is a necessary part of the crew. Brilliant and handsome, you can almost forgive Ben’s flaws. Almost.
But he’s hard to deal with under the best of circumstances. His original tolerance for Marnie was due to her intellect. But their marriage was stormy at best.
Description
In the book, I describe him as, … “tall and slender, with dark hair gone gray at the temples. A few lines on his face added character and interest, and dark eyes could hold nearly anyone’s attention. They had certainly held Marne’s attention, back in the day.”
My husband suggested David Strathairn for the look, and I have to agree.
However, this actor doesn’t seem to have played too many villains. But Ben isn’t exactly a villain. He’s more like a thorn in Marnie’s side than anything else.
Purpose/Theme/Motivation
The smartest guy in the room should have been happy with the smartest woman in the room. But Ben’s not so secret dirty little secret is that he’s a philanderer.
And in a ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ moment, Marnie’s thoughts tell the reader that he’s a serial philanderer.
When things really hit the fan, he doesn’t get a comeuppance although Marnie does eventually dress him down. For Ben won’t act like a hero. But he can act a little less like a whiny brat. Marnie takes what she can get.
Quotes
A few minutes later, Chase stomped in. “You know I’m not on the bridge crew.” He glared at his ex-wife. “And who the hell sent me a picture of a bunch of chlorophyll?”
“Chlorophyll?” asked Ray. The others just stared.
“Yes! Goddamned chlorophyll. I don’t have time for these shenanigans,” Chase huffed.
“Ben,” Marnie looked him in the eye, “are you absolutely certain that’s chlorophyll?”
“I know chlorophyll when I see it. Every botanist does.”
“And the chemical formula, Tom, what do you have on your screen?”
“C fifty-five, H seventy-two, Oh five, N four, M-G.”
“That, C-whatever stuff,” Marnie said. “Is that chlorophyll?”
“Yes.” Chase was even more peeved. “Everybody past basic Biochemistry knows that.”
“They never found it off Earth though, eh?” Marnie played her trump card.
“What?”
“Here,” Astrid punched up another picture. “This is the atmosphere of the world we’re orbiting.”
Ben leaned over and looked through the scope at the Scientific station. “Well, I’ll be damned.” He, too, was slack-jawed. “We, we found it.”
“You sure?” asked Marnie.
“Yes,” Chase was threatening to become as shell-shocked as Marnie and Tom were. “Algae can have chlorophyll. They’re technically unicellular. But they, they live communally. I, I would say they, they count as, as multicellular.”
“Remember where you were, remember what you were thinking and, and how you felt,” Marnie said. “Because this is goddamned history.”
Relationships
Aloof and often intolerant, Ben still has two significant relationships.
Marnie Shapiro
In a stormy, meeting of intellects type of marriage, Ben isn’t the kind of affectionate and caring person that Lex Feldman is. Because she’s such a laid back person, she tolerates his shenanigans until they turn into obvious, undeniable philandering.
I think of them almost like Peter O’Toole and Katharine Hepburn in The Lion in Winter, where there’s a lot of verbal sparring. I can almost see Ben and Marnie with cocktails in hand, at some swanky New York party, continually insulting one another. In real life, of course, this is exhausting at the best of times.
Kristen Watson
The head nurse on the Val is one of Ben’s conquests and the last woman he was sleeping with before the divorce became finalized. Perky, young, and almost regretting the affair, she is everything he is not.
In particular, he’s not a fan of children—yet she becomes pregnant anyway. Oops.
Conflict and Turning Point
Much like with the rest of the Enigman cast, Ben’s turning point happens a few times. Once, when the planet and its riches are discovered, but also when the government of Earth collapses.
But he doesn’t take a brave stand or anything. He just becomes a little less of a pain in the patoot.
Continuity/Easter Eggs
He doesn’t really have any. The only continuity I foresee for him will be in the prequel story.
Future Plans for Benjamin Chase
For either the 2023 NaNo or maybe 2024 (2025?) I will write a prequel in the Enigman universe. Ben will be there and the reader will see their marriage a bit. But I don’t want that story to turn into just a constant bitchfest for the two of them. That’s not the plot.
In fact, I don’t want him on screen much at all during that story. But once I start writing it, I may change my mind. We’ll see, particularly if it feels like the word count ends up being too low.
Benjamin Chase: Takeaways
This character is vital to the storyline and particularly vital for Marnie’s own personal growth as a character. But a real person like Benjamin Chase would be annoying as hell.
Benjamin Chase — proving even whiny people can sometimes be heroes. When it suits them.
Want More of Benjamin Chase and the Rest of The Enigman Cave?
If The Enigman Cave resonates with you, then check out my other articles about how our society handles first contact with a species that may be as primitive as Australopithecus.