Today is April 4, which means…
It's Amber Murphy's birthday!
I planned to do birthday posts for the Fragmented cast since I first created the website. I decided I would wait until after 2024 to start from the beginning. I narrowed down the birthday list to the main cast (instead of including Travis and Monique and the others) since there's a lot of characters in the story.
So, let's briefly talk about Amber, arguably the most important character in Fragmented.
Amber was born to Charles (Charlie) and Elaine Murphy on April 4, 1982. If she were alive today, she would be turning 42 years old. As of the events of Fragmented, which take place in 2004, Amber would be have been 22.
Yeah, as of 2024, Fragmented takes place 20 years ago. I guess that technically makes it a historical novel?
I chose Amber's birthday first, before the rest of the cast. Because of that, I played around with horoscopes and I might have selected some of the other birthdays based around that. Amber is an Aries, if you're curious. Not that I based her personality on her star sign or anything like that.
Amber is curious, playful, and upbeat. She's a culmination of the positive traits I saw in teenage girls when I was growing up. But she has some vices too: overconfidence, a touch of arrogance, and (something all teenagers seem to have) a belief that she's always right and knows better than everyone else.
It was important for me to not to idealize her too much. I didn't want Amber to feel like a manic pixie dream girl or something. Maybe she does a little, in contrast to the serious tone of the 2004 timeline, but… The deeper into the story we go, the more obvious it becomes that Amber was an ordinary girl that made her share of mistakes.
That's also why I wrote chapters that take place in the past instead of writing flashbacks. I wanted to remove the rosy tint of nostalgia from the scenes where Amber was still alive and happy. I wanted to make her feel real and alive, if that makes sense.
Fragmented wouldn't be Fragmented without Amber's death. She's a key part of the story and the entire reason why I took some unconventional risks with multiple perspectives and skewed chronology. I wouldn't have a story without her.
So, happy birthday, Amber! And, within the context of Fragmented…
R.I.P.