Law and Order for the Supernatural Set
Hi, my name is Sheryl Steines and I am a “Law and Order” addict. From the first uttering of “In the criminal justice system…” to the rolling credits, I get sucked into the story and the characters. Heaven help me if it’s a SVU marathon – I can be in front of the TV all day. I have always had a thing for procedural dramas. I try to follow all of the twists and the turns in the plot. It is a challenge to guess the red herring before they admit that the investigation had taken the wrong turn. And I am proud to say that my keen analytical skills have helped me, many a time, to figure out the guilty party way before Stabler and Benson.
The Basis for the Story
So when I sat down to start writing the Wizard Hall Chronicles, it was only natural that my main characters would be involved is solving crimes – albeit in the realm of the supernatural. Annie Pearce is very similar to Olivia Benson; passionate about keeping the magical world safe. She follows her head and her heart to uncover the villains and protect the innocent. And while she might go out on her own to follow a hunch, she is usually surrounded by a team of compatriots that share her same devotion to fighting those who break their magical laws.
Teamwork
The members of the Wizard Guard are very similar the “dedicated detectives” described in Law and Order’s prologue. Annie’s official partner switches between “The Day of the First Sun” and “Black Market,” but her relationships with those who stand at her side are almost identical. There is a trust and a connection she has built with Gibbs, a wizened older Guard whose curmudgeonly ways makes him even easier for Annie to love. She relies on specialists like Lial and Graham to do their jobs – tracking and hiding magic – as the L&O cops rely on the expertise of others like psychiatrists Huang and Olivet to find their perp. And of course, Annie’s boss Milo has the same no-nonsense approach of SVU’s Captain Cragen.
Dedication and Collaboration
But the trait that these two crime fighting teams share the most is a certain togetherness. It was important to me to create that same feeling of cohesive collaboration and dedication. These are people who have each other’s backs. Communication flows throughout their crew with nary a word spoken. For us on the outside, we can feel safe within this magical world. We know that they stand in the way between us and danger, risking their lives for each other and for us. And, in the end, we love them all the more for it.
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