I don’t like destiny as an inciting incident. 

It's Ok in real life - destiny is fine when it’s just a vague concept that makes people feel better about the universe. But in fiction? In urban fantasy specifically? 

I’m exhausted by the tropes of prophecies, bloodlines, and characters who are special because the narrative says so. 

The chosen one problem 

Here’s what happens in a chosen one story: 

The protagonist discovers they’re destined for greatness. Ancient prophecy, powerful bloodline, unique ability that only manifests once every thousand years. They’re the only one who can save the world, defeat the darkness, restore Gaia, whatever. 

Then they spend the rest of the book... doing exactly what they were always going to do. 

Where’s the agency? Where’s the choice? The protagonist isn’t making decisions—they’re fulfilling a script written before they were born. The stakes feel artificial because we know the universe has already picked them to win. The only bits of the story that actually matter are the detours they take along the way. 

Competence is more interesting than destiny 

In Past Mistakes, Emily isn’t special. She’s trained. 

She learned demon hunting the hard way: academic research, trial and error, getting thrown through walls by possessed people. She made catastrophic mistakes, survived them, and used what she learned to become competent at a job almost nobody knows exists. 

Raymond, her reluctant ally, did the same thing. Different methods, same result: professional-level skills earned through experience and mistakes. 

Also: an acknowledgement that no matter how much they know, it’s so little compared to what they need that they’re always afraid they won’t be good enough, but they rise to the challenge anyway. 

Neither of them were chosen. They chose. 

Consequences are more interesting than prophecy 

When your protagonist is destined to win, the story becomes about how they win, not if they win. That’s fine for some genres, but it removes a certain kind of tension. 

When your protagonist is just a person with skills, someone who can fail, who has failed before, who knows exactly how badly things can go wrong, every choice carries weight. 

Emily knows she might lose. She’s lost before. People died. Friends died, at least in part because of her decisions. So when she makes a choice in Past Mistakes, it’s not because destiny demands it. It’s because she’s weighing the consequences and hoping she’s right. 

Sometimes she’s not. 

What about Ahazu? 

You might be thinking: “But wait, Ahazu is a greater demon. Isn’t that inherently special?” 

Yes. But he’s not the protagonist. He’s not where he wants to be. He’s not where Emily wants him to be. He’s not destiny, He’s the opposite. Everything’s gone wrong, and now flawed and fallible people have to make it right. 

Ahazu has power Emily doesn’t have. He’s ancient, experienced, and operates within a completely different moral framework. But he’s also trapped: Bound to Emily through her actions, unable to exist in the world the way he wants. 

His power doesn’t make him chosen. It makes him dangerous. And it makes Emily’s position more precarious, because she’s stuck partnered with something far more powerful than her that doesn’t share her goals. 

No prophecy says Emily will win. No bloodline gives her an edge. If anything, the forces weighed against her, and by extension everyone else, are far too great to hope that the arc of the moral universe will somehow bend toward justice; she has to bend it herself. She just has to be smart enough, fast enough, and lucky enough to survive the consequences of her own choices. 

That’s the story I wanted to tell. 

The demons aren’t special either 

One more thing: demons in Past Mistakes aren’t “ancient evil”, “fallen angels” or “darkness incarnate” or any of that mythological shorthand. 

They’re entities from another plane of existence with their own agendas, many of whom want to be here because it’s nicer than where they’re from. They’re pragmatic, self-interested, hierarchical and operating from alien moral frameworks. 

Some are stronger than others. Some are smarter. But none of them are “the dark lord” or “the chosen evil” either. 

They’re just dangerous and unpredictable because we don’t understand them very well. And Emily has to deal with them without a destiny to protect her. 

I really wanted to see what would emerge when you do away with the typical frameworks that govern stories of demons, angels, prophecies and summonings, but kept the character elements and gave them agency, and I hope you like where I ended up!

Nick 

More about Emily Voss and Past Mistakes at my website: http://nicklavitz.com

P.S. What’s the most overused trope in your favorite genre, the thing you’re tired of seeing in every book? For me, it’s prophecies that rob characters of agency, and the story of its punchline. What’s yours?