I FIRST STARTED writing Divergent from the perspective of Tobias Eaton, a boy from Abnegation with peculiar tension with his father who longed for freedom from his faction. I reached a standstill at thirty large because the narrator wasn't quite right for the story I wanted to tell; I found the right character to drive it, this time a girl from Abnegation who wanted to find out what she was made of. But Tobias never disappeared–he entered the story as Four, Tris's instructor, friend, boyfriend, and equal. He has always been a character I was interested in exploring further because of the way he came alive for me every time he was in the page. He is powerful for me largely because of the way he continued to overcome adversity, even managing, on several occasions, to flourish in it.
The first three stories, "The Transfer,"
"The Initiate," and "The Son," takes place before he ever meets Tris, following his path from Abnegation to Dauntless as he earns his own strength. In the last, "The Traitor," which is overlaps chronologically with the middle of Divergent, he meets Tris. I wanted very much to include the moment when they meet, but unfortunately, it didn't fit into the story's timeline—you can find it instead at the back of this book.
The series follows Tris from the moment she seized control of her own life and identity; and with these stories, we can follow Four as he does the same. And the rest as they say, is history.
