So how did the canonically traitorous and sniveling Snakes Tolliver end up evolving through these stories? And why?
Snakes sort of ended up becoming one of the main antagonists of The Night of the Time Travel, as it just seemed the most logical thing to have happen. No doubt the gang would detest having him brought back to life, and if they got suspicious of him, or he them, more fireworks would ensue.
Lucrece and Pinto ended up assuming more "antihero" type roles in the story, not actively causing commotion after Pinto tortures Coley (although Lucrece plans to get her syndicate going), because I wanted to explore the relationship between them instead. So someone else needed to assume the role of the Big Bad. Snakes fit the bill rather perfectly, someone to create an uproar with both the good guys and the bad guys.
Scared into thinking the gang is all after him, Snakes ends up plotting his own downfall (again) by going to Florence and trying to get her to eliminate the whole gang if he shows her the portal. She agrees, but each is planning to backstab the other when the time of their usefulness is over. Fearing that, Snakes tries to leave F.O.W.L. more than once and eventually leads everyone into a trap on Mt. San Antonio, hoping that Jim and Arte will eliminate all of his problems for him. And if that doesn't work, he has a bomb.
Always unlucky, Snakes manages to nearly get himself killed along with several of the others. Time Travel ends with his fate unknown. It's strongly suspected that he was blown to bits, but at least some of the characters aren't willing to buy that hook, line, and sinker.
Although I briefly entertained the idea that Snakes truly was dead, I didn't really feel he was. Of course I knew Florence wouldn't be, and I don't tend to like killing off canon characters for good, so that practically ensured Snakes' survival as well.
But I wasn't sure what to do with him in the next story. Naturally he would be more shaken up than ever, but if he just spent the whole story continuing his antics as he did in Time Travel, I felt I would quickly tire of that and the character would certainly be predictable and dull. Snakes needed to evolve. Character development is one of the things I love to work with most, and I had a great opportunity for some there.
I decided he surely wasn't always a coward. Maybe he hadn't even always been selfish. And I started from there, crafting other details about Snakes' past. Christopher Cary tried to give him a Southern accent, and I imagined him having once been a soldier in the Civil War. I thought of the backstory behind that ghastly scar on his face. I wondered if he could have tried to help someone in the past and ended up badly hurt as a result.
This becomes a conflict with Snakes once he appears for the second time in The Deadly Codename. He hates what he's become and is thoroughly frustrated with himself, but he's still afraid of losing his life and can't seem to shake his fear. As he becomes an important part of the latter half of the story, more details of his past are revealed.
Perhaps the most clinching is when he reveals (to the readers) that Pinto tortured him after they were both dead. There was no escape from such a horror. And that, more than anything else, has likely contributed to his obsession with staying alive now.
I always like to have big climaxes for multi-chapter stories, generally with one or sometimes two characters ending up in various states of injury. Lafe was originally slated to be one of them. But his wounds ended up coming in the middle of the story instead, albeit for the same reason (refusal to harm Coley). As I shaped the climax more in my mind, I decided Lucius would be one of the victims, attempting to rescue his employer Mr. Waverly. And the rest of the answer clicked: the other one should be Snakes. He should redeem himself and find his honor in one desperate, selfless sacrifice (and live, even though he thinks he'll die).
The entire fate of the world ends up depending on Snakes, when he realizes THRUSH's doomsday machine has a back-up counter and that his and Arte's makeshift bomb only solved part of the problem. With little more than a minute to go, and Snakes the first one to realize about the back-up, he instinctively leaps up and takes a rifle to climb the machine and seek out the other counter. Just firing at the machine won't work; it has to be into the counter. And everyone else is holding off the THRUSH agents trying to shoot Snakes down. There is no one else who can pick up the task in time. It has to be Snakes. And he knows it.
He's really hoping that he can destroy the thing and live, but he's afraid that he will be killed in the resulting explosion. Still he presses on, knowing he has to do it or everyone goes. And there's still some sliver of hope that maybe he won't get it. If he does, he tells himself, at least Pinto won't follow him in death. Maybe that will make it bearable this time.
My original first draft called for the climax to be in a warehouse, and for Snakes to go down in flames and hit the floor. Arte would extinguish the fire and Snakes would manage to survive. I changed that to falling into some grain sacks, since hitting the floor would surely mean many broken bones if not instant death. And I don't like breaking bones in stories (even though I'll do many other things). But the grain sack idea still didn't seem quite right.
The final draft changed again, setting the action on a ship. Snakes still goes down in flames, but he hits the water. The ship is a much more exciting and intense locale for the climax than a warehouse could have ever been, and I was thrilled with the concept once I realized that.
The rescue is much more intense too, with Jim diving into the water to search for Snakes (or his body). Pinto has to pull them up with his lasso once Jim finds Snakes. Although Pinto and the entire gang loathe Snakes, and the good guys haven't liked him either, now they owe everything to him. And they do their part to save his life.
Snakes is still a confused soul. He has placed himself on a correct path by his sacrifice, but it isn't an instant change. He still doesn't want to die. He will retain some fear of death and be selfish sometimes. And although he's decided to try to make a new and honest life for himself, he'll probably slip now and then. But he's found his honor, and if anyone really needs him, he will most likely help them.
Writing so much about him in the stories, and making him more three-dimensional and real than he is in Time Travel, has made me appreciate the actor who originally brought him to life. But that's another story.