…or so they thought. OK. Here’s the dealio. I have zero interesting things to talk about, so I thought, instead, that I’d give you a bit of info dump about my hopeful senior thesis novel, tentatively titled Catchers. I’m pretty sure I’m going to try to plow through it during NaNoWriMo (in November), so this summer I’m participating in what’s called Camp NaNoWriMo, which runs in both June and August to help aspiring NaNoWriMo participants plan and organize their work. If you want to sponsor my camp activities (and help me win a cool poster, since that’s obviously what’s important here), click here. If you just want to read about my Camp NaNo activities, click here.
From my Camp NaNo Novel page:
Seventeen year old Emmaline “Em” Harken doesn’t play by the rules, but then again, the rules never did her much good anyways. In the fictional province of Salus, Em’s home, society had gotten incredibly aesthetically-obsessed, with race riots and plastic surgery rates going through the roof. In an attempt to save what appeared to be a crumbling civilization, the government implemented the Aesthetics Assimilation Initiative, which required every citizen to take a homogeneous juice that altered their genes and made everyone look alike. Some people, like Em and her friends, decided that they liked the way they looked, so society shunned them as rogues and allowed them to be hunted for sport. Those who hunt rogues are called Catchers, and once Caught, rogues can be displayed in Zoos or private residences for up to one week, after which time they must be released. Though it seems fairly humane, Em knows it’s nothing of the sort. So what happens when a “less judgmental tomorrow” becomes sinister and twisted?
I know, I know. I really hate writing summaries. I’m too verbose for summaries. But that’s the gist of my book- a seventeen year old girl fighting against a society where everyone looks the same, and those who don’t are hunted and displayed for sport. I like Em, my protagonist, because she’s mean, and I’ll tell you from experience- mean characters are the most fun to write. Seriously. Now, about this “AA Initiative”…
The AA Initiative was put into place after a series of violent race riots in the province of Salus, that requires every citizen to regularly consume a homogeneous “juice†that gives everyone the same physical characteristics- average brown hair, unremarkable, vaguely asian blue eyes, medium olive skin, and an average height of 5’5†for women and 5’7†for men. Those who do not wish to take the juice are considered rogues and traitors and are hunted for sport. Though killing rouges might be quicker and easier, the government instead chooses to make examples of them by allowing the juiced-up citizenry to “Catch†and display them for one week at a time. There are designated “Zoos†to display such rogues, like freaks in a circus, although some higher end Catchers have smaller display cases in their own residences.
Although unintended, society now revolves around the idea of Catchers, who have incredible political influence. Catching seasons are from September-January, and then from March-July, and at the end of each year, Catcher Standings are calculated by how many rogues a particular Catcher captures after two seasons, as well as whether or not their displayed rogues don’t escape within the week they’re allowed to be displayed. In fact, if a Catcher allows too many rogues to escape too many times, it can actually negatively impact their scores.
At the end of each year, the Catcher with the highest standing is allowed to make a new Catching Law or nullify an existing one. Because rogues are not technically considered citizens anymore, most laws regarding them are vicious.
That’s directly from my planning section. What am I using to plan this book? Oh, nothing fancy, just this super awesome program called Scrivener that some of my absolute favorite writers use. I started out with the 30 day trial, but eventually loved the formatting so much that I decided to dig into my PayPal balance and purchase it for a student discount price. It’s amazing. There’s a cork board where you can outline, templates for character and setting sketches (finding good character sketch templates is hard work, but Scrivener boils it down to consistent, useful facts that I’ll actually end up using!), and even the option of exporting your novel as an E-book or PDF, which might come in handy eventually. It makes the planning phase of my novel beautifully streamlined and organized, because it’s all in one program instead of various folders and documents around my computer. I love it. I love it so much. I’m not sure how much I actually like writing in this program yet and might just use it for the planning and organizing process, but who knows. Maybe I’ll make a full transition.
Since my summers have a trend of being writing intensive, because writing is my only intellectual thing on my To Do list, I’ll probably be updating you on my progress a lot. At least it’ll give me something to blog about, right?
Either way, this is my most organized attempt at novel writing. It’s kind of insane, how organized I am this time. But I’ve had over a year to think about the idea of this book, plus I have a definite end goal: I want a completed and at LEAST partially edited novel by the end of my college career. So… yeah. Wish me luck!
Also, remember this? Yeah, apparently my website has a Facebook page. I kind of forget about it a lot. Any suggestions on how I can use it better? Things you want to see? LEMME KNOW!
