Tag: NaNoWriMo

NANOWRIMO – 2024 – Day 1

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Behind the Green Door

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This started as an idea for a short story, but as it began to take shape in my mind, there was an opportunity to make it into more than that.

That notion over in America with the elections coming up, people were talking about dictators and autocratic rule and filling government positions with cronies.

Why not create a city, sell them to billionaires, and have them save friends and cronies alike, and a labour force to look after them.  It might start out with the best of intentions, but how quickly does that change once those in charge see their power grow?

Human nature never changes no matter what the original intentions are.

And, after a long, long time, people begin to forget, especially when the leaders deliberately remove everything to remind the people what it was like before, only what it is like now.

Freedom, if it could be called that is limited.

So…

We have Michael.  It’s his time to retire.  After a few drinks with his friends, his slate is clear, his work is done, and it’s time to head to the Administration block.

Seven days of reviewing his life.

Of course, it’s not without trepidation because Michael has secrets, secrets that he doesn’t want to tell anyone.

Instead, he decides to see if there is a place called ‘Interrogation’ where ghostly men in black torture victims into spilling all their secrets.

He had considered just disappearing.

Yes, there’s a similar escape pipeline to find like in Logans Run, but this one supposedly goes outside where a renewed earth awaits.  The only problem is that no one has seen it because once out, no one comes back.

It was the notion of confirming something else about the place he called home that drew him into what might be the biggest lie of all.

Retirement with dignity.

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Words written today 1,500, for a total of 1,500

NANOWRIMO – 2024 – Day 0

Behind the Green Door

  .

I was going to give the story the tag line, ‘a game show with a difference’.

But…

Then I remembered “The Running Man”, Arnold Swartzenegger running to save his life.  Not like that at all.

Yet…

I have been watching a number of TV shows of late that have a number of particularly interesting elements.

Silo – these people are living in an underground bunker, while the earth outside is unliveable.  Not sure why, but it doesn’t look good.

Fallout – same deal, underground bunkers are the in thing, but outside is recovering from a nuclear war, and lots of strange people.

Logan’s Run – this has the notion you can only live till 35.  I thought that was a little restrictive and made it 65

Oops…

Sorry, Soylent Green, it’s about the same age, or perhaps later but voluntary … but no, I’m not turning them into food.

I Robot – I liked the idea of a self-aware robot, but I decided to make it more life like than real life.  In other words, unless you knew it was a robot, you wouldn’t know

So…

Yes, I’m using the underground city trope but in my case it’s built inside a mountain and is only fifteen levels deep.

Outside, well, they had time to build underground city’s before all the volcanoes blew up, spewed ash and sulphur fumes, and a lot more, turning the earth into ice and an unbreathable and scorched barren environment that nearly killed everyone who couldn’t get to their bunkers.

Almost 200 years later, outside is almost liveable, but no one knows except those who run the cities, and after all this time, the original owner who saved a select population to repopulate the earth had morphed into the dictator, his power over everything in what might be called his kingdom, and causing growing discontent and the creation of a ‘resistance’ called the Brainstrust.

Now, that’s a lot of threads to tie together into a cohesive story.

So…

The protagonist is Michael.  He is an investigator, one of several.  Crime is minimal, but it occurs in his city of 25,000 people.

He is 65, and it’s time to retire.  He knows he gets a week with a guidance councellor to wrap up his life, leave a legacy, and go to the adjudication ceremony which will, after a jury determines what his outcome will be, hence the green door, the best possible.

What’s behind that door no one knows because no one comes back.

However, over the course of the week, a number of his old cases are reviewed, and with them, it is revealed that he knows far more about the city, its leaders, what is outside…

And a lot, lot more…

“Opposites Attract” – The Editor’s second draft – Day 25

This book has been sitting in the ‘to-be-done’ tray, so this month it is going to get the second revision and release to beta readers.

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Facing the music

…

With the altercation at the bar spreading like fire through a tinder-dry forest, our boy goes home to see Darcy.

Yes, she already knew what was going on, and no she’s not happy, and yes, she is overjoyed that our boy will be marrying Emily.

Talk about mercurial relatives.

Then there’s that little gathering that Darcy has arranged where he can get roasted for his sins.

And from one person in particular, Xavier, who positively hates her and all her friends.

Like our boy, he had been treated badly by the girl and her friends, and having someone who was her friend wasn’t going to improve his lot.  But he did agree to be the best man.

It was not going to be a late night.

The next morning there’s a mission, he has to go and see shotgun Annie.

Yes, you heard it right, shotgun Annie.

Tim’s staunchest female ally, but there is a problem.  Just another of many he has to get past.

…

“Opposites Attract” – The Editor’s second draft – Day 25

This book has been sitting in the ‘to-be-done’ tray, so this month it is going to get the second revision and release to beta readers.

…

Facing the music

…

With the altercation at the bar spreading like fire through a tinder-dry forest, our boy goes home to see Darcy.

Yes, she already knew what was going on, and no she’s not happy, and yes, she is overjoyed that our boy will be marrying Emily.

Talk about mercurial relatives.

Then there’s that little gathering that Darcy has arranged where he can get roasted for his sins.

And from one person in particular, Xavier, who positively hates her and all her friends.

Like our boy, he had been treated badly by the girl and her friends, and having someone who was her friend wasn’t going to improve his lot.  But he did agree to be the best man.

It was not going to be a late night.

The next morning there’s a mission, he has to go and see shotgun Annie.

Yes, you heard it right, shotgun Annie.

Tim’s staunchest female ally, but there is a problem.  Just another of many he has to get past.

…

“Opposites Attract” – The Editor’s second draft – Day 24

This book has been sitting in the ‘to-be-done’ tray, so this month it is going to get the second revision and release to beta readers.

…

A chat with Fred

…

The search for Tim was going to be through a baptism of fire.  Our boy had to go through his friends to find him.

And Tim’s friends were as belligerent as Tim was.  And a friend of Tim was an enemy of our boys.

But, how hard can it be?

To start the quest, he gets another ride in the corporate jet and gets to work with his new PA, Guinevere.  Oh, and did she say she used to work for Tim the Ungrateful?

Water under another bridge.

We touch down in town and there’s no time like the present to visit Fred, the staunchest of Tim’s allies, and the man who would know where he is.

With a mountain to climb, our boy goes into the bar where many a fight had played out badly, the bar that is renowned for the farm hands to let off steam.

Yes, there is a fight.

But for a long time our boy has been hiding a talent his father advised him never to use.

Pity this was the time or place.

And Fred discovers, what he always suspected, they had always been allowed to win.

…

“Opposites Attract” – The Editor’s second draft – Day 24

This book has been sitting in the ‘to-be-done’ tray, so this month it is going to get the second revision and release to beta readers.

…

A chat with Fred

…

The search for Tim was going to be through a baptism of fire.  Our boy had to go through his friends to find him.

And Tim’s friends were as belligerent as Tim was.  And a friend of Tim was an enemy of our boys.

But, how hard can it be?

To start the quest, he gets another ride in the corporate jet and gets to work with his new PA, Guinevere.  Oh, and did she say she used to work for Tim the Ungrateful?

Water under another bridge.

We touch down in town and there’s no time like the present to visit Fred, the staunchest of Tim’s allies, and the man who would know where he is.

With a mountain to climb, our boy goes into the bar where many a fight had played out badly, the bar that is renowned for the farm hands to let off steam.

Yes, there is a fight.

But for a long time our boy has been hiding a talent his father advised him never to use.

Pity this was the time or place.

And Fred discovers, what he always suspected, they had always been allowed to win.

…

“Opposites Attract” – The Editor’s second draft – Day 22

This book has been sitting in the ‘to-be-done’ tray, so this month it is going to get the second revision and release to beta readers.

…

Another request

…

This requests that people ask of you, and in the same breath tell you they will not think less of you if you don’t want to do it … if you say no, you might as well jump out of the frying pan and into the fire and get it over with.

The grandmother is not a woman to say no to, even if it’s an order to jump off a cliff.  Before she was dying, our boy would have been terrified of her, as would anyone between the ages of 1 and 100.

Now she is, there had to be a limit on the number of deathbed wishes she could ask.

But, irrespective of what the readers may think, our boy knows he’s doing this for the greater good, that it’s Emily’s grandmother, and she would ask him to do anything impossible.

Would she?

Of course, she would.

What’s the one thing he would not want to do?

Find Tim and bring him back so that she can see him one more time before she dies.

Of course, it doesn’t help that Tim despises her as much as everyone else in his family, and most of all, our boy.

And unfortunately, this cannot be put into the too-hard basket.

…

“Opposites Attract” – The Editor’s second draft – Day 22

This book has been sitting in the ‘to-be-done’ tray, so this month it is going to get the second revision and release to beta readers.

…

Another request

…

This requests that people ask of you, and in the same breath tell you they will not think less of you if you don’t want to do it … if you say no, you might as well jump out of the frying pan and into the fire and get it over with.

The grandmother is not a woman to say no to, even if it’s an order to jump off a cliff.  Before she was dying, our boy would have been terrified of her, as would anyone between the ages of 1 and 100.

Now she is, there had to be a limit on the number of deathbed wishes she could ask.

But, irrespective of what the readers may think, our boy knows he’s doing this for the greater good, that it’s Emily’s grandmother, and she would ask him to do anything impossible.

Would she?

Of course, she would.

What’s the one thing he would not want to do?

Find Tim and bring him back so that she can see him one more time before she dies.

Of course, it doesn’t help that Tim despises her as much as everyone else in his family, and most of all, our boy.

And unfortunately, this cannot be put into the too-hard basket.

…

“Opposites Attract” – The Editor’s second draft – Day 21

This book has been sitting in the ‘to-be-done’ tray, so this month it is going to get the second revision and release to beta readers.

…

It’s one thing to propose …

…

It was another thing entirely to try to apply the brakes on a runaway train.

That whole proposal, saying yes, and finally breathing again thing was probably the second most momentous event in his life, when taken in order.

The first, graduating with the best possible scores was the first, the reward for a lot of hard work, even if he still didn’t know what he wanted to do.

The second, sharing that life with Emily had come to fruition, against all hopes.

He didn’t think he would be able to top it.  Yet.

There’s the wedding, and everything that goes with it, except in this instance, there was not going to be enough time to plan the Hollywood-style wedding that befitted the billionaires that would be attending.

Certainly, it would be the social event of the calendar back home.

So, there was going to be a small event at the hospital for the grandmother to attend, then a later big bash for everyone else.

It was just a matter of keeping it a secret until then.

And we all know about secrets, don’t we?

…

“Opposites Attract” – The Editor’s second draft – Day 21

This book has been sitting in the ‘to-be-done’ tray, so this month it is going to get the second revision and release to beta readers.

…

It’s one thing to propose …

…

It was another thing entirely to try to apply the brakes on a runaway train.

That whole proposal, saying yes, and finally breathing again thing was probably the second most momentous event in his life, when taken in order.

The first, graduating with the best possible scores was the first, the reward for a lot of hard work, even if he still didn’t know what he wanted to do.

The second, sharing that life with Emily had come to fruition, against all hopes.

He didn’t think he would be able to top it.  Yet.

There’s the wedding, and everything that goes with it, except in this instance, there was not going to be enough time to plan the Hollywood-style wedding that befitted the billionaires that would be attending.

Certainly, it would be the social event of the calendar back home.

So, there was going to be a small event at the hospital for the grandmother to attend, then a later big bash for everyone else.

It was just a matter of keeping it a secret until then.

And we all know about secrets, don’t we?

…