NANO 2015 Progress Report:

Writer's Blog, supplemental.

     NANOWRIMO 2015 is coming friends,

 and we all know none of you are ready for it really. I am not and I spend about ten hours a week working on stuff for the story I haven't started actually writing yet.

     Now upcoming story project is right now titled "The State of Health",

and as some of you are aware it's a mystery-thriller ? ( I think that's the best explanation for now ) set in a fictional country where a lot of strange people are doing very strange things. Right now I have begun the process of giving characters character sheets and laying out some basics of the back story which the readers will need / want and notes which are important for me to keep in mind as I am writing it all out.

     I am using the YWriter5 program which is very helpful and frankly amazing that it was totally free to download. There are no adds or pop ups or begging you for your money later widgets and there is no timer or trial use. I will do a more complete post about it later. If you are new to NANO or old hat I recommend you get this and then take a story you've already started or partially finished and try running it through this program, chances are you'll find it's really good.

    Now if you've spent anytime in my proximity you know that I approach all stories with the mind of a Game Master. It's how I organize the story telling, the story world and the character's roles in all the many things which are going to take place. This is considered maddening to some, who take an entirely different and they would say "controlled" approach to their stories. But to me, the world and the history make the character's possible so the history and the story world happen before I ever give a character name or description.  This story world is largely speaking one you could find and fall into place with if you had a little lead time. There is no magic, no super tech-babble to make things happen and no divine interventions to speak of, it looks and acts and smells like our planet and most countries you are able to name. There is a government, ruled by two seemingly opposing view points where one is secular and cold hearted in the eyes of the other who are seen by their opposition as being hot blooded and short tempered with nothing but religion and outdated social and economic guides to keep them as a cohesive unit. Yet they rule by the will of the people, somehow and administer a seemingly fair and pretty open society that values it's people's health and happiness above industry, military or most other priorities. So what's the bad part?

       There is a side effect to their peace and harmony, since the days of reunification of once warring nation/city states following a great and terrible series of global wars and natural disasters the united body became very much a self contained empire. Electing to protect themselves from the horrors of barbarism and the ravages of disease and disaster by strictly limiting the populace ability to travel or get information about the outside. And for generations this and two other aspects of their society have kept the people mostly safe, mostly happy and mostly healthy.  In the days of fear and ignorance which fell after the implosion of their parent nation a century before now, it was custom to send sick people to resorts or vacations where they could be treated or cared for until better. Sometimes remaining there forever unable to return healthy to their homes. This has become one of the cornerstones of their society and government duty to all the citizens. Anyone with contagious, degenerative, or disability which requires lasting and specialized medical treatment is sent to one of these Camps, towns, villas or other "rest homes" where experts will treat and watch over a person until they are ready to return to their families again. It's not just diseases; disabilities, amputees and those with mental and " moral illness" are sometimes seen as a danger to the health, or a drain on their family's resources and sent away until they can be repatriated into society again.
      These places range in climate and size from small summer camps or lodges to whole cities where people are moved in for a period of readjustment before return to the lives they left behind. Not everyone makes it back home though, some are simply never able to adjust or continue to require treatments which are simply not available at home. It is also no accident that all of these locations are exceptionally far from your home and can only be reached by air, or ship *Sometimes the trans-national train. And none of them are actually listed on a public map. They do have phones, mail and all the other aspects of a city or town, but you are in effect a prisoner until you are set to be released.

     People here are carefully monitored at different times depending on the nature of their issues and the likelihood of an escape attempt or other dangerous activities. And for those who live there but are not prisoners it's just a life and a job they do, After all, not everyone in the city can be sick or nothing would get done.

     Most of these places are run with fair and decent oversight by government and health officials who want to see the best done for the people who are being kept. But not everyone is there for your good and wellness. Some sites have reputations, some administrators or public health / public safety officials carry with them a hanging sense of dread whenever sighted.  

     There are people who cannot get out, people who do not know why they are there and people who know why there are there and that it has nothing to do with the reasons on their charts. If you know the right people or have money you can usually arrange parcel deliveries to your friend or family matter which go through screens and if that person is on a good list, they can send stuff back.
     There are black and gray markets, where people can get things that aren't in the stores on shelves too. Sometimes a person needs to get out, or someone needs to get a person out and that's where part of our story will focus. You'll meet a young woman, who despite everything her family has done to keep her healthy and keep her health issues a secret is found out and deported. She begins to seek out any and all information about the place she is moved to. And her parents will likewise be trying to sort out how to get her out again. 

     We will also learn about some of the more sordid histories of their nation as told in poorly lit rooms of long abandoned houses around tallow candles by the grand children of the people who saw the great fall and the wars which followed.
      The reason everyone on a secondary highway stops for gas at a station where nothing seems to be cheap and who lives in the house high up on the hill.

      There is a young man who wants to be "The voice of the people" and lead the anarchists to rise up and throw down the shackles of the society which oppresses them.

       Far beyond the walls of the city and the carefully tended plots of farms lumber and lurch the wrecker-Treker fleets of "Scrapper" vehicles, a semi-nomadic tribal people self contained and considered half wild by the city folk. making their living off the land, by scavenging or creating things people will buy when they are near enough to a town or city to engage in trade, they are key to much of what happens beyond the walls and beneath the ground. 

   Who is "The Brotherhood" ? And what are their aims and plans in all of this? For a group who is rumored to have been at the heart of extortions, blackmailing, kidknapping and occasionally murder, not one member has ever been caught or named. There are no clues as to how many of them exist or what any of them do.

    Why are people leaving spoons tied to people's doors?

What is the Spoon Revolution really about?

So many questions are creeping into view,