I finished up the rough draft of the next working review. I need to read over it once more. It feels very rough, but it was rough to write it, so I’m going to have to cut myself some slack.
I used it as an opportunity to mess around with my idea for NaNo, known at the moment as Hungry Ghosts. I’m getting a handle on the characters, at least a little bit, but the world is eluding me. I wrote it with some vague references to some sort of post-apocalyptic setting, which I had been thinking of using. But it just felt wrong. I like the idea of the world; it would be a blast to write. But it just doesn’t seem to mesh with this story.
The Hungry Ghosts idea feels like it needs a setting other than the here and now. I’ve tried to make it steam punk, largely just because it sounds fun. No dice. I just can’t get that sepia-toned world to match up with my story. I tried a post-apocalyptic fantasy world, a particular incarnation of which I have been dying to write about. It feels flat.
When I envision the characters and settings of Hungry Ghosts, I see green. Leafy green. And whitewash. I see a dust and gravel road. I see blue jeans. I see heirloom roses. I see old, old stone as well. And a city gone dark. I see an island and a mainland and a gulf of time and weather and hardship between them. I don’t know what any of that is supposed to mean.
I could, I suppose, set it in an alternate universe with, say, 1970s level technology. It would look more or less like our world, but I get to make up geography and culture whenever I want to. But that always feels like a cop out when I do it. Like I’m not willing to commit to either a “true fantasy” setting or stick with modern day.
I would really like to figure all this out sometime soon, say, before November 1st.