Recently, Birmingham Central Library held a story exchange. The basic idea was, to tell a story, and to take a book in exchange. The book I chose was Girl's Night In, a book of short women's fiction. I loved it. I have books by most of these authors, and for good reason. Plus, I love short stories.
The story I told is a novel idea, one that's been knocking around in my head for a while now. It's about a married couple, James and Elodie. One day, a group of people find James, and tell him that his wife was specifically designed for him, to keep him happy.
In the future, most of the world is ruled by a Benevolent Dictatorship, which uses an empathy machine. This machine lets people understand each other a little better, and helps people be more patient and to work together. One group of people refuse to be a part of this, believing that it's mind control, and these Rebels have their own series of islands. They are not interfered with, but they wish to destroy the dictatorship, and free everyone from what they perceive to be its tyranny.
In this future, James' descendants all share an immunity to this empathy machine. The Benevolent Dictatorship don't want his line to exist, as they want everyone to have a choice as to whether to take part or not, and the existence of his descendants prevent this. The Rebels, on the other hand, want James' immunity turned into a virus which they can spread to everyone.
A time machine exists in the future, but it can only send people back a certain amount of time. Say that amount of time was a year; if you went back today, you'd go back to the 28th of October 2009, whereas, if you went back tomorrow, you'd go back to the 29th of October 2009.
For this reason, the Benevolent Dictatorship - who own the time machine - focus on James' life, rather than try to prevent his parents from meeting or something. In the original timeline, James had a miserable adulthood, and two children by different mothers, neither of whom he stayed with (or particularly liked). The BD's strategy is to create Elodie, his perfect woman, to meet him, marry him, and keep him away from any other woman.
Elodie isn't the only woman like her. She has a huge family of sisters and cousins, all slightly different variations of what he might want. They all have secret badass ninja skills, too. I'm thinking the Rebels tried attacking her before they considered simply telling James, and that, later on, she and her sisters will be required to turn into an armour of pvc clad warriors.
At some point after James and Elodie were married, the Rebels gained control of the machine. They tried attacking Elodie, which didn't work, so, eventually, they just told James.
I think James' reaction will be to leave, initially. He's crazy about Elodie. Their wedding song was "You Were Made For Me", and his feelings don't change just because he now knows who it was that made her for him. But, he feels like his whole life has been a sham, and that she's tricked him. He needs time to get his head together, to get over the shock. I think, during this time, one of those children could be conceived. Call it a semi-victory.
I've had James and Elodie arguing in my head for a while now, just slowly revealing their characters and their relationship to me. There's also an odd moment where James' realises that Elodie's mother was his "older woman" option.
Part of the problem here is that, as it stands now, there's very little conflict outside of James' head. He'll eventually realise that he loves Elodie enough that it doesn't matter that their happiness is also part of someone elses' plan. Plus, it's tricky for me, because I believe the BD is in the right, so, again, very little conflict there.
That's why I haven't written it. I need to blur the lines more between the good side and the bad one.
The story I told is a novel idea, one that's been knocking around in my head for a while now. It's about a married couple, James and Elodie. One day, a group of people find James, and tell him that his wife was specifically designed for him, to keep him happy.
In the future, most of the world is ruled by a Benevolent Dictatorship, which uses an empathy machine. This machine lets people understand each other a little better, and helps people be more patient and to work together. One group of people refuse to be a part of this, believing that it's mind control, and these Rebels have their own series of islands. They are not interfered with, but they wish to destroy the dictatorship, and free everyone from what they perceive to be its tyranny.
In this future, James' descendants all share an immunity to this empathy machine. The Benevolent Dictatorship don't want his line to exist, as they want everyone to have a choice as to whether to take part or not, and the existence of his descendants prevent this. The Rebels, on the other hand, want James' immunity turned into a virus which they can spread to everyone.
A time machine exists in the future, but it can only send people back a certain amount of time. Say that amount of time was a year; if you went back today, you'd go back to the 28th of October 2009, whereas, if you went back tomorrow, you'd go back to the 29th of October 2009.
For this reason, the Benevolent Dictatorship - who own the time machine - focus on James' life, rather than try to prevent his parents from meeting or something. In the original timeline, James had a miserable adulthood, and two children by different mothers, neither of whom he stayed with (or particularly liked). The BD's strategy is to create Elodie, his perfect woman, to meet him, marry him, and keep him away from any other woman.
Elodie isn't the only woman like her. She has a huge family of sisters and cousins, all slightly different variations of what he might want. They all have secret badass ninja skills, too. I'm thinking the Rebels tried attacking her before they considered simply telling James, and that, later on, she and her sisters will be required to turn into an armour of pvc clad warriors.
At some point after James and Elodie were married, the Rebels gained control of the machine. They tried attacking Elodie, which didn't work, so, eventually, they just told James.
I think James' reaction will be to leave, initially. He's crazy about Elodie. Their wedding song was "You Were Made For Me", and his feelings don't change just because he now knows who it was that made her for him. But, he feels like his whole life has been a sham, and that she's tricked him. He needs time to get his head together, to get over the shock. I think, during this time, one of those children could be conceived. Call it a semi-victory.
I've had James and Elodie arguing in my head for a while now, just slowly revealing their characters and their relationship to me. There's also an odd moment where James' realises that Elodie's mother was his "older woman" option.
Part of the problem here is that, as it stands now, there's very little conflict outside of James' head. He'll eventually realise that he loves Elodie enough that it doesn't matter that their happiness is also part of someone elses' plan. Plus, it's tricky for me, because I believe the BD is in the right, so, again, very little conflict there.
That's why I haven't written it. I need to blur the lines more between the good side and the bad one.
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