May You Grow Old and Fat

Things just got real at my end. Think of it as a horrifying (appropriate for the month), real life test: my life is a freight train, traveling at the speed of sound towards a fan and a deep pile of something messy… The engineer? Unconscious and/or petrified at the wheel.

All that is left is to brace for the wreck and see the pretty plumage of the phoenix that arises from the ashes. Because, rest assured, I will survive this too. I’m just not looking forward to re-experiencing the end of the world as we know it.

Then again, if you’ll pardon the platitude, change is good and I am certain this fall off the cliff will lead to another fantastic adventure. The last time was a great experience (save for the one person who ruined everything and put an end to it).

As I wait for the proverbial big bang, BBBunny asked if I’d be participating in NaNoWriMo this year. I said no. Well, probably not.

I won’t bore you with the details; you all know I reversed the decision – just hours later -- because once you start NaNoWriMo you cannot help yourself. It’s like a gateway drug and the hard stuff rolled into one!

I now have about three weeks to put together something to get going on November 1^st.

I am a little anxious, and see no reason to deny this simple truth. I say this because the first idea that popped into my head is a little subversive and I’d like to think that it is just a rebellious psychic lashing out of sorts.

At any rate, this is only a start and it certainly isn’t worth a full 50,000 words, but it sounds like an interesting and exciting adventure.

 NaNoWriMo 2012: May You Grow Old and Fat

Several generations after the final break-up of the Republic, Tirzah grows up in a private compound of former xenophobic secessionists. The ultra-Fundamentalist leadership has been corrupted for years by the hand of the Great Leader and his direct descendants – who serve as Great Leader for life and male heirs, aka The Leadership.

Each Great Leader is said to be filled with the spiritual incarnation of Solomon, therefore each is so named and differentiated by their middle name. This story is in the Age of Solomon David.

The role of women in this new world order is prescribed by a New Testament rewritten by the Leadership and discreetly amended by First Wives. Generally, primed for marriage to the Great Leader or servitude to Leadership, a woman’s biggest ambition is to become First Wife, and if not that, a Concubine to the Great Leader and Incubator to the Leadership to provide a male heir to continue the Kingdom of the Lord on Earth (KiLoE, pronounced kill-oh-eh), and serve.

Their ultimate Reward is, also their proverbial well wish, to grow old and fat – after a noble lifetime of toil for God and Country.

It is a highly competitive world full of hidden dangers in the shadows—with the women bidding for a position of power and the Soldiers of Solomon stalking, waiting to pick at the periphery of the women’s barracks for easy prey.

Tirzah is picked by the Great Leader as a prepubescent girl to serve him and, as it is done with most wives after the second or third generation (though not discussed outside the walls of the Great Hall), impregnated by one of his sons. She is well on her way to her Reward.

Tirzah suffers a stillbirth and is set afloat with the mummified fetus to journey to the Kingdom of Heaven at the end of the rainbow. A tradition loosely based on Viking lore but mostly an attempt by the womenfolk to control their ascent to power by knocking off another obstacle in their way, designed specifically to kill their adversary.

This only begins the story and sets in motion a transformation.

Act II involves an unexpected discovery, and ACT III unleashes the threat of war and ultimately a revolution – bringing us closer to 50,000 words.

There are going to be large themes to tackle here: from religion to education; from civil rights and responsibilities; greed and power and how they intermarry to create a whole new monster that eats away not only at the souls of the afflicted but also poisons the society that draws from that well.

I’m excited. Who’s with me?