Three Clicks
Three clicks!
If you have read Where did JAK-73 chasing freedom come from? on this website you will know I have my three clicks. For me it means I have a broad background of information to form a plot to trigger a novel. Can I start writing it? Ahh! There’s more that I need: a broader, more detailed outline of the plot. So …
World Governance is in the news. (See a reference in Background as World Government.)
I watch an interview with Helen Clark, retired NZ Prime Minister. She is talking on that very subject, and it leads me to do further research.
A World Government makes, monitors, and enforces rules. Perfect! My plot thickens.
About this time the email comes that is mentioned in Where did JAK-73 chasing freedom come from? It proposes putting an ID chip in every new-born infant in Canada. Though the proposal is a hoax, I know there are folk ‘out there’ who will love to action it! Me, too, but only in my novel!
What do I record on an IDC besides an ID number?
Place and date of birth obviously. Birth parents if known (other than JAK this is unlikely). Health. DNA code for intelligence level to find who can be educated and exploited if the level is high enough.
Chere is lots of room for more information as it is thought of, relevant, or available: e.g. Abnormalities,
Character Traits, etc. etc.
And it is all on an IDC that can be traced and followed by satellite anytime anywhere in the world!
Remember … we’re under a World Government 50 years in the future. We’re into a second, even a third
generation that have lived since today and been labelled as one of the following:
** Most folk are Workers. They work seven days a week with long working hours, no tea breaks or days off, and are fed a poor diet. Calming drugs labelled as ‘nutrient supplements’ are taken daily. They can only talk about work-related matters. That all keeps them under control and passive.
** The few who have a high IQ, like JAK-73, are educated and work in top situations … still under close
control. They are given real nutrient supplements and treated better than Workers … but not by much.
** Absolutely none of the above has family, friends or freedom. Everyone is instructed not to talk to
anyone other than on a work related matter.
** Folk not caught and taken in as Workers have a simple life. It is basic and provides only the most
simple of needs. An average day is taken up with chopping wood, finding food, by hunting or fishing, or
gathering to help cook.
No-one is influenced by TV, films, phones, laptops, internet, Face Book, AI, etc. They no longer exist.
The World Government is in control and that control fits my developing plot.
All this is great for background, but boring detail if too much is scripted! I tell myself, keep these facts brief. A snippet here and a snippet there … just enough to establish them in the mind of a reader.
More backcloth details
My husband and I are driving from Auckland to Tauranga on back roads that take us through parts of NZ we particularly love. It sets me thinking about our days of sailing along that coast.
Click! I have the route JAK will take … land and sea!
And I know it! I know the fine details will come as I write and remember.
An exception is Little Barrier Island (Island 357), but by reading books written by people who have spent time there I fix that hiccup and I have seen the island as we sailed in the area.
I urge myself … get started!
Back to the World Government backcloth and what it would mean in the storyline.
I’ve already decided JAK-73 is going to be set half a century on from when I’m actually writing it. I will use what seem logical developments from how things are today … but those 50 years will be without the
influences that today shape our speech, our choices, our actions ... our lives.
How will folk come to tackle living with the restrictions and rules laid down? Again, I know the fine
details will come as I write and they do. I carry a page-a-day diary for notes and it sits on my bed at night. Ideas and info are jotted down 24/7.
What about characters?
Mine are always based on people I know. Sometimes I’ve met her/him once and a particular trait has lodged in my memory. Sometimes it can all be from one person. Usually, it is bits and bobs from different folk.
JAK-73 has bits of me and others. My bits help me work out how he will act, give me ideas, possibilities, etc. MIN-68 has traits from several close friends. RON-49 has a lot of my father and father-in-law, and odd bits from other older folk I know.
Jacob is the double of a friend, particularly the accent and how he (mis)uses English grammar.
Mia has characteristics from friends who show calm strength.
For Birgitte, Ewan and Danek see pages 117-118 of JAK-73. This is where there are listed the names of characters living on the Peninsula who escaped being taken as Workers. Some of them have no actual part in the storyline other than to show that a sizable community lives on the Peninsula.
A habit I have is to check the meaning of a name so that it matches the character I give it to: e.g.
Birgitte (Norwegian) strength.
Lily (English) purity, innocence.
Salik (Arabic/Turkish) traveller.
Jacob (Hebrew) to follow, be behind, may God protect.
Ronald (Old Norse) mighty ruler from ‘rögn’ meaning counsel, advice, ruler and ‘valdr’ meaning power, ruler.
When I place anyone in a scene, I switch in mentally and imagine taking their part. How will they act? How will they say their lines? What character trait do they need to express?
In a short time, characters become my companions, even in my dreams.
Why use numbers instead of a name?
If you are known by an ID number only, you would feel unimportant, as if you have no value. For a Worker add in the ‘nutrient supplements’ to keep you calm and slow. and no talking other than for work. This is an effective way to be controlled.
An ID Chip is also a filing system that the World Government can access at will. It can generate fear.
Again, BORING details for a reader, so it is important I keep details short.
That leads me to use three ID letters and two numbers. No more.
I use the three letters as a pronounceable name for my main characters: JAK, RON, MIN. I helps readers.
I am not saying what the two numbers are. You don’t need to know. Readers can and do guess what they represent. Can you?
JAK-73 chasing freedom is in print!
Finally, it is ‘out there’ and I hope all my readers enjoy it.
It is hard to believe how long it took to write. I was heavily committed elsewhere for the time involved and only got to writing ‘for me’ now and then, and I had another book needing the same kind of attention … but that is writing. And writing is my bliss!