For those not NaNoWriMo literate let me explain the title. Novel Idea's for NaNoWriMo. I have several. Now that it is a week away I had to decide on one. The next few days, leading up to the start of NaNoWriMo I'll detail each idea I had and in the case of the first few, why I decided not to use it.
First - Soul Food
I've been wanting to write Soul Food for years. It is a Sci-Fi story about an astronaut who bungles a mission in space, falls into a coma, and wakes up twenty years later and sees the changes happening on Earth all around him. Prior to his slipping into this coma he thinks he sees an alien force or being causing the catastrophe.
As an astronaut his projects were all about "off Earth" living, but after his coma he sees that surface dwelling capabilities have exploded, that religiousosity is a new, overwhelming fad, and that there have been great leaps forwad made in ensuring contentment in old age as well as longer living. It is only becasue he has as an alternate perspective due to his coma that he begins to see that all of these advancements are a product of the alien entity and he surmises that the alien is harvesting human souls for food. How the hero discovers that Aliens perfer the taste of old souls in a manner similar to human's like corn fed beef is still a bit of a mystery.
The original title was Soul Ranch. Soul Food is more tongue in cheek but far more catchy. Could be a comedy in the vein of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but sadly I have no comedy writing experience. It's a pretty nebulous topic for a novel. Hard to write believably. Plus, what would the ending be?
Would have been fun to explore themes like religiosity keeping the herd docile, the ability to increase population in a manner similar to a cattle ranch being taken over by new ownership and turned around. All fun, but tough stuff to get across easily.
Needless to say, this idea goes back in the cellar for more aging. Not suitable for NaNoWriMo 2010.
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