Saturday, November 17, 2012

Howlina - Day 17 - Moody Review

"Pull out the list of adjectives you wrote down that set the mood for your novel. You used this list for figuring out your setting climate, and a bit for refining your names.

... Then, take out your notes on your speculative element. ... Try describing how your spec element works in your novel. How do you feel when you describe it? ...
Also look at what you decided to name your speculative element. ..."
The mood today is steamy.   Just thinking.  These two images kind of capture what I want in the story (along with the images in the post from Day 10.

Now let's see if the words match the images.

What I think I'm going to try to do is use the adjectives in the description of my speculative element (Transhumanism).

I think this is really the list that she means for me to use:
  1. Romance, lustful and passionate, desperate and hot, loving and long lasting
  2. Rescue, welcome relief and rejoining of forces
  3. Music, personal and intimate
  4. Desperation in view of a solution
  5. Cleanliness, orderliness, intricate and full but uncluttered, precision and accuracy
Transhumanism is seen as a way to RESCUE our world from it's foibles with RELIEF.  Transhumanism is a PERSONAL way to allow the DESPERATE, yet ORDERLY and LOVING Howlers.  The advantages bestowed on Transhumans make them more than human, more INTENSE, HOTer, LONGer LASTING, more PASSIONATE, more INTRICATE and FULLer but UNCLUTTERED. 

That works, but it isn't really what I meant by those words.  Let me look at it again in a different way.  Let me look at it and describe how Transhumanism meets those ideals.

1.  The idea that a greater human can fix everything is a romantic one at it's base, but also in their situation Transhumans can be and are more lustful because they are more beautiful, more passionate because the can reach higher levels of consciousness, more desperate for love because they are a people apart, and of course more long lasting.

2.  Transhumanism is expected to rescue the world.  Each Transhuman does take that as their own personal responsibility and is acutely aware that that is why they are Transhumans.  There is some conflict for story fodder when some of them reject this calling.  This tension also makes those that steadfastly stick to the call more heroic.

3.  Music plays in at so many levels.  Transhumans must find a way to harmonize their existence, and their abilities with normal peoples.  Their heightened abilities make them more musically inclined.  There is a kind of music in nature that is out of tune and they are desperate to bring humans and nature back into harmony.

4.  Desperation is what drove the Howlers to such an extreme solution as to actually engineer their own progeny.  In fact I've decided to name the story, "Salute Your Solution."

5.  There are neat divisions of the races of Transhumans, who themselves are preternaturally clean and orderly.  It is written into their genetic code specifically.  It is part of what makes them so attractive.  Unlike natural "freaks" the Transhuman "freaks" are symmetrical, well designed, not haphazard or a mistake.  These people are the ideal, the fantasy.  They achieve all that people have every wanted to be without imbalancing something, without sacrificing the beauty of the whole.  Individually they are perfect beauties.  The story tension comes when their fitting into the well ordered, neat and concisely designed society does not go smoothly.

What do you think, have I done it?  Do my mood words match my speculative element and vice versa?  Let me know what you think, please.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Yes, I feel you "have" done it. I'm not sure about the title you've picked; I like the word "Solution", I'm just not sure about "Salute Your" It may have to grow on me. It just seems so military; and they are so far from military. They are like babes developing; granted, they are super human babes; but I don't picture them as militant. A. Char xoxoxoxoxoxo ;-p