Another round of the A to Z Challenge is here! My theme is:
A speculative fiction short story from a dreamer
The story outline started with a dream I had. (I'm the dreamer.) It's a dystopian setting that, in my dream, was in a future not far away. There will be an actual dream sequence as well, thanks to one of the prompts I've been given for this month. (Because trying to write a short story on the fly sounded like a *good* idea. I might be a little nuts. 😵🤪 )
I collected all the prompts I was given (comments, tweets, dm, email, and WEP). And let me tell you, I went down some research rabbit holes. 📚🐇💻
- J's dystopian dream
- wormhole
- time/space travelers arrive on a planet that has been settled by space pioneers or an alien race
- time travel (x2)
- another species on Earth suddenly got the upper hand
- an alien who's on the run from an overlord race prepared to take over earth and who falls in love with a baker who just happens to be working undercover for the Dept of Homeland Security
- a storm system that isn't exactly weather
- 'Implants'? Memory implants, for example. Or vitamin implants.
- something underwater for your setting
- pansexual couple hooking up for the first time
- tardigrade (Tardigrades, known colloquially as water bears or moss piglets, are a phylum of eight-legged segmented micro-animals.)
- shapeshifting
- electricity isn't working, something crucial for the protagonist isn't working but something they never thought they needed, does?
- girl's name: Jade
- dream of things like grass, and running through fields.
- Guinea Pig World ruled by Biggles
- chimera hermaphrodite or sexual organ ambiguity main character
- An alien society (or character) that travels only within mind-space dimensions
- Palio di Siena, in an alternative universe where the occupants of the Contrades are the animals after which each Contrade is named
"The main theme of the song revolves around the post-war period and the diversification brought about through war and destruction" (ipl). "warns against a coming apocalypse while cataloging horrific visions" (Rolling Stone) "But this rain was abstract rather than literal. “It’s not the fallout rain,” Dylan said." (Rolling Stone)
I have a rough outline. I do hope to do this story justice. Though putting all of this together is going to be really interesting. There's going to be some anthropomorphism/ personification. (And poor Siena, Italy is going to be a very bizarre setting for a scene in a future that I certainly hope never happens.)
I had never heard (or heard of) Bob Dylan's song before. So I had to listen to it a few times and then hunt down interviews and such to make sure I really "got" what it is about. WEP takes place during Q,R,S this month, so look forward the darkness I'll have to go with that prompt.
Get ready for a story that's really gonna be a ride and make you ask, "WHAT was J thinking?" 😆
(And yeah, this definitely stays true to my "what-are-they" branding.)
Happening at OperationAwesome6.blogspot.com