noah and the great flood for workshop
Jan. 7th, 2013 10:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kasihyaI reviewed my options for adapting Into the Storm for Fiction Workshop, given that the story wouldn't stand up to a class investigation and I'm not interested in changing it. Therefore, switching things around so that it'll be interesting to rewrite.
Noah, okay, so what about Noah? Can he be the opposite of a geek? Like, a nature-y dude who’s totally out of touch with pop culture and lives with his parents while going to school. He plays the guitar and isn’t doing it for the ladies, he’s doing it ‘cause he loves playing with his friends, even though they’re collectively kind of bad. It’s the summer after high school, and he’s planning to go to college to study theology, because he’s going to be a priest, but right now he’s working at an ice cream stand along the side of a road ten minutes from his house.
Or, actually, all of that, but he’s in his second year at a seminary, so he’s twenty-three right now. He’s come back into town for his sister’s wedding. I don’t know, I've wanted to write a very religious character for a while now.
His companion in the boat is his younger cousin, here from New York City. Malcolm is twelve years old, and just different from the rest of the family, from the person he was when Noah saw him last, from anyone that Noah has ever met. He’s brilliant, and a geek who tries to fit in but can’t quite manage it, and he’s super, super annoying. If I was going to diagnose him, I’d say he’s got Asperger’s Syndrome — he’ll just go off and lecture anyone who will listen for hours about space, and he knows a lot about it. He will watch any movie that takes place in space that you care to stick in front of him, but you’ll regret it because he will not shut up about all of the inaccuracies. It’s really quite remarkable, what he knows about space.
Anyway, Noah feels bad because Malcolm isn’t exactly a fun person for other kids his age to be around, and he’s kind of driving everyone crazy, so he offers to take him off everyone’s hands for the day. They’re going on a picnic, and Malcolm eats a lot so they’re piled with snacks and food and stuff. They’re going to go out to the island in the middle of the lake, and they’re going to play there, that’s the plan. They’ve just reached the island when the flood comes. All at once, so they don’t get drenched by rain, but they also don’t have very many supplies.
1. four sandwiches
2. half a box of éclairs
3. a bible
4. two fishing poles
5. a small tub of worms
6. sweatshirts
The water also comes very suddenly, covering the land so suddenly that they don’t have time to react. They just get to continue in their boat. Noah is frightened and has a hard time trying to maintain faith, and has feelings of inadequacy, and misses his family and friends. Malcolm is frightened and unable to articulate his feelings, so mostly he just tries to distract himself. They get on each others’ nerves spectacularly. The story is about them getting along and getting through. It’s about Noah’s faith and Malcolm’s trust, and surviving. After the sandwiches, they survive on raw fish and dirty water and prayers for seven days. Then they see land. They see a mountain with a fire going halfway up. They get off the boat at night and walk up the mountain, with Malcolm carrying Noah's bible and the two of them pointing out the stars looking down. Or something like that, it's got to be terribly symbolic, although I have no idea what the professor expects so I might have to vary accordingly. Yikes.
Noah, okay, so what about Noah? Can he be the opposite of a geek? Like, a nature-y dude who’s totally out of touch with pop culture and lives with his parents while going to school. He plays the guitar and isn’t doing it for the ladies, he’s doing it ‘cause he loves playing with his friends, even though they’re collectively kind of bad. It’s the summer after high school, and he’s planning to go to college to study theology, because he’s going to be a priest, but right now he’s working at an ice cream stand along the side of a road ten minutes from his house.
Or, actually, all of that, but he’s in his second year at a seminary, so he’s twenty-three right now. He’s come back into town for his sister’s wedding. I don’t know, I've wanted to write a very religious character for a while now.
His companion in the boat is his younger cousin, here from New York City. Malcolm is twelve years old, and just different from the rest of the family, from the person he was when Noah saw him last, from anyone that Noah has ever met. He’s brilliant, and a geek who tries to fit in but can’t quite manage it, and he’s super, super annoying. If I was going to diagnose him, I’d say he’s got Asperger’s Syndrome — he’ll just go off and lecture anyone who will listen for hours about space, and he knows a lot about it. He will watch any movie that takes place in space that you care to stick in front of him, but you’ll regret it because he will not shut up about all of the inaccuracies. It’s really quite remarkable, what he knows about space.
Anyway, Noah feels bad because Malcolm isn’t exactly a fun person for other kids his age to be around, and he’s kind of driving everyone crazy, so he offers to take him off everyone’s hands for the day. They’re going on a picnic, and Malcolm eats a lot so they’re piled with snacks and food and stuff. They’re going to go out to the island in the middle of the lake, and they’re going to play there, that’s the plan. They’ve just reached the island when the flood comes. All at once, so they don’t get drenched by rain, but they also don’t have very many supplies.
1. four sandwiches
2. half a box of éclairs
3. a bible
4. two fishing poles
5. a small tub of worms
6. sweatshirts
The water also comes very suddenly, covering the land so suddenly that they don’t have time to react. They just get to continue in their boat. Noah is frightened and has a hard time trying to maintain faith, and has feelings of inadequacy, and misses his family and friends. Malcolm is frightened and unable to articulate his feelings, so mostly he just tries to distract himself. They get on each others’ nerves spectacularly. The story is about them getting along and getting through. It’s about Noah’s faith and Malcolm’s trust, and surviving. After the sandwiches, they survive on raw fish and dirty water and prayers for seven days. Then they see land. They see a mountain with a fire going halfway up. They get off the boat at night and walk up the mountain, with Malcolm carrying Noah's bible and the two of them pointing out the stars looking down. Or something like that, it's got to be terribly symbolic, although I have no idea what the professor expects so I might have to vary accordingly. Yikes.
