#these fictional characters ive created live in my mind rent free i swear

[beaversatemygrandma]

today might be a good time to bring this up, because living during a major historical event in a regular dystopia somehow inspires me to write out a similarly stressful dystopia that’s just a bit worse to make me feel as if this one is fine.  It’s not.  But yeah.  anywho after spending most of this year revamping this story i wrote in high school to be actually worth reading, i’m starting to play with the idea that the start of the story could just be a darker storyline of 2020 and the next like five years. And somehow not mention trump once.  I think im going to do it. Back when i was writing it was 2015, so modernizing a bit after the past four years would be super beneficial. Imagine a weird 1984/walking dead version of the US. That’s it. But its 2020 and the end of capitalism as we know it. (The original start date was like 2018, which was still ‘the future’ back then.) Gonna ramble about it under the cut. Hmu if you would be interested in reading any of it. It’s got an openly bi protagonist which ik everybody needs to see more of.

so as i said, it used to start in 2018. Bombs went down on poorer, older, or less plentiful towns and the top 1% (ie trump and those rich people not wanting to give up their massive hoard of money to taxes) move to the western coast, creating their own new country entirely blocked off from the rest of the world via a huge wall and controlling what the poor sees. The poor is literally everybody but the leaders in that new country. The rich keeps them under control with constant surveillance (think alexa but with cameras staring right at you). That’s the West Nation (probably a stupid name ik we’re still in the first drafts okay). 

The other various leaders and top 1% who opposed that authoritarian state created their own. It consists of Texas and most of the deep south. It’s a more modern state that isn’t blocked off from the rest of the world, but it’s basically USA2 electric boogaloo. We don’t talk of them much. That country acts as if the rest of the war going on started by the WN isn’t their problem and keeps to themselves just ignoring the massive war crimes being committed just two states north. That’s the Texas Union. Self explanatory. 

And the rest of the population you ask? Where are they? Well if they weren’t sucked into either of those countries, they’re likely killed by the previously mentioned WN war crimes or part of the last living people in the ‘old territory’. The old territory is literally just the north east. It’s been a part of the us since it started and therefore everything there was old and useless. The WN blew it up first thing. They got their money and ‘important people’ out of there and just killed the rest for existing and not having an absurd amount of money. Less than 50k people survived that. Whether it was a literal fluke they survived or if they just so happened to have a warning to get somewhere safe, the few survivors are most likely part of a group calling themselves the Risers. The Risers are the people attempting to fight back against the WN.  The WN literally just wants them dead and out of the way so they can slowly take over the eastern coast as well. They also don’t want the Risers to enter their walls because that might make their peasants think and in turn revolt. 

There are also some people who managed to survived in unclaimed territory. They aren’t forgotten about. Every country sends their military groups out into the nothing to recruit these people. Mostly because the unclaimed territory is taken over by these irradiated people and animals (WN bombs are very bad okay, not only is there radiation but they like to burn things by speeding up erosion of the ozone too... there’s a lot to it and i dont want to spoil it though). Nobody wants to be around these zombie-like things. The recruiters are the only way most of the outsiders can survive. Very few actually last long. These people are the Unmarked. (Each group/country has a marking to tell people apart. Started by the WN’s barcode tattoo on its citizens that organizes them and is able to be used like a ID, debit card, and even to gain access to certain spaces. The Risers and TU only followed after realizing that the marks helped when in unclaimed territory.) 

Alright, now onto the actual story and not how this world works. So, what i was thinking in terms of moving the first wave of bombs to 2020 (instead of 2018 like i did in 2015).  With how much money the now trillionaires made after the virus swept through the country, they wanted their own country to prevent themselves from being taxed. (Think about how somebody mentioned that Texas should secede this year. It’s hinting at that.) With this new country, they control it themselves and keep the poor people they gathered into their walls working for them while living in poverty. Sounds painfully possible, right? It would work as a darker timeline version of 2020. I’d just have to incorporate covid (or something fictional so its just vaguely hinting at what everybody knows it is) and show how the country is already a little ‘off’ before the actual bombs go down, starting the story. Spooky but interesting, right? 

Now, our protagonist, a small town boy from Montana. That area was given a warning, it was a populous enough town to receive one during the first hit. Sadly, they got it barely too late. They shut down communications just a little too soon there so everybody was getting emergency alerts on their phones as the town was exploding outside. Not the best situation honestly.  Well, the protag and the main group of characters during the first part of the story are all seniors in high school. 18 and two weeks away from graduating. It’s the year of 2020 and school was already fucky enough for them, then during the one extra curricular they have left, bombs go down. (might not incorporate covid tbh because the whole beginning kinda is surrounded by being inside these places with other people... second thoughts here) They miraculously survive. These three friends are now stuck inside a building somehow strong enough to keep them safe.  Eventually, they meet people from the new WN that showed up after literally being the final few people left in town. The main characters go through literal hell, a nuclear winter, two deaths, and seeing the whole country fall into a state of chaos and terror. Then they get taken into the WN, by force at that. The WN has this special chip they give to every citizen. It’s basically a memory altering computer. But not all systems are perfect.  The protag will actually meet a Riser who is capable of entering the WN discreetly and get pulled into the revolution against the WN. 

The best part of all this is that is very character focused. 90% of this is just how these people get through their own terrifying versions of the trauma caused by the WN doing what they’re doing. (Have you ever heard that in order to write a good story is to put your characters through hell? I did and it does wonders for development.) It’s definitely a lgbt book. The protag actually figures out he’s bi due to a homoerotic friendship in the beginning. (Friends to lovers trope, it was fun tbh) It doesn’t last long (im sorry) and is honestly part of the massive trauma the main character goes through (seriously im sorry it gets better i promise, its for character development i swear)  BTW he’s not a bi character who is restricted to one gender or ‘turns straight or gay’ or some bs like that. Us bisexuals need some rep, okay. There’s a couple more relationships (the story takes place over like six or seven years im still struggling to figure out how to end it tbh).The other characters are pretty diverse as well, i swear its not just one bi white boy. There’s a good amount more. It just takes a little time for them to show up, but i promise they are some great people. (for example, there is a gay trans man who is somehow an extension of myself that i didn’t know i had. And i fucking love him. He just doesn’t get introduced for like 200 pages.)  There is also a lot of internal struggles the characters go through (who wouldn’t go through all that without coming out with some mental illness. It was traumatic.) There are mentions of addictions and such, the protag himself goes through a bout of alcoholism, it’s rough. (its when he’s 20-ish so nowhere near the beginning) There’s also a HUGE found family trope in the second part. The Risers are a big part of that one. The main characters within the group have to be my favorites of the whole story tbh. All of them are 18 to 29 year olds who just grouped together after losing everything they’ve known. They just become their own strange family in their wasteland of a home.  

Anyways, before i get carried away talking about this and sharing the entire plot, I’ll stop.  If you’re interested in seeing any of this just like this post. Say something if you’d want to read it though (just need to find a good place to post. Wattpad maybe? Is that site still going? I don’t want to go back to dA.)  There’s like 500+ pages rn that I’ve been adding to and editing for so dang long and i want to get it out there.  Tell me if you’d want to read this dystopian/18+ coming of age story. (because coming of age stories shouldn’t just be 16yos in adult situations like hollywood likes because those are gross) I think it’s got some potential, i just have to find others who like this sort of story. 

Soon I’m going to go through the intro and start editing this 2020 version instead of the 2018 version. (its gonna make the protag be born in 2002 and that is baffling me rn)  I just want to start posting somewhere soon or even go big and try for publishing (that would be a lot further in but yeah. If i could create yet another dystopian trilogy, I’d be ecstatic okay) 

If you’re a mutual of mine and you like this idea, hmu and I’ll totally send you a draft via email to read. I’d LOVE to have somebody to give me their opinion of it so far. So if you’re open to spending a bit of time during your tenth month in quarantine reading something like this, tell me. :DD  (ik i’m not the only one around here with a thing for dystopian stories)