Thank you to those who stopped by last week. I’m glad for a new Sunday and a new Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet Sundays. This week I am sharing a novel I’ve been working on for almost a year now. I’m guessing there is at least another year to go on this, if not more. Its my foray into straight science fiction, future dystopia. It will have romance elements (cause I am a romance writer at heart). Tentatively called The Discarded, the story takes place in the future, after a great environmental devastation. The world splintered into guilders who live in wealthy, protected cities, procreate through genetic engineering, and have developed telepathic abilities and the Tribers who live in the wild, foraging for food and clean water. The Tribers were on the verge of destroying each other, when the Lore, a contract dressed up as a prophecy emerged, promising a savior and lay down laws to govern coexistence. The Discarded is the story of the arrival of the savior. We start at the beginning, where we meet Chakir Ng, the father of the savior to be.
Chakir Ng ignored his growling stomach. He couldn’t remember the last time he ate. Food had lost all meaning. Even his mother’s sweetened rice, which had once given him the greatest of joy, tasted like shredded bamboo.
He wrapped his tunic tighter around him. It had gotten so loose of late. He pushed back into the hard bamboo chair. Its frayed orange cover scratched through his skin and dug deep into his bones. Comfort also lost all meaning. All he managed to do was sit in this chair and watch his daughter Lordes excel in the school his mother, Magdalena, built around her. He wanted to see her laugh and play like the nine year old she was supposed to be. Every now and then a child could draw a giggle from her.
Magdalena pretended to teach all the neighborhood children the Lore. Her gift, she said, to the tribe, since only the Elder families had copies of the book itself. Magdalena really wanted to teach Lordes how to lord it over others—so the other children would get used to talking orders from her. And Lordes would expect it as her right. His mother was stealing her childhood as she had stolen his.
Make sure to check out the snippets from all the amazing writers at Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet Sunday.
Interesting scene. I know how hard it is to world build – especially dystopian tragedies. You have to craft the back story into the current storyline and it drains your brain at times. Keep at it. Write what you love.
Thanks, Sue. Its hard, but I really do enjoy that level of world building.
The Discarded – LOVE that title. Says so much and from the snippet – it fits perfectly.
Thanks, Daryl. I like the name too. It will have multiple meanings before the story finishes.
Such a heartbreaking snippet! Everything seems so hopeless.
Thanks, Jessica. Its meant to be sad at this point. Its almost the price for hope.
Wow, you said so much in this short scene. I’m already wrapped up in the family drama.
Thanks, Alexis.
Intriguing and distressing.
I have a post-apocalyptic story in my files, and might develop it when we’re through the current pandemic.
Its both fun and challenging to write. I find climate change really influences my thinking on this.
Magdalena doesn’t sound like the heroine of your story.
No, but she has her role to play.
I agree with Ed. I’m not liking Magdalena much.
Magdalena is an ambitious woman in what is still a man’s world. I think of her more as flawed then malicious.
Great beginning. I was intrigued at once.
Chakir sounds like a good person. His mother, not so much. 🙂 Good character building!