Wow, I've been gone for a long time. I'm not sure if I'm going to reinstall this blog for the general public due to schedule constraints (growing up is time-consuming, I've found), but I'll probably keep posting here and there about my own writing musings. If you want to keep reading, please feel free! Just... as a disclaimer, moving forward, this space is probably going to be more for my own sake: a place to put down the continuation of my fictional writing.
Speaking of which, here's a synopsis of my story on paper (or cloud memory, whatever).
I finally have everything I like in here, and all of the characters are good, powerful, exciting types. A love triangle between an INTJ, ENTJ, and ESTP? Fantastic. XSTJ government authority? Naturally. Complete with two INFJ villains for kicks.
Act 1
The new government is installed. Impacts of the utopia settle down to the Minimum where the good is abused. I'm thinking, like...because of the family program, the Outsiders begin to empty out foster homes and orphanages to facilitate human trafficking. Distributed clothes and food are bottle-necked by crime lords who distribute as they see fit. While the government is in transition, the gangs have begun to grow more bold: more murder, more territory advances, more deals with the Outsiders for increased influx of drugs into the market. Most of this is seen entirely through Jaiden's perspective, who is desperately trying to get Antony's attention. They scheme to leave an obvious opening for the Maximum to be attacked so that the Minimum gangs will, which will get the government's attention, directing Heinrich and company towards the exacerbated crime.
In the Maximum, Skain is having success at quieting any remaining riots, not that there are many. He and Iris work in tandem well and beat down the arrogant crew (who enter again later - which is trope-y, I know... I may scrap this or find a different way to use this). Silvia (weird name for an ESTP at this point... I may change her name again) is installed and cast as Skain's surrogate sister. Because of his relationship with Brielle, he's not extremely thrilled about any of that, but Heinrich is insistent because of the transparency of public records at this point in the world. She is very comfortable and obvious about her intentions, in a sort of Kanbaru way. Both he and Iris quickly learn to take that in stride.
Act 2
When the Minimum begins to seep into the Maximum, Skain's force is turned in that direction. They are quickly, substantially out-matched (as in, not even close). (This is where Mitch gets shot by his old gang; this will also be a good opportunity for Silvia to save Skain's backside.) Because of Skain's team's complete and utter failure and continued infiltration into the Maximum, the city quickly confronts the government about the problem, and Heinrich releases his plan to stop all inflow of help to the Minimum, leaving border guards at the above and below ground entrances. Skain's team is put on surveillance and scouting (to determine who is leading the Minimum skirmishes). During this time, because one of Skain's best friends was harmed, performing is more difficult. Drug use increases amongst the team, and morale drops. (This is where I get a chance to play with some darker themes.)
When Skain goes back down for scouting work, he successfully notices how involved the Outsiders are (with their stock of rulers, one always taking the place of the next dethroned). Jaiden tracks his movements just to monitor him. (I'm not sure exactly how I'll write this, but I want a fast series of clips: back and forth with increasing pressure on both sides. Firstly, to obtain information; secondly, to determine why he's being stalked.) Eventually, when he has made the right conclusion about the Outsiders, Jaiden catches him and threatens him, stating that she knows about Brielle. Upon return, he reports to Heinrich, hiding his fear and any details about the threat. Iris is unconscious, drugged, and, while worried, Skain quickly rules her out anyway. If Jaiden knows about Brielle, she certainly knows about Iris. Heading back to the facility, he takes Silvia out of the city walls to talk about his worry, realizing that, some day soon, he'll be forced to betray her too. (This is the same scene from the first story.) She advises him to stay faithful to what is right.
This arc ends when he goes to visit Brielle with Silvia. He explains to Silvia what happened to Brie. She had periods of mental stability between hallucinations, so he brought her there and paid for her on his own. Even though the government was medicating her, she was having more and more violent hallucinations (which I may or may not later reveal was actually caused by the additional medication), so they began to sedate her instead. Silvia insists on breaking out Brielle that night, taking her back to her home so that (1) Brielle could heal off the medications and (2) Brielle would be out of Jaiden's sight, buying Skain some more time. Even though he is doubtful of Silvia's claims to be able to fully heal Brielle, he agrees.
Act 3
Having tracked his phone, Iris finds him at dawn at the train station, hungover. Beat up and exhausted, they grab food and then get drugged up again for the day; she explains that she was knocked out in an explosion during a Minimum counter against the tech center. During their breakfast, Heinrich, having been given sufficient information by Skain and having talked with the government about their plan, calls a meeting and sets forth a comprehensive strategy to finish off the Minimum, which includes handling all of the Minimum in what Jaiden sees as a proactive, preemptive sense. (Since they were attacked first, to Skain and Heinrich, that's not really proactive.)
Full-on war is waged against the Outsiders, but, despite how hard they're working, the force is not making much progress. Before Silvia returns, Jaiden catches Skain again, infuriated that Brielle vanished. Jaiden informs Skain on Antony's plan and says that, if he does not cooperate, they'll go after Silvia as soon as she returns. She lets him go without touching him this time. Soon thereafter, the government recalls Heinrich and holds a discussion on whether they should continue or not because they're rapidly losing ground. Antony suggests putting up a treaty with the Outsider leaders, and a vote is cast. Skain, being the leader of his own force, has significant sway. Still determined to follow Silvia's advice, he does not agree, along with all of his team except for Iris. Shrike does not. Heinrich abstains. The vote does not go through. The government instead sets for a final allotment of their budget towards battling the Minimum, claiming that they do not want a pugnacious reputation and also claiming that the people deserve better than to spend their money on crime reform. (The city needs education and work opportunities first.) If Heinrich fails at that point, their duties will be reduced to simply guarding the Maximum from the effects of the Minimum.
On the way out, Antony threatens Skain, saying that he made the wrong decision. Unconcerned, he sends a text to Silvia, telling her to stay where she is; she responds with "okay" and claims that Brielle is doing much, much better. Encouraged, Skain works out and goes to bed. That night, when he's in the facility, he's kidnapped, more or less. Jaiden had separately caught Iris and threatened her (using him, though he doesn't know that or know that Iris would even be willing to assist the antagonist to save his life), and Iris had intercepted Skain's texts, responding as Silvia. As scheduled, Silvia came back that night and was taken by Jaiden's crew. She's used against him so that he agrees to work with Jaiden to save her life.
Their plan to is simply keep Skain under lock and key; Iris returns to report deceitfully that Skain had an opportunity to infiltrate the Outsiders, so he took it and went offline to do spy work. Because Skain is an integral branch in Heinrich's division, their plans are broken up even further, and more money is wasted bringing and training more forces.
Silvia, having been too unconscious to know exactly what happened, recovers. She remembers at least that Skain was in danger underground. Hoisting Skain's team together, she demands that they break from Heinrich's orders to find him; Iris is vehemently against this, for her own internal reasons (for Jaiden). Sensing that Iris' disagreement is not simply for loyalty to Heinrich, Silvia misinterprets Iris' false motives as jealousy and, even as injured as she is, fights Iris and wins. (ESTP > INTJ haha...) With newfound respect from Skain's team, she gets the team to agree.
On her side, Iris was unable to come up with a plausible alibi; she had claimed that Skain was gone to do spy work, but then the team went to find him. Forced to confess, she is kept under watch by Heinrich, though she helps the team by giving them the location of Jaiden's base. They break him out, wreaking havoc in Jaiden's base as they go; in the explosions, Jaiden is killed. When Skain comes back, Iris is inseparable from him. Silvia has an epic moment where she condemns Iris for not understanding sacrificial love.
When Skain is awake again, he firstly tells Iris that he's going to need time and space to figure out what to do with her feelings. She takes this well, having learned a lesson from Silvia. In the meanwhile, Heinrich states their ultimatum. They have about two more days of resources before they will need to back off. Silvia suggests baiting the Minimum forward the same way the Maximum has been continuously baited, but not to cut off the limbs. The limbs will point to the head; if they want to end all of the rulers, they will need to retrieve the information from the Outsider lackeys. This plan moves forward; there is success, and the city ultimately wins.
During the trial, Antony gives testimony to his and Jaiden's initial desires: to preserve the good within the Minimum. The government takes this into account and continues supporting the Minimum. I'm not yet sure what I'm going to do about Iris and Silvia, but, in the final scene, Skain goes to Silvia's home and finds Brielle completely recovered. (Maybe I'll just make Brielle male, and then give him to Silvia. I dunno. Actually, that would be funny and fitting, I think...ahhh, no, I'm totally going to do that.)
Last thing I wanted to jot down: trying to synthesize my beliefs with my writing, I know for sure that any pain I exhibit must be compelling in an upward direction. Some kinds of darkness are sharp, I've found, and they poke you towards being a better person because they feel so disgusting. Other kinds are addictive, and I would rather not glorify those. Still, I have no intentions of shirking away from sex, language, abuse, suicidal thoughts, drugs, poverty, or lack of regard for human life - because those are integral elements to life, and, as my INFP said, fiction is the best place to explore darkness uninhibited. Starting from a utopia is going to help me leverage the contrast of good and evil according to my beliefs. I'm not sure how I'll do this yet, but I think, as I sort through my own darkness, I'm finding a better balance between what is disgusting and what is necessary to help guide people to a vicarious understanding of darkness.
Happy to say this once more:
Write on!
Clove
