Monday's Muse on Saturday

Since Monday is a blogfest and I haven't posted a Monday's Muse for a few weeks, I figured I'd throw one up on a different day. This way I can still have a Muse post and a blogfest entry but not worry about having them on the same day. 

Today's Muse topic is a novel I haven't told many people about yet, okay I've told one for the most part about the actually story. It is a different type of story for me and I'm really looking forward to writing it. The novel is a...

Dystopian YA

Thanks to hours of research on weheartit.com I have managed to find a number of pictures that can serve as inspiration for a dystopian YA novel I plan to write in March. Did I intend to write dystopian or even another young adult novel? Not really. This is another novel that started with a dream in 2010. And I think the first draft with have 2 main characters because right now I can't pick between the two boys. The world is starting to develop, just hoping it can stay at one book but knowing me there may be a sequel lurking in the shadows already.

The story takes place in a remote village up in mountainous terrain. A long time has passed, when humans became a lower animal on the food chain. Monsters roam the lands, eating humans that are not in the safety of the few cities and villages that are left. The village is far from any other remaining one and no one leaves the village because it's not safe. Most of the houses are old and the only brick buildings are in the center of the city. There is a single school for everyone since it's a small population and a government/military/police type building.

Some of the houses have bright colors on them and the people try to wear different colors because that is a way to feel cheery even though they are secluded and the threat of monsters exists constantly. It is there way of trying to make the best of dismal times.

Then there are the monsters. I haven't figured out what they look like just yet, so that will be fun to figure out in time for March. There are going to be more than one type for sure and not all of them are going to break the border. Should be fun.

The main characters are two boys. (It's hard to get a good close up picture on the web site of boys that I think works for the novel.) One boy is from the village. He has always lived there with his family, though now it's just him and his dad. His mother died when he was nine. The other main character is a boy who shows up in the village with his family. There is the mom, dad and a young sister but they aren't his biological family. They had found him when he was a toddler. They are the first family to arrive to the village from the outside in a long time. The two main characters become friends even though the new one (Sage) is very different.

At one point, Sage is on patrol and accidentally falls through the last barrier (border). There he sees a section of abandoned houses that had once been a part of the village before the final border had collapsed. He also finds a diary left behind near the still mostly working border before he climbs back through. The journal is from a girl that survived the breakdown of the one border. She talks about the different types of monsters that exist and about talking to some of the monsters like they might understand what she says. Not all monsters eat humans, according to the diary.

For now I'm calling the novel "The Border" but I hope to come up with a better title at some point. But for now, I'll just sit around and wait for MarNo and then I'll get writing.