Life After - Index

Writing this index is proving difficult.  The genesis of this story is simple enough: there was an October contest and I decided to participate.  Unfortunately for most of October I didn't have a primary computer and for many of the portions that did, I was sick in a way that prevented thinking type things.

The story itself is harder to explain.

Short version: temporal meddling causes teleportation to go wrong which dumps Kim in the afterlife, lets the less savory portions of the afterlife escape to earth, and leaves the only people who know what went wrong (Kim's daughter, Shin, and Shin's nemesis Jacob) trapped in a world entirely unlike the one they know thanks to a quarter century of supernatural temporal divergence.

That make sense?

Somewhat longer version:

* * *

In 2029 Shin and Jacob declare a truce when Jacob realizes his interim boss is trying to change 2004 which would mean Jacob (and Shin) would never even be born.  They fail to stop the past from being meddled with, but do manage to avoid being erased by the changes.  Now they have to survive in a world dominated by decay and death, and, if they can do that, try to somehow set things right.

In 2004 while Ron Stoppable lays unconscious after a talent show bit gone wrong, Kim disappears from the face of the earth entirely, and a hole is punched through reality letting malevolent forces of the afterlife run rampant through the school.  With Team Possible sidelined others step up to try to defend those in the school and, hopefully eventually, the rest of the world.

Meanwhile Kim is unceremoniously dumped in the afterlife and left to avoid the unfriendly dead, try to find the friendly dead, and finally get back to earth.

* * *

With October over I've started to revise what was written in October, so far I have:

Chapter 1: Times Change Time Changes: The event that sets everything in motion occurs and everyone has to try to adapt.

Chapter 2: Dying Light: With a slightly firmer grasp on the situation, things now become about survival.

Scattered bits and pieces largely focusing on Mag, while she's unconscious, and her group - sort of an attempt to return to my roots by just writing the parts that resonate a the moment and skipping the stuff that doesn't.

The original versions of everything follow.

Chapter 1: Times Change Time Changes: The event that sets everything in motion occurs and everyone has to try to adapt.

Chapter 2: Dying Light: With a slightly firmer grasp on the situation, things now become about survival.

Chapter 3: If We Can Make It Through The Night: Even as great strides are made, staying alive becomes more difficult after darkness falls.

I cram three chapters worth of stuff into one installment - in a desperate attempt to get things done before the deadline.  It failed, as evidenced by the fact that it wasn't followed by another installment.

Metapost on the setting - I talk about decay, regrowth, cycles, and how that underlies the the metaphysics of the story.

Thing where I note that I didn't make the deadline - honestly it's probably for the best.  All of the installments were rushed, and the one that would have come next if I'd finished it in time was rushed, shortened, and butchered to a horrific degree.

Without worrying about the deadline anymore it will be a better story.  Whenever I get to it.  Chapters 1-3 need revision and expansion, the fourth installment needs salvage then do over.

Best guess is that it's going to look like this:

• Chapters 1-3: The first night, that being Halloween 2029 and probably sometime in September 2004 (need to work out what the exact date on that should be.)
• Chapters 4-6: The next two days.  The rest of Allhallowtide 2029, evacuation one day and a rescue mission the next 2004; Kim getting acclimated to her surroundings and finally finding help in the afterlife.
• Chapters 7-9: With the return of Kim we're down to two viewpoints; in 2004 they try to make a difference, in 2029 they try to make it to the past
• Chapters 10-12: All of the characters are together at this point trying to fix things as a single varied group
• Chapter 13: The resolution