I had this dream earlier this week that I dropped my youngest child off at daycare so that I could go ride a giant slide made out of dirt. I started to slide down it, but it was kind of slow going. Part way down the slide was a traffic light. The light was red, so I stopped. When it turned green, I started sliding underneath the covered part of the slide. It was really tight and I was having a hard time going down it, so I decided to go back up the way I came. I went to the daycare to pick up my daughter and they had shaved her head. I wasn't really happy about this.
Anyway, I didn't have a dream about robots, but someone mentioned the Hardiman exoskeleton recently. I was only half listening until they mentioned that they were never able to turn it on with someone inside because it had violent and uncontrolled movements. My head immediately snapped up. A robotic exoskeleton that tries to kill the person wearing it? I needed to know more about this.
So I jumped down the internet rabbit hole by googling the history of exoskeletons. Disappointingly, Hardiman wasn't actually evil, it was just a design flaw. But in its favor, it was creepy looking and fascinating, as were its predecessors.
So I kept clicking on articles until I ran across this one: The Hidden Burden of Exoskeletons for the Disabled
Here is a quote from this article:
"most of the time, when writers imagine our future bodies, they either erase or “fix” disabled people."
Oh.
My main characters in the Culling series are obsessed with surviving over all else. And understandably so, since someone is always trying to kill them. And yes, they are all able-bodied, and would have to be (or would they?) to survive. My story is about a distopian future, but I didn't thoroughly think about how this would effect my characters. Someone out there in the wastelands has a brother or sister who is not able to walk without assistance. I want to hear those stories as well, and maybe even a story about a character that was so mage that mobility and physical strength really didn't matter.
I am never going to finish this series. I just finished my third novella last night, with the feeling that I am not done. I need to do some clean up and clarification on heck, all of them, then maybe continue writing. I have to work tomorrow, so I'm pushing out the next chapter of the Culling series today.
Chapter 6 is now live. This chapter is mostly character development focused, with some flirting and arguing between Charlotte and Orville.
Chapter 6 is now live. This chapter is mostly character development focused, with some flirting and arguing between Charlotte and Orville.