S-Class Overhaul

[Meinos Kaen]

So, I was studying this morning -yes, studying, and the exam went well-. Brand Management, which is how to do marketing for a company focusing on the creation of value for a peculiar brand. It's pretty interesting, and it actually made me think of a little project that I want to bring forward...

Anyway, one of the first rules when creating the brand is to choose its characteristics. Your clients and most importantly the producers need to have clear what its message is, what it wants to be, what it wants to evolve into. Now, everything can become a brand, nowadays. Drinks, books, cities, people.

So, I tried applying it to the book I'm writing, the series I'm writing... And I realized I had been going at it the wrong way.

I mean, sure, it's a dystopian scifi, but it's more than that. It's much more than that! I don't know why I've been talking about everyone like it was another dark dystopian book in the Hunger Games tail. Yes, it's dystopian, yes, it has some dark moments, but at the bottom of it I wrote it as something to have fun with!

I have humour, I mention 4Chan, TVTropes, Megaman Legends 3 and more. Why the hell haven't I been focusing on that, too? Who says that darkness and humour can't go hand in hand? We have Daneel here on the forums that fuses crack, fight scenes and Lovecraft, for god's sake!

Another thing with a brand: it has to have both some common characteristics with the market it belongs in and something to make it unique to make it shine. This morning, I decided what I wanted S-Class to be. I want it to be SciFi. I want it to be Dystopian. And I want it to be humorous. I want it to be a series with shout-outs to the culture I grew up into, to my peers, to the Internet. To redditors, and 4channers, and tropers, and TFFers.

Starting today, as I finish the first draft of S-Class, I'm starting a real overhaul of the whole series. Starting with these small pieces, which are for a side project of the series that will see the light of the internet before the book itself, on which I, of course, would like your feedback. Here's the first.

1) The Day Humanity Evolved + The Internet Crisis​

2052 AD. Humanity is trapped in the usual revolting cycle. Governments rise and fall like teabags. The usual pigs fatten themselves on the groveling sheeps. Protocol-infringing hardasses poison the planet. And nations wage war in the name of ideals of all kinds.

And North Korea discovered unicorns. Or so they said.

The world is doomed to see this repeat itself unfettered till the end of all days, like the endless rerun of a tv series that wasn’t funny to begin with.

Except, something interrupts the usual broadcast.

Some think it was the devil on a bender. Or the almighty, finally tired of our crap. Most agree that it was a freak accident brought on by professor Joshua Kendrick, who did not survive to see what he had set into motion: a planet-wide genetic mutation. A forced evolution of 100% of the world population. The newly christened Super Sapiens are stronger, smarter, sturdier, and live longer.

I know. It sounds endearing, but think about it like this. An entire population of men who have gotten used to possessing and using a certain amount of strength, and they receive an increase in gripping power just as they’re taking a tinkle...

Ow.

And if that wasn’t chaos enough, the Day Humanity Evolved another event took place. A never identified phenomena erased all data on any kind of storage system connected to the Internet at the moment of its passing. Earth was forcefully thrown back to analog in one fell swoop. For some, this was a fate worse than death. Gaining three inches and 30 pounds of pure muscle without having lifted a scrawny finger their whole life was a meager consolation, when faced with the loss of years of hard-earned achievements.

… Losers.

The DHE pushed humanity forward. The Internet Crisis took it back 50 years in the past. And a third development, the most surprising of all, would contribute to throw the world into chaos for seven long years...

 

[violinmana]

Hah. Study. Hah.

 

[byakuryuu]

First, visualize your world. What's the setting proper? Who's in charge and what's the general attitude of the populace? You need to set in behaviour on the external scale so you know what kind of environment is going to shape your characters. The more I read your novels the more I had this feeling that S-Class would have done better if it was told a few sympathetic, yet opposing, point-of-views and one far more antagonistic outlook.

Since S-Class gives off Marvel 2099 vibes I'd suggest you have individual sets for each character; each of them to have their own views and conflict/contrast with one another as the story progresses. Maybe a few sub-plots here and there; but if you're going for romance at a point I'd suggest just hinting it for a bit rather than make it all-out. Circumstances of the progression for the story are very important here and what you want is for character conviction and belief to be challenged and, in some ways, tainted.

 

[Meinos Kaen]

First, visualize your world. What's the setting proper? Who's in charge and what's the general attitude of the populace? You need to set in behaviour on the external scale so you know what kind of environment is going to shape your characters. The more I read your novels the more I had this feeling that S-Class would have done better if it was told a few sympathetic, yet opposing, point-of-views and one far more antagonistic outlook.

Since S-Class gives off Marvel 2099 vibes I'd suggest you have individual sets for each character; each of them to have their own views and conflict/contrast with one another as the story progresses. Maybe a few sub-plots here and there; but if you're going for romance at a point I'd suggest just hinting it for a bit rather than make it all-out. Circumstances of the progression for the story are very important here and what you want is for character conviction and belief to be challenged and, in some ways, tainted.

When did I give you the novel? I'm still writing it. O.O

 

[byakuryuu]

First, visualize your world. What's the setting proper? Who's in charge and what's the general attitude of the populace? You need to set in behaviour on the external scale so you know what kind of environment is going to shape your characters. The more I read your novels the more I had this feeling that S-Class would have done better if it was told a few sympathetic, yet opposing, point-of-views and one far more antagonistic outlook.

Since S-Class gives off Marvel 2099 vibes I'd suggest you have individual sets for each character; each of them to have their own views and conflict/contrast with one another as the story progresses. Maybe a few sub-plots here and there; but if you're going for romance at a point I'd suggest just hinting it for a bit rather than make it all-out. Circumstances of the progression for the story are very important here and what you want is for character conviction and belief to be challenged and, in some ways, tainted.

When did I give you the novel? I'm still writing it. O.O

I bought it some time ago. What do you mean you haven't published it? My sis has PPB on her iPad.

 

[Meinos Kaen]

First, visualize your world. What's the setting proper? Who's in charge and what's the general attitude of the populace? You need to set in behaviour on the external scale so you know what kind of environment is going to shape your characters. The more I read your novels the more I had this feeling that S-Class would have done better if it was told a few sympathetic, yet opposing, point-of-views and one far more antagonistic outlook.

Since S-Class gives off Marvel 2099 vibes I'd suggest you have individual sets for each character; each of them to have their own views and conflict/contrast with one another as the story progresses. Maybe a few sub-plots here and there; but if you're going for romance at a point I'd suggest just hinting it for a bit rather than make it all-out. Circumstances of the progression for the story are very important here and what you want is for character conviction and belief to be challenged and, in some ways, tainted.

When did I give you the novel? I'm still writing it. O.O

I bought it some time ago. What do you mean you haven't published it? My sis has PPB on her iPad.

Oh. Yeah, well, you might want to download the updated version. You already own it, so it's free. There have been a few changes, including title and so much needed editing.

And, I'm 95% done with the sequel, S-Class. I thought you had been referring to that.

 

[byakuryuu]

First, visualize your world. What's the setting proper? Who's in charge and what's the general attitude of the populace? You need to set in behaviour on the external scale so you know what kind of environment is going to shape your characters. The more I read your novels the more I had this feeling that S-Class would have done better if it was told a few sympathetic, yet opposing, point-of-views and one far more antagonistic outlook.

Since S-Class gives off Marvel 2099 vibes I'd suggest you have individual sets for each character; each of them to have their own views and conflict/contrast with one another as the story progresses. Maybe a few sub-plots here and there; but if you're going for romance at a point I'd suggest just hinting it for a bit rather than make it all-out. Circumstances of the progression for the story are very important here and what you want is for character conviction and belief to be challenged and, in some ways, tainted.

When did I give you the novel? I'm still writing it. O.O

I bought it some time ago. What do you mean you haven't published it? My sis has PPB on her iPad.

Oh. Yeah, well, you might want to download the updated version. You already own it, so it's free. There have been a few changes, including title and so much needed editing.

And, I'm 95% done with the sequel, S-Class. I thought you had been referring to that.

My mistake. I thought S-Class was the title of your franchise as a whole. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[Meinos Kaen]

First, visualize your world. What's the setting proper? Who's in charge and what's the general attitude of the populace? You need to set in behaviour on the external scale so you know what kind of environment is going to shape your characters. The more I read your novels the more I had this feeling that S-Class would have done better if it was told a few sympathetic, yet opposing, point-of-views and one far more antagonistic outlook.

Since S-Class gives off Marvel 2099 vibes I'd suggest you have individual sets for each character; each of them to have their own views and conflict/contrast with one another as the story progresses. Maybe a few sub-plots here and there; but if you're going for romance at a point I'd suggest just hinting it for a bit rather than make it all-out. Circumstances of the progression for the story are very important here and what you want is for character conviction and belief to be challenged and, in some ways, tainted.

When did I give you the novel? I'm still writing it. O.O

I bought it some time ago. What do you mean you haven't published it? My sis has PPB on her iPad.

Oh. Yeah, well, you might want to download the updated version. You already own it, so it's free. There have been a few changes, including title and so much needed editing.

And, I'm 95% done with the sequel, S-Class. I thought you had been referring to that.

My mistake. I thought S-Class was the title of your franchise as a whole. Sorry for the confusion.

Well, it also is. So, no mistake on your part.

 

[Meinos Kaen]

Number 2.

2) Skillers and The Great Upheaval

Let’s have a brief recap. Two mysterious events caused humanity as a whole to evolve from homo sapiens to super sapiens, and every database connected to the internet to be wiped clean. Our ancestors had their hands full already, having to adapt to their new bodies and a world without Youtube, Reddit and Backroom Casting Couch.

Truly, a titanic struggle.

But soon enough, the super sapiens noticed that there were individual among them who had been gifted with far more than a few more centimeters of height.
They came to be called Skillers, a nice not-copyright infringing way of calling this particular branch of humanity who came out of the DHE possessing bona-fide superpowers, of all kinds and potency. Flying, super-strength, metamorphosis, telepathy. Reality had suddenly become the world of many a fictional work.

Again, I bet this sounds ‘awesome’ to your superficial ears connected to your superficial brain thinking surprisingly deep thoughts, but try and think of the precedents. It took people centuries to try and see behind matters of skin, and in 2052 they were still a long way from accepting that the neighbour’s kid could have been ogling Mike, and not his hot wife Michelle. How do you think they reacted to superpowered humans?

The Great Upheaval lasted seven years, but in that brief period of adaptation humanity showed its worst. Pure anarchy, with most Skillers having no idea how to control their powers and everyone else taking out their discomfort for their own changes on the easy targets. Riots, looting and even public executions, in areas with a heavy concentration of religious crazy. In a particularly gruesome occasion a man survived a pyre thanks to his augmented healing. He outlasted the fire, burning and healing continuously.

Sadly, superior healing does nothing for the pain. The event was filmed from beginning to end, and the registration is filled with the man’s screams.

With the climate that originated following the DHE, many are surprises that the Great Upheaval lasted so little. Many found an explanation for such a quick return to stability in the abnormality of the peculiarity. A very particular group of people, who were even worse off in the way of controlling their powers than normal Skillers. But because of this they instilled such fear that people everywhere decided to put an end to the violence and focus on rebuilding, and to research ways to contain these individuals.

Doing anything but would have been inviting disaster.