However, for a few thousand of us, in the US and beyond, it also starts the annual confrontation with self-motivation, internal demons and writer's block known as National Novel Writing Month. NaNoWriMo for short. The goal is to write 50,000 words in one month. 1,667 words a day.
I have entered a few times and completed it once (Purity, an attempted mash up of "The Last Unicorn" with "Game of Thrones"). Then I realized that 50,000 words, as many as that is, does not automatically equal a completed work of art. I did not have an ending, merely a collection of scenes, some of which might be worth keeping, all of which would need to be extensively rewritten if they were ever going to be worth anything. It now sits on my Google Drive and mocks me when I open that folder. So I don't open that folder.
This year, I've done more pre-planning and am starting by writing the climax and then working backwards. I'm not sure if this is any better than working in a more linear fashion, but it can't be worse. You can track my progress, if you care, here.
Aside from the I'm-writing-this-and-this-other-thing-so-you-should-be-interested-in-both, there is more connecting this blog to my nascent novel. Because of all my rambling thoughts on Universal Basic Income, Blockchain, Cryptocurrencies and Smart IDs, I've decided to set the novel in a world where all of those things are ubiquitous parts of the landscape. I plan on using this post, and all of the rest through the month of November, to build this world in a fast-finger stream of consciousness.
Not the End of Work
First, if everyone has a basic income, does that mean that everyone stops working? I don't think so for two reasons. First, there is the optimistic part: people like to have a purpose. They will work at something. What something like UBI does is free them to work on things that they want to work on instead of working because they have to. They can take risks (like writing a novel that may completely suck (and by 'may' I mean 'will')). They stretch themselves in new areas with less risk. They can find work that provides their lives with meaning instead of work that merely provides money for food and shelter.
The second reason that people will work is that UBI is designed to offload only basic needs. Food, water, shelter, clothing, medical care. If someone wants more than that, then they will need to provide value to get it. Do you want to go to the movies? You either don't eat or you work. Do you want better clothes? Work for it. People are not only purpose driven, they are also aspirational.
A Society of Wasters
But what about those that feel their UBI money is enough? Should they not have to do something to earn it? Aside from being identified members of their society, no. That is the point of UBI. If you want to sit on the floor and sip your Soylent Green until you die, that is your choice.
It is also where the plot for this fiction comes in. I imagine an individual who does not agree with this. Who believes that people who do not chose a purpose for their lives should no longer be allowed to be part of the society. Who takes matters into his or her own hands and force-ably removes them from the society. And that gives me an antagonist.
Working Class Hero
Which leads to a protagonist. With something like UBI, there needs to be a governmental agency that exists to ensure that the system is not being abused. That people are getting their fair share, but only their fair share. Which leads to a fraud investigator. A worker. Someone who has decided that hunting down those looking to cheat the UBI system is their purpose in life. What drives that person to choose that purpose? That is my POV character. Someone I'm still developing, but I know must believe in the system (why?), who must have strong opinions on right and wrong (how were those developed?).
As identity will be closely tied to identifying those with a right to UBI, identity theft will have a strong role. As will the measures enacted to prevent it. That's next week's topic.
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