01-05-09

Last week in Noval class Adib handed round six paintings on a sheet of paper. We were supposed to pick one and draw from it a story. My choice was a rather abstract painting of a desert with a half and half green and red sky and only vertical brush strokes. It wasn't pretty or anything, in fact it was kind of depressing, and that's partly why I chose it.

Ever since writing Make It Rain I have been almost obsessed with writing about post-apocolyptic settings, and this latest story is no exception. It begins with a description of a newly abandoned city being slowly buried by the desert sand and then moves into a picture of a group of people rebuilding a wooden ship. Before the first page ends I have taken one of the children in this group and sent him off into the city all on his own, never to see his family again, and at first I thought I was writing a really terrible short story (which is not what Adib wanted). Then I randomly decided to name this first page the 'prologue' and started on chapter one, which is set approximately twenty years into a future where the city still hasn't been repopulated.

It's really quite odd. This story (as yet unnamed) seems to be making itself up as we go along. I doubt if its more than a step ahead of me. I only just found out who the main character is today, a young man named Paul that has reluctently taken up the leadership of the Blackbird Colony (named so because of a song that was playing when I first realised it needed a name). And just as soon as I knew all this I was suddenly tackled by Oliver, the-cripple-that-used-to-be-mayor, and his eternally-smiling secretary, Laurie. They came on the wave that brought in the home of the colony, an old prison that was abandoned long before the city was de-populated (is that a word?).

So far I haven't figured out much of the story or its plot, but I know it's not going to be a happy one. There's a sinking feeling in my gut (or maybe that's just period pains) that says there are zombies outside the prison walls, and I really don't like the idea of having to tackle that hurdle just yet. It's not something I've ever attempted before. I get the feeling I should try reading The Zombie Survival Guide before I get to that part, if it happens at all.