As mentioned in my first post, I started Nos Populus with very little idea of what it was going to become. The writing process took the better part of seven to eight years--things change in that time. I won't reflect on all the awful ideas that I had to peel away and not breathe in too deeply before I began to uncover something half decent, but I will tell you a little about where I was coming from.
Nos Populus, in sum, is the story of a charismatic former expat named James Reso who returns home to America, finding an acutely polarized nation constructed and maintained by the cynical President Ward. James and his friends
create an opposition party Nos Populus: "We The People." Through mass
protests and audacious theatrics, James becomes rises to political celebrity and brings his party with him. It's not long before Nos Populus and the Wardists are facing off in the public square, retreating to more and more extreme positions and inevitably escalating their conflict into... well, why spoil it for you if you've made it this far?
But you get the point: it's vaguely topical. And part of the problem with writing a topical book over seven to eight years is that you run the risk of losing your window. The invasive national security apparatus that was established in the 2000's was a central theme from early on. Now, that apparatus still exists, and is in many ways stronger, but how much outcry to do you hear? Very little over an extended period of time. That's the kind of thing I mean.
I feel a little shame writing that the Tea Party's colonial cosplay and easy misappropriation of the Constitution seemed to be stepping on my toes. The right wing that had informed Nos Populus' cynical and authoritarian regime during the Bush II Administration had seemingly--only seemingly, mind you--given way to a libertarian movement that might have had more credibility had they bothered to show up during the post-9/11 Patriot Act days (and, yes, nixed the racist undertones, or perhaps overtones, but we can only expect so much). But get rid of all that and what do we have? A group of scared, motivated people who just wanted a reinforcement of their own ideology. And who are perhaps in need of some new hobbies. I began to feel that maybe I'd fallen into an analogue sweet spot: close enough to be picked-up on and far enough away to not get sued. Or worse, associated with the unfortunate nutjobs.
I went through a similar feeling late last summer and fall with the Occupy movement. This was a little bit closer to what I had imagined with Nos Populus, especially in regard to the age demographics and the accidental theatrics that made them easier targets for a media class that was already looking for a reason to tear them apart. Whatever the merits of their arguments, they had made it far too easy (and perhaps cathartic) to mock them. This problem, I feel, could have been alleviated with a central leadership to coordinate strategy and messaging, something that was anathema to the Occupiers. Whatever. I made sure that my group did have that central leadership. I quite literally could not have written it any other way. My fictional grassroots group needed an architect and a rallying point. Otherwise, it doesn't work. Enter James Reso.
Now, I sometimes wonder if I might've had better luck picking up an agent (something to be covered, along with the whole self-publishing thing, in a future post) if I had pitched my idea as "social vampire raises a zombie army." That hits all the contemporary buzzwords and it's not too far off from what I had done. I realized after the first draft that James Reso was not the hero I think I had intended. He was, in fact, a damaged, psychologically stunted, ego-oriented young man with no firm anchor to reality and no limits on his talents, but only the faintest idea how to use them properly. And then I put this person into a degraded Washington political atmosphere and let him go to town on the consciences of his friends and foes. I know this runs the risk of a Donny Don't character, but to be honest that's kind of the mood I've been in, beginning sometime during Bush II's cynical, jabbering rule and continuing through to today. I'm starting to think it may be a chronic problem. But, as a source of inspiration, what is inexhaustible may be invaluable.
Coming next: Self-Publishing: or, Watching the Publishing Industry Chew Up My Heart and Say "Meh."
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