Ideas - just what I don't need
There's a very popular series of novels called Left Behind, which dramatise one sect's idea of the end of the world. I've got a copy of the first book: it's a moderately readable thriller, if you overlook little things like the way no-one reacts to the disappearance of all the children in the world. Fred Clark at slacktivist has been patiently dissecting it to bring the flaws into sharper relief for those of us who miss the finer details in our rush to find out who dies.

Some fans of Fred's work set up a blog called Right Behind, using the basic premise of Left Behind and dealing with some aspects that the original authors didn't really give much consideration to. I asked for posting rights many months ago, but never got anything into postable shape because ... yeah.

This week, I finally wrote something. It was supposed to scratch one very specific itch - people who know me reasonably well can probably figure out who these slightly-disguised characters are based on - and it wasn't supposed to go anywhere. But the more I thought about it, the more I thought there should be more to the story. Assuming Clare gets what she wants, what then?

I doubt the people who have lost children will be all that happy for her. Even Clare herself is going to have some rough times as she comes to terms with the fact that her baby has three siblings sie will probably never get to meet. Doctors are going to want to monitor the hell out of her to make sure whatever caused the disappearances (fetuses vanished along with children) doesn't happen again, and there will very likely be some media coverage of the "Human race rests on your shoulders - how do you feel about that?" variety. Plenty of interesting stories in that, even without getting into the idea that the world will end before the poor kid turns seven.

Let's recap. I've reached the very toughest part of Dragon007, I've got no shortage of Jaybook essays in need of serious fixing up, I've offered to write for the Scunthorpe United programme, and now I'm being seduced by fanfic. (Is it still fanfic if we're not keen on the original work?) On the positive side, at least my mind is still capable of having new ideas.