FA 100 - Creative Acts Part Five

I have talked a little bit before now abot the novel I have been working on. This novel being about an experimental procedure called "Fabricated Identity Transplant" that takes a person's memories, replacing them with extremely well fabricated ones. Thereby replacing their "Identity".

I had hit a wall not to long ago. I had a decent story, but it was completely stand-alone. I very much enjoy the kind of story that has a lot of side stories that all interlock and solve each other in the end. What would I do for something like that? I was stumped.

I talked to a friend of mine in the Theater Department. I told her about my main story, with a man who had been changed by F.I.T and was not exactly happy about this. I finished my talk, leaving her with a thought provoked look on her face. She said to me;

"Why not have a woman who was in love with him before the test?"

It felt so obvious, once someone had told me.

I began to work on the story. My first creation was pretty similar to what my friend had told me. It was a Woman named Catherine who had been in love with the protagonist before he was changed. Because my Protagonist used to be a violent criminal, I toyed with the idea that She would have had no idea about his crimes. Perhaps when he met this woman it sparked within him a desire to change, making it all the more immoral that these scientists had changed him. He had the desire to change, to become better! And they effectively destroyed him. This would also produce some drama from Catherine, having not known who this man really was.

I also toyed with the idea that Catherine would not be alive at the time the story was taking place. My Protagonist Ethan was changed, but his story was that the procedure was flawed, so he began to remember who he really was (A process I imagined to be physically very painful). What if he began to remember this Woman, who he loved and hid his true self from, and the events in a story before resulted in her death?

Also a thing to consider. Just that little comment by a friend of mine, and the ideas started to flow.

In the end, I decided on a combination of these ideas. Perhaps, during his shenanigans before F.I.T took his life, Ethan Jones met a woman named Catherine. She was kind, sweet, and innocent, and Ethan loved her. So much, he was afraid that she would leave if he revealed his true self.

They were taken in by people whom Ethan had hurt in his past. Over time, they realised the connection between the two of them. These people were so enraged with Ethan's crime that they tied Caterine up, telling Ethan that they were going to execute her. They would use her pain to make him suffer, as Ethan had done to them so long ago.

Ethan tried to escape their clutches, but he was unsucessful, and Catherine was killed right in front of him. Enraged, he fought with a new vigour, defeating his captors and killing them. He returned to his prior life, never forgetting the girl who almost made him good.


My thinking for the delivery of this storyline was to have the Post-F.I.T Ethan have periodic memory flashes. Very painful to experience, and also very confusing. He does not remember doing these things, but they seem more real than the life he does remember.

Of course, that's because they are more real, but all the same.

Through the course of the story, Ethan would continue to put together the story of the man he used to be. The details of Catherine's death would reveal themselves at the time of a great emotional climax for the Post - F.I.T Ethan.

Dark stuff, but immensely intruiging to me.



If I had to describe the process behind creating this, I would fill my sentences with a lot of "Errr..."s and "Ummm..."s, because it is fairly difficult to describe a feeling. as with my acting, I still don't know how it happens. Maybe I overanalyse these things, but I have little to no clue how I create. Usually I get a hint... or a little nudge in the right direction... and the rest just flows.

I have not really considered the audience, in regards to this story. Mostly I feel like writing for myself. I enjoy a damn good story, so I try to create damn good stories. Hopefully I suceed. Hopefully I suceeded.

It's still a work in progress. Perhaps you'll hear more about it in the future.