Digging Deep

It's hard to finish one project when you have all these ideas for the next one. So I'm trying to figure out how Jake and Evie are going to escape the soul-eating entity, but then I'm thinking about subterranean worlds in 1912, government psy-ops programs, nerdy romance, and coal mines.

So I'm going to give you an idea of all the stuff I've been looking through.

It all started with the "subterranean fiction" part. It's a very old school sort of science fiction. Kind of a 1850-1920 type thing. We're all so logical with our sci-fi nowadays. It's all… hyper-realism and completely believable science and only the most credible of devices. And that's all well and good, but it's not right for this. This needs a more… vintage touch. Which is why we have the tentative date of 1912.

Then came the "occult detective" portion of the recipe. I had to figure out exactly what that meant. It's detective fiction, with a good heaping spoonful of supernaturality and/or magic. So that got me thinking. Now, fun fact, I once took an entire class on the history of the occult. And also one on conspiracies and secret societies. So I remembered that there's quite an interesting history of governments doing research into the occult. The Nazis went looking for Shambhala (why do you think they adopted an Indian symbol of good luck, the swastika?). The US army tried to psychically kill goats. Just because they have some kind of authority doesn't mean they don't do crazy shit.

The point of all that is that there could conceivably be some kind of government entity training people in the use of the occult. Not like, really (although maybe), but in the story. That is, our occult detective could be a detective, trained in the occult. Or he could be some kind of god damn wizard, I don't know.

There's still a lot of occult things I need to look into more. Helena Blavatsky and Spiritualism, Mt. Shasta and conspiracies thereof,  Hollow Earth theories… Because while, yes, I don't need to be as scientifically accurate in this vintage story, I do need to be at least kind of historically accurate. Why? Because I'm the kind of person who took classes on the history of the occult. A nerd, is what I mean.

Oh, and while we're on the subject of Hollow Earth, that opens a whole other can of worms. And what is the Earth, but a great, big, can of worms? Anyway… There's the question of how this place was found. I left myself a note earlier, which helpfully suggested: "They dug too deep, in a coal mine? It broke through to someplace else. Expeditions were sent. Maps drawn." Now, why coal mines? Well, they're rife with disaster, inherently. Don't name your town Centralia unless you're interested in coal mines or coal mine disasters (or massacres, but who knows if that's related). They're like pits of hell on their own, eternally burning, bringing death and damnation in the dark, with knockers tapping out warnings to deaf ears.

Coal mines freak me the hell out, if that wasn't apparent.

So I have all of that, that I need to coalesce into some kind of plot, plus add in a dash of romance. I have a feeling that's going to be the easy part. I have some ideas about that too, but they're not nearly as fun.

That's all I have for now, just a bunch of random information I'm throwing at you. Honestly, that's what talking to me is usually like. So… you're welcome. And… I'm sorry.

I'll see you Friday.