Finish-a-thon progress

[kerravonsen]

Words: 7426 (not counting snippets of later scenes)
Last sentence: "Of course, the town wasn't actually called Nowheresville, but it might as well have been."

And since I don't know anything about small towns in the USA, I have had to pause there, especially since I'm not sure whether I want to say anything about the small town at all, because it would be a distraction from the main drama at this point... It's just my darned logical brain, figuring that this bit of the drama actually has to take place somewhere...

Well, I've gotten over another hurdle, anyway, in getting this far. It's just that this story is like running, well, lots of hurdles! (deep breath) Oh well.

I don't know how long I can put off watching The Christmas Invasion...

Comments

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

FWIW, the nature of small towns in the USA, I think, depends an awful lot on where in the USA you are...

[kerravonsen]

Somewhere in or near Utah.

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Utah's a bit unusual, culturally, in ways that I'm not really all that familiar with, but I do know small Southwestern towns in general, and I've at least been to Utah, so if you've got any specific questions later on I might be able to be of some use.

[kerravonsen]

I think I'm going to have to just make up a lot of rubbish, and then ask you to beta it later, if you don't mind.

The main purpose of the small town is to be somewhere where Rose can hole up which is far away from large population centres, yet be somewhere where she can walk/drive down Main Street to the General Store and buy a bottle of milk, if you see what I mean. And where she can have a house on the edge of town without anybody poking around. Which of course, could be completely impossible.

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

That all sounds entirely plausible to me, except that "General Store" is kind of an antiquated concept. She's more likely to be buying her milk at a Circle K convenience store or something. :)

[kerravonsen]

It's these kind of details I'll have to ask you to look at later... 8-)

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

I can do that. :)

[kerravonsen]

Thanks.

[kerravonsen]

It doesn't have to be in Utah, but plot-logic dictates that it be somewhere within reasonable driving distance of Salt Lake City. Though it doesn't have to be, it would just be more convenient. Somewhere 3-8 hours drive away would be nice.

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

Well, Utah's a fairly big state, but Salt Lake City's sort of up in the corner, so you could reach any one of three other states in a few hours. Actually, you could get a lot of places in eight hours, I think. And there's certainly no shortage of small towns.

[mistraltoes.livejournal.com]

Montana is rather sparsely populated; it might do nicely.

[kerravonsen]

What's the general landscape like? I'd prefer somewhere flat with long straight deserted roads where one can drive very fast just for the fun of it (this for other plot reasons).

[mistraltoes.livejournal.com]

My recollection from years ago is that that's about exactly right. The roads run through fields of wheat, corn, vegetables, cattle, hay, or fallow land, and are paralleled by series of telephone poles and wire. I don't expect it's changed all that much. I think the hardest part of your requirements is the idea that nobody would be too curious of a newcomer to the area--you may have to come up with a good cover story for her. Maybe she pretends to be a writer on a retreat?

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

Montana's on the other side of Wyoming. I suppose it might be driveable in eight hours, but that looks kind of dubious to me. Anyway, Utah isn't exactly a teeming hive of humanity, and there are plenty of deserted back roads all across the southwest. Heck, if you want long, flat, straight deserted nothingness, I'd say that describes the salt flats perfectly. Heck, it's so perfect for that sort of thing they built a major raceway there. :)

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

Montana's on the other side of Wyoming.

Although, actually, I suppose you'd go through Idaho, instead. and, looking at the map, I think I did overestimate the distance. You still don't need to go that far for emptiness, though.

Hmm. You could also get her to Nevada. Nobody'd question a newcomer in the vicinity of Las Vegas. :)

[kerravonsen]

But if we were in the vicinity of Las Vegas, wouldn't that be too close to major population?

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

Depends on how far away you want to get. Outside Vegas proper, there's a few suburbs and a lot of desert.

[kerravonsen]

Heck, if you want long, flat, straight deserted nothingness, I'd say that describes the salt flats perfectly.

Ah, good.

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

Mind you, the salt flats are also pretty remarkable terrain: utterly flat, utterly white, utterly dead, and utterly hellish in the summer sun. :)

[mistraltoes.livejournal.com]

We did Seattle to Boise in one day lots of times when I was a kid, and then to Salt Lake by noon the next day. If she's in western Montana and doesn't obey the speed limits, it shouldn't be too much to cut downward through Idaho on I-15 (I'd have to check the mileage). I mention Montana because it sounded like the terrain would suit. But I'm sure Utah is fine, too. I don't remember the salt flats, though, just all that lovely red dirt in Bryce Canyon and thereabouts (Bryce Canyon being about my second favorite place on the planet, but then, I'm weird).

[kerravonsen]

My recollection from years ago is that that's about exactly right.

Oh good!

I think the hardest part of your requirements is the idea that nobody would be too curious of a newcomer to the area

So do I. Especially as it's not just herself she has to cover up for; she is going to have things which absolutely nobody should be seeing.
One possible easing of the problems is if, well, I could probably make the plot that she'd had the house for a couple of years already before this point in the plot, if it was close enough to SLC that she could get there on the occassional weekend, she could just say it was her weekend retreat away from the Big City. Except that she'd have to have an explanation as to why she was suddenly there 24/7.
If she could say she was an inventor it would make more sense, actually. But it probably wouldn't keep away the curious.

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

I can think of a couple of possible ways to work around this. One: you have her in an isolated rural area, far away from nosy neighbors, but not too far from a large population center where she can drive for groceries (assuming she has a car) and not attract attention. (Aka the Las Vegas option, though I imagine Salt Lake City would work just as well.) This is actually really easy in that part of the country. Most of the people who live in the really rural areas go into the larger towns or cities to do all their shopping and stuff, anyway. Alternatively, you find someplace like where I live: about 10-12 thousand people: small enough to still be recognizably a small town, but large enough that the locals don't expect to know absolutely everybody and a new person can go relatively unnoticed. (Although it helps that this is a college town, too, I guess, and the locals are thus used to changing faces.)

[mistraltoes.livejournal.com]

Ooh, yes, a college town would be perfect.

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

Heh. Actually, the more I think about it my town would be absolutely perfect. Right size, lots of empty desert (on which "driving really fast for fun" is actually a moderately popular pastime, at least if you have a 4W drive), easy enough to buy a plot of land on the outskirts away from neighbors without attracting a whole lot of attention, and, best of all, if people assume you're a Tech student, they'll probably pay no attention whatsoever to lights, strange noises, explosions, eccentric visitors, or any other weirdness you might be involved with. :)

I think we're more than eight hours from Salt Lake, though. :)

[kerravonsen]

What exactly do you mean by "an isolated rural area"? You mean, like a farmhouse or something? Not an actual town, per se? It would mean I'd have to drop the "Nowheresville" line, but I think a completely isolated area would actually be better than a college town, for certain reasons. Let's just say that Rose is doing something dangerous, and wants to be as far away from people as possible, while still being able to get supplies fairly easily.

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

I meant, outside of town. I mean, the way things are here, you have a town with, you know, supermarkets and dentist's offices and whatever makes a town, then as you get to the outskirts, the houses might get further apart, with fields and such in between, until, after a few miles, you've just got ranchland, and houses on isolated plots of land, well away from neighbors. You could have her, like you said, on the outskirts of a town, or even a bit farther out, a few miles from a town (which could still easily be "nowheresville").