Untitled Part 1

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by Wittig

by Wittig

notes:

it is 1920 * it is the 1920's

ww1 is recently over, as is the paris peace conference of 1919.

the nautilus is over 50 years old, nemo must be in his late 80s or 90s by now.

it is a very different world; with uboats (& anti-submarine warfare), airplanes, etc.

& yet, they are still out there...

(to do: research a concordance with everything verne wrote about them? how to treat the movies & etc.?)

should i make nemo as described in the books, or the films (whichones?)? i think i favour sticking to the original verne, for the most part(?)

structure the book as one last great/grand voyage?

use nemo as the main character/narrator? or some new person who finds them? other crew/passenger -person? multiple main character/narrators ? nemo would be fun, but quite difficult... i think i'll try doing it as hium? give more of his history/past/life?

the nautilus is now in a world that has got much smaller, & has a whole lot of new technology. hiding is much more difficult.

the ship is still extraordinary; deep-diving, power source, materials/metal-alloys, etc. (& nemo has even made some improvements/upgrades over the years, advanced his own researches & kept up on the sci-tech news. (possibly the boat has been enlarged?)

but it is also old, & worn, &c.

the crew is assorted. aging loyalists from the old days, & some "new people" - random strays, stragglers, foundlings, refugees, castoffs, war survivors, etc. mixed group, & their loyalty is variable. possibly there is some "generational" crew? children & grandchildren, etc. families? but overall the crew is still pretty rag-tag. & not bonded in the same way as the original group.

OR what about this: the nautilus is a "ghostship", or gvery nearly so? just mnemo, & maybe a handful of other ppl; oldsters from way back &/or a few "recruits/conscriptees", maybe a ww1 straggler or 2? lots of automation? (robots?)

i think i want to go with the "ghostship" version; nemo + a few other ppl, a mix of oldies from his history, & a few strays he's picked up. their reliability & loyalty is varied. lots of automation, maybe robots?

but the nautillus is showing her age; some corrosion, gunk in the corners & cracks & crevices, damage-repairs, etc.

maybe the last sail-out will be just nemo alone? (or the sinking is more impromptu; not accidental or by (direct) action of others, but done of necessity, "in the moment"? i'll think on that) right now, i think i favour nemo taking the nautillus on the last leg alone, or with only a skeleton (dig the wordplay :p) handful of crew. the last loyalists, the bare minimum to operate the vessel & get it there. could still do the last bit by himself; & probably should be the last man off the boat? after he opens the her hatches to the sea, & the water is pouring in...

their place in the world is uncertain, & nemo is worried about the future, & about what happens when he dies or is unable to command any longer. i.e.; who would take over commend of the nautillus, or what to do with her?

do we get a new person to "discover" them? narrate, etc. or do we just use nemo & crew as-is? not sure.

tell how they've survived, & what they've been doing since the verne stories.

what their world & life is like now

various challenges?:

hiding in the new age

how they interact/connections/etc. with the rest of the human world.

do some stuff about the great war, the uboat/submarine war & how it affected them, where they hid & how, etc., & the botched peace & the problems coming in the future (i.e.; ww 2, economics/world finance/great depression?, etc. )

one last adventure/quest/great voyage?

a mutiny? let's tentatively assume that it fails, but it tips the balance in nemo's decision-making on the future/fate of the nautillus, etc. ?

it ends with nemo scuttling the boat in the deepest part of the ocean (the grand finale). they evacute (possibly not everybody (who has survived & is still in the crew) goes on this final voyage; probably they do not. some would already have been "offloaded".) they have a small to medium-sized boat to evacuate too. possibly some sort of a plushy yacht, that they acquired somehow, or built? an aviso/escort/cutter type of ship? (sails or just motor?) & he & the crew (remaining after the events of the novel) go off in their separate ways (they are all comfortably financed; various sources - sunken treasure, undersea/island/etc. operations, secret/black market trading/contacts in the outer world/etc. ), to re-integrate in the "real world".

many go to south america, but perhaps nemo settles in the french south pacific? tahiti or some such quiet/"tranquil" but civilised place, for his retirement? :) (reference that french painter who went to tahiti... what was his name? was it chagall (*sp?) ? >__<)

ok, so DECISION TIME:

let's do this as "the life & times of captain nemo", framed in the 1920s setting & looking back; along with current events in that "present-time".

we can also use this to set up a bunch of short little "episodic" stories of things hat happened with nemo &/or the nautillus.

like encounters with a german u-boot in ww1 ?

might need to expand this beyond 1 book, if i am realy serious about telling the life story of nemo & his ship. but the 1920s makes a good frame & end-point?

should try writing some bits n fragments to this asap. :)