ASYLUM
Asylum is a dystopian science fiction novel set in a future where water scarcity led to The Blue War. Atomic bombs brought firestorms that caused a nuclear winter, and the surface of the earth became unliveable for those without access to underground bunkers.
Twenty-one years later, we follow three siblings who grew up in a shelter called Asylum. The eldest two are consumed with the idea of reentering the overworld, their birthplace. The youngest, who was born in the bunker, feels lost and struggles to find belonging.
At its root, this is a story about finding your place in the world, and it explores themes of nature vs nurture.
Over the past sixteen years of this idea percolating, it has taken on many different iterations. I’ve built a timeline for this world with over a hundred years of history, and have plans for this project to be a multi-media, multi-generational story that follows not only the three siblings mentioned above, but their parents (podcast), as well as their own children (tv series). So it’s safe to say I’ve been overwhelmed with the vastness of this world, and I’ve struggled with where exactly to begin telling this story.
Within the last year I rediscovered a character backstory breakdown that I had word vomited out during the early stages of the pandemic, which consists of 63 pages and 39,143 words, and realized within that I had everything outlined to tell the siblings’ story. It was the inspiration I so desperately needed.
From May 1st to August 31st 2026, my goal is to write at least 50,000 words of the first draft of the novel.