Blogosphere! I have good reason for having been gone so long. I’ve been back in Scotland for about three weeks now and I’m almost done with–you guessed it–my dissertation! It’s due THIS FRIDYA (gulp) and I am currently in the throes of editing the sucker. It’s supposed to be 15,000 words. I wrote 17,000 and have gotten it down to 15,800. Who needs sleep, right? I’m aiming to have it done by Wednesday or early Thursday so I can have it printed and bound before the deadline-deadline. Piece of cake!
There is this thing, though. I need a synopsis of the whole novel, since my dissertation is an excerpt from said novel. For this, I implore you, the internet, to read the following synopsis and tell me what you think. You don’t have to like the story in general, but telling me what you think of the synopsis as a synopsis could be super useful. Comment below!
Oooh, and also, I’m not particularly crazy about the title of the novel. Sea Fever. If you have any title suggestions after you read the synopsis, feel free to add that too!
Also feel free to just read the synopsis, not comment, and think, “Wow, that Katy. She’s so great.” Cause that’s fine, too.
Synopsis of Sea Fever
Sea Fever is a novel dealing with a world much like ours set in a near future. This society has been hit with the pox, a fast-acting and fatal disease with no cure. To combat this, people all over the world take to the sea, living on boats and oilrigs and ships, trying to scrape by. They maintain greenhouses onboard, catch fish, use solar panels and whale oil, and scavenge from abandoned ships they find—anything they can do to survive.
For those who have always lived at sea, the change in lifestyle is still drastic. Not being able to set foot on shore limits everything. Told through the life of Evvy, a precocious twelve year-old girl who has always called the brigantine Viola home, we learn about this new way of life and how it affects everyone.
Evvy’s whole world is changed when her brother is kidnapped while the Viola’s crew is scavenging an abandoned ship. A group of bandits takes the abandoned ship at gunpoint, and Evvy’s brother along with them. The Viola is forced to limp back to Hibernia, an oilrig used as a headquarters for pox survivors, to regroup and decide what to do.
The novel is a bildungsroman in a bizarre world that throws into stark relief what humanity does when faced with a global crisis, whether it be pulling together or pulling apart.
(And, for your viewing pleasure, a terrible and fake cover that I very quickly created!!!)
UPDATE!
My wonderful friend Katie took a shot at editing the synopsis! I tweaked her suggestions a little and have come up with something I like much better, but still captures the essence of what I’m trying to do. Excitement! Here it is:
Set in the near future, Sea Fever is the tale of a society beset by the pox: a fast-acting and fatal disease with no cure. To combat this, people all over the world take to the sea, living on ships and oilrigs, trying to scrape by. They maintain greenhouses onboard, catch fish, use solar panels and whale oil, and scavenge from abandoned ships they find—anything they can do to survive, when setting foot ashore means almost certain death.
For those who have always lived at sea, the change in lifestyle is still drastic. Not being able to set foot on shore limits everything. Evvy Muir, a precocious twelve year-old girl, has always called the brigantine Viola home, but her whole world is changed when her brother is kidnapped while the Viola’s crew is scavenging an abandoned ship. The Viola is forced to limp back to Hibernia, an oilrig used as a headquarters for pox survivors, to regroup and decide their next course of action.
In this bildungsroman, Evvy’s struggles throw into stark relief what humanity does when faced with a global crisis, whether it be pulling together or pulling apart.
a penchant for penning 
Wow, that Katy. She is so great!
Truly — can’t wait to read the book. Now I’m off to see if bildungsroman is a real word:)
Thanks for the encouragement, Betsy! You’ll be one of the first people to see a copy, I promise. I also promise that bildungsroman is a real word. It’s one of my favorites. Germans do have a knack for kooky words.
Yes! And I have a knack for making them up. Example — the way the water reflects back up on the bottom of tree branches (or even docks or hulls): Der Wasserspakkle! I know, right? And I’m only Norwegian:) I am about to concoct a word for how proud I am of your accomplishments — Der Kattiplzhoen?
Well, it appears that it is a novel in training by a novice. The story line is interesting. Sort of a cross between Kevin Costner at sea and Robinson Crusoe with a fatal disease. Where is the lab and the people working for a cure?
Great job KD. Keep me posted.
Papa, I love getting your feedback, but sometimes I don’t think you know what certain phrases mean. It’s like when Mom calls air vinegar-y. You kids are crazy.
Very Very Exciting! I truly look forward to reading my daughter’s first novel! I love the setting of the “sea” and a main character being a precocious Scottish lassie. I love you and am very proud of you! Mom
Hi KD… This is great…love the concept and would personally love to read this novel! You should be so proud of your accomplishment of having completed a novel, let alone one that sounds so promising! You asked for help on the synopsis and title… Both sound great, but I will give it more thought. The only line in the synopsis that called out to me slightly as maybe needing editing was this one, “Not being able to set foot on shore limits everything.”. The only reason it spoke to me was because of a similar statement in the paragraph before with the phrase “setting foot ashore”… Not perhaps that significant as a redundancy since not an exact phrase requote, but I did notice it as I read. Not sure there is anything that would sound better, however, in your first synopsis that redundancy was not there, but I do like the addition of the phrase, “when setting foot ashore means almost certain death” to that first paragraph, so if anything were to be changed I guess I would prefer the edit of the sentence in the second paragraph. That said, when I reread it a few times the redundancy does not stick out to me as much, and in some ways I have started to find it less of a redundancy and more of a reaffirmation of the driving force of the novel… So now not sure if you should change it at all! Lots of help I am, huh? (-: Will think some more on the title…. I think it is a fitting title and will work, but I understand that the title of a novel can make or break it and is extremely important so I will think on it more. Can’t wait to read it! Xoxo