05/19/2011: "My Soul To Keep" - Sketching My Way To The Future

Let me start off by saying I'm in no way an artist.  Yet I found myself in a position where I had to draw up some sketches for the Side Project 2, "My Soul To Keep".  I knew I'd have people moving from location to location within a hemisphere fifty miles across.  So I sketched up the landscape of the habitat, the town of Coventry, where most of the action takes place, and one specific location.  I'll be doing others as I need them.

I'll have to do the same thing with Before the Dawn, also.  My characters are storming a five story building.  It would be a good idea to know where things are located.

Anyway, here's the sketches I've done so far for "My Soul To Keep":

This is the general landscape of the habitat, known as Coventry.  It has a diameter of fifty miles.  The square at the bottom is the town, also known as Coventry.  The lines are a monorail system, the squares are stations.

This is the town of Coventry.  (Remember, nothing is really to scale.  This is just a general layout.)  The town is divided into eight sectors.  The various locations are: 1) East Athletic Field with locker rooms, training facilities, showers & spa (Sector 1); 2) East Amphitheater - for concerts and plays (Sector 2); 3) East Residential Complex A - 100 residents (Sector 3); 4) East Residential Complex B - 100 residents (Sector 3); 5) Restaurant Complex - room enough to accommodate all 600 residents at the same time - this doesn't happen often (Sectors 3/4); 6) South Residential Complex A - 100 residents (Sector 4); 7) Nursery/Education Complex (Sector 4); 8) Magistrar's office - Town Hall (Sector 4/5); 9) Sleep Center (Sector 5); 10) South Residential Complex B - 100 Residents (Sector 5); 11) Entertainment Complex - food & drink are available (Arcade) (Sector 5/6); 12) West Residential Complex A - 100 Residents (Sector 6); 13) West Residential Complex B - 100 Residents (Sector 6); 14) West Amphitheater - for concerts and plays (Sector 7); 15) West Athletic Field with locker rooms, training facilities, showers & spa (Sector 8); 16) Reflecting Pond (Sectors 7,8,1&2); 17) Town Center - Hub for monorails, general meeting area - food & drink available (Sectors 7,8,1&2); 18) Church of Ashk'rhaya - more of a chapel actually - there are no regular services - it's more of a place for quiet retrospection (Sectors 4/5).  Again, the lines are monorails, the squares are stations.

Because Coventry is an enclosed habitat, the environment is tightly controlled, as is the population.  You live forty years then you report to the Sleep Center, where you're put to sleep...permanently.  (A bit Logan's Run-ish, I know.)  There is no way to avoid or postpone it; the need to report to the Sleep Center is programmed into them.  It's like an instinct with them.  This is the Waiting Room, where they actually go to say good-bye to loved ones and actually die.

The general layout is:  1) Double Door Entrance; 2) Holographic windows (the Sleep Center is a windowless building.  The holograms are there to put the witnesses at ease); 3) Seating; 4) Sarcophagus (Drawer slides out, person lays in it, drawer closes.  The person is vaporized.); 5) Speaking platform (Magistrar & attendants only); 6) Doors to back room (Magistrar & attendants only).

Hopefully this will help as I get into the story.  I have at least one more location to draw up (the residential apartment) but I'll get to them later.