"Camp Sundown" FK Story Ideas
This weekend, the radio program Soundprint featured an article, "Sunshine and Darkness," about Xeroderma Pigmentosum. People with XP, among other challenges, cannot tolerate sunlight. Within the story of Forever Knight, XP is the most practical, realistic basis for Nick's "sun allergy" cover (we all knew that, I'm sure).
What was new to me was Camp Sundown, a "night camp" offering sun-sensitive children the traditional camp experience, "just on a different time clock."
It's straightforward to imagine that the de Brabant Foundation might support such a charity. A more interesting connection might be that Nick, though he tries to stay out of the media (inadvertently helped by Schanke, who tries to get into the media ~g~), has been involved with some prominent national cases, topped by the international case of its day, apprehending the criminals who terrified the whole world in "A More Permanent Hell," and all it takes is one human-interest story about the cop allergic to sunlight before he might - if it makes a good story - become somewhat famous among people who (naturally) believe him to have the same disease they do. This might especially apply to a child who admires the heroic police officer. Someone might invite him to visit the camp and spend time with the children on his vacation. Nick as a camp counselor? Presenter? Celebrity guest? A story with that scenario might explore Nick identifying with other people who can't bear sunlight, yet feeling alienated from them that the reason is different, and guilty that he's letting them believe a lie by masquerading as an adult with XP and inadvertently giving false impressions of what they can expect. Such a story might touch on Nick's feelings about childhood and parenthood, the historical origins of his knowledge of "camp skills," and the Enforcer-ridden dangers of fame. It might fit well in the long hiatus between first and second seasons, when Nick believes Lacroix to be dead, because Nick then wouldn't have to worry about Lacroix following him. And if one wanted to go the "celebrity" route, Schanke could accompany Nick, and be the odd person out for a little while, surrounded by people who prefer the night shift, so to speak, and learning (he thinks) a bit more about what Nick's childhood must have been like.
I think that there is potentially a lot of rich storytelling material there, if anyone might like to take it up. I might come back to that Schanke idea, myself, someday, but I absolutely do not mean to hog "Camp Sundown" as a font of FK story ideas! It's available for all.
Comments on Dreamwidth:
What was new to me was Camp Sundown, a "night camp" offering sun-sensitive children the traditional camp experience, "just on a different time clock."
It's straightforward to imagine that the de Brabant Foundation might support such a charity. A more interesting connection might be that Nick, though he tries to stay out of the media (inadvertently helped by Schanke, who tries to get into the media ~g~), has been involved with some prominent national cases, topped by the international case of its day, apprehending the criminals who terrified the whole world in "A More Permanent Hell," and all it takes is one human-interest story about the cop allergic to sunlight before he might - if it makes a good story - become somewhat famous among people who (naturally) believe him to have the same disease they do. This might especially apply to a child who admires the heroic police officer. Someone might invite him to visit the camp and spend time with the children on his vacation. Nick as a camp counselor? Presenter? Celebrity guest? A story with that scenario might explore Nick identifying with other people who can't bear sunlight, yet feeling alienated from them that the reason is different, and guilty that he's letting them believe a lie by masquerading as an adult with XP and inadvertently giving false impressions of what they can expect. Such a story might touch on Nick's feelings about childhood and parenthood, the historical origins of his knowledge of "camp skills," and the Enforcer-ridden dangers of fame. It might fit well in the long hiatus between first and second seasons, when Nick believes Lacroix to be dead, because Nick then wouldn't have to worry about Lacroix following him. And if one wanted to go the "celebrity" route, Schanke could accompany Nick, and be the odd person out for a little while, surrounded by people who prefer the night shift, so to speak, and learning (he thinks) a bit more about what Nick's childhood must have been like.
I think that there is potentially a lot of rich storytelling material there, if anyone might like to take it up. I might come back to that Schanke idea, myself, someday, but I absolutely do not mean to hog "Camp Sundown" as a font of FK story ideas! It's available for all.
Comments on Dreamwidth: