Parallel Lives

I had someone ask me recently (on DA) to give the general synopsis of Ice. Having not nailed down the final details, I was a little hesitant but I ended up anwsering some of my own questions in the process of answering theirs. So I thought I would share:

"It's a story that follows two characters, women living 20,000+ years apart, and how they cope/deal with fear and danger in their respective cultures. I've settled on the prehistoric storyline but the modern one isn't quite sitting well enough in my head to start working on it. But it's nearly there. It's really going to focus on what sorts of day to day or cultural dangers we face when we (using 'we' from the perspective of my own western middle class up bringing) no longer have to worry about food and shelter on a daily basis. What fears are real, and what are validated only in our own minds. What are we capable of doing when we encounter physical dangers (pereicved or imagined) and is the seperatation between basic surival skills (including violence) and our contemporary way of life reconcilable."

The purpose of the icewoman is to act as a contrast as well as a mirror for the contemporary women, but the biggest questions I'm struggling with right now is: What am I trying to say?
It's not enough to  have an interesting comparison. The act of making the comparison means that readers are given the oppertunity to read deeper than a simple narative. To make the best story possible, I need to have a clear idea in my mind what that deeper reading(s) could be, understanding  that there is always another unexpected way of looking at a story given an individual's own knowledge and experiences. When it comes down to it, I wonder if what I'm really trying to voice are some of my own fears? I'll have to wait and see what this archeologist digs up for me.

Keep your eyes peeled! I will be posting the original story board here soon.

Thanks for reading!

~ Christine