Changes

When I was thinking of how to answer the questions I asked earlier on this blog, I thought of something that would make things easier...and hopefully better.

If Dr. Corryn needed someone to transfer her information to, what if she used her daughter, Wendy, when she was maybe five-years-old. At a young age, Wendy wouldn't remember that the experiment happened (unless she really tried, I'm doing a lot of research on Memory). After Corryn dies from the experiment, her lab partner Ardon, who was against the idea but couldn't stop Corryn, gave Wendy to another family to take care of her. She grew up never knowing what happened to her, and no one knew that, even though it killed Corryn, the experiment actually worked...with some problems. Not only did Corryn transfer the knowlege in her brain, but she also transfered her memories. Now Wendy is fifteen. She has dreams about Corryn, Corryn's life and sometimes sees glimpses of the experiment. She has no idea why she's seeing these things and starts to believe she has the ability to see her past life. That doesn't explain, however, why she is so smart. Wendy has enough knowlege in her head to be the youngest physicist known to man. She's so intelligent that she makes her teachers at school look pathetic. Her teachers send her to Harvard because they believe she will receive an adequate education, and she meets 60 year old Ardon. Ardon looks familiar to her. And the mysteries unravel.

Now I just need to unfold the story in a way that is interesting and makes sense. I like having Corryn and Wendy's stories told simutaneously because it shows how both character end up on the same path towards one thing...the mind uploading experiment. Corryn decides to go ahead with the experiment at any cost, even putting her own daughter's life at risk. Wendy needs to make the same choice, but she has completely different motives. There's another way I can tell this story though. Kind of like Bourne Identity, where she can remember things as they happen and use the flashbacks of Corryn's life to mirror Wendy's life (Wendy walks into a familiar room and the flashback shows Corryn in that room conducting an experiment). I like the first idea better, but the second is still an option.

One of the things I need to think about now is...do I want the stakes to be even higher and have Wendy start to die? I have to do more research on the brain, but my explanation now would be that I don't think a person's brain could handle processing information from someone else's brain. Too much information at once. Problem: I want maybe 5-10 years between the time of the experiment and Wendy's life now, before the results of the experiment start to kill her. But if her brain could handle it at 5 years old and she's been able to grow up without a problem (besides maybe some headaches) then why would it all of a sudden start killing her now? Was she dying all this time? Why didn't it kill her instantly like it did with Corryn? I need some answers...or a different way to tell the story so it makes sense. Contemplate on this, I shall.