Multiple Life Sentences

[codyco]

Bascially I have an idea for a novel that would kinda go like this . . .

You know how sometimes they sentence people to multiple life sentences? Well the plot is that the American government has found a way to track poeple's essence or soul throughout time, like reincarnation, and now when someone is sentenced to more than one life term that is actually what happens. The basic idea is that people who committ murders are always the same people just in different bodies. Are you following?

My questions are:

Do you think it is too complicated?

How would they track people's essences?

Should it be in the near or far future?

Thanks for the help guys

[Its_Chase]

Wow. I actually love this idea. I think it has the potential to turn out amazing.

Too complicated? I don't think so.

How would they track people's essences? I have no idea.

Near or far future? Maybe somewhere in between. =)

You should definitely let me know where you go with this. I'd love to read it.

[Lawfire]

Sounds like an interesting idea, and could turn out to be a great story.



Do you think it is too complicated?
No, not if it was written well.


How would they track people's essences?
That's a key point. :) Maybe some advanced DNA sampling.


Should it be in the near or far future?
Fairly far future, IMO.

Good luck!

[Kit]

I have to agree this is a fantastic idea, and would love to see how it does turn out. I'd set it far enough into the future that you could believe technology might advance by that time, but not so far into the future that its hundreds of years away from us.

As for how they'd track the essence... I guess thats up to you ;) Although the advanced DNA sampling idea is probably a good enough one.

[Heather Louise]

This sounds like a cool idea, Cpdyco, but it is going to need a lot of planning. Do you actually have an idea about what you want to write, ot just what you have told here. Because although this is a good idea, you actually need a story to go with it.

If the novel is in the view of the person who is serving the life sentences them perhaps you do not need to know much about how they manage to keep track of the souls, maybe it is comething only government officials know about so it makes things easier for you.

[mammamaia]

dna won't do any good, since their 'essence' [that i call 'intellessence'] would be in a new body altogether, with its own dna... they'd have to track the soul/mind, which has no dna... and you can design any way you want for them to do that, as you're the writer/creator, right?

it's an interesting idea, but if the premise is that the person be incarcerated for 'life' or lives, then the new body would have to be tracked down and thrown into the clink at birth, or as an infant/child/teen, when they're found... the main glitch will be whether to have the hapless reincarnated person know who s/he was in the earlier life, or not... in the most widely accepted theory of reincarnation, the new ones have no memory of their former selves...

[Lawfire]

With Sci-Fi, one has to "think outside of the box." The DNA was just a starting point idea. Perhaps in the writer's version of the future, man would have found an advanced form of molecular substance that is carried over with the soul. Perhaps, the formula is imprinted on the soul and no matter what body it enters, that body produces this substance.

[Cogito]

Talk about having to pay for the sins of the father, though!

I personally don't find the premise all that interesting or plausible, but that is merely my own perspective. Who knows? If it's well enough written, I might change my mind.

[codyco]

Ok first of all you guys are amazing thanks bunches. It is really just an idea that I have been milling around for a while. I think it is going to be set in the far future where the world has basically gone down the drain. A "V for Vendetta" sort of vibe, it will add the idea of taking the people away which, yes, would be done at birth. That answers a majority of my questions, if you guys have anything else to add that would be amazing
thanks : )

[xxpaperwriterxx]

perhaps they've found a way to track the dna in a database and when every child is born, their dna is tested immediately and if the child is a recarnate of a multiple lifer, they are taken away... or maybe watched if the life sentances are already done (since they are supposed to be the same people)?

anyways, hope that helped.. good luck!

[mammamaia]

dna would only be the same if they were clones, and not reincarnated into new bodies, which is what the poster wants...

the major problem i see is that the society would be caring for and raising huge numbers of newborns, keeping them incarcerated till they die a natural death, which makes no sense at all, cost-wise, or any other way...

[codyco]

meh good point . . . well i really wanna make it work so I don't know I'll think of something but you guys have helped a lot and brought up issues I definitely never would have thought of

Again anything else you would like to add is welcome

Thanks again

ETA: ok I think I figured it out, they implant like a unique series of numbers as a memory which is dormant until it is extracted at birth if that makes any sense at all

[mammamaia]

ETA: ok I think I figured it out, they implant like a unique series of numbers as a memory which is dormant until it is extracted at birth if that makes any sense at all

don't see how it could, since a newborn wouldn't be able to speak, so how could those numbers be 'extracted'?... imo, you'll have to invent some kind of 'soul-identifier' or whatever, that can be waved over every single newborn as it emerges from the womb, to see if they're harboring a convicted soul, or not...

but even with that roadblock hurdled, you still have the problem of what to do with a huge bunch of squalling babies that need to be fed and diapered and reared for their lifetime by the state, costing a ridiculous fortune that no government could afford...

[codyco]

Well I meant they would extract the memory by other means like hypnotizing or something. Also, it would not necessarily be a lot of babies just ones that had murdered somebody in a past life.

[Alice in Wonderland]

How about mediums in the police force(or whatever) that can tell the essencual footprints of murderers? D=

If that makes any sense.

[codyco]

Hmmm that makes perfect sense lol. I think my mind is to science oriented, yep that's a definite possibility. Thanks a bunches . . .

ETA: also, not sure if this should be in here or another thread but at any rate, there are 2 spies trapped together on an elevator how would they find out about each other's real identities?

[Alice in Wonderland]

I think your idea about a memory code is a good one. ^^ Perhaps a string of static pictures that make no cognitive sense, as that's what most people view memory as. xD Picture I mean. P=

[codyco]

Haha I don't know it's becoming increasingly confusing. I'm thinking about junking it, or making it into a short story so I don't have to have all those messy details : )

[Alice in Wonderland]

You could always try it as a short story and see how it goes. ^^ you can get feedback and see if there is enough interest to expand on it. I'll definately give it a good reading! =D

[codyco]

I might . . . sometime between school and work and going to the doctor and taking care of my dog and homework and whatnot lol

[Alice in Wonderland]

I hear that! xD

[codyco]

Yeah but about the spies I was thinking that both of the peole who sent them on the mission could find out and then call them both while there on the elevator but i'm not sure, it sounds like it might be better as a script rather than a novel.

[Alice in Wonderland]

Sounds like something Tarentino would come up with. xD I like!

[codyco]

yeah i'm thinking romantic comedy , , , with spies

italian spies lol

[mammamaia]

Well I meant they would extract the memory by other means like hypnotizing or something.

you'd still be dealing with newborns, so how could hypnosis work?

[Ishiboy]

It's a very interesting idea. The molecular ID suggested by Lawfire sounds superb. I have a couple of suggestions. Why not call it a brain imprint - so the brain actually has unique electrical signals that matches the one they had in their past life.

Secondly, I don't know if they should be taken away when they are children / babies. The idea is to wait for them to gain some semblance of understanding - regarding their crime, and then arrest them.

Thirdly, it's re-incarnation. Your story would therefore have to be set several years into the future of the future. That one part, I think, could become complex. Otheriwse, it sounds fine.

[Leonardo Pisano]

Nice idea, indeed. I remember having seen a story where the offspring just inherited the sentence..... So father died? Son/daughter took his place. Maybe a little less complicated.