Jarom

Jarom is ritually thrown out of his home. He joins with other lost boys in a small town in a semi-desert landscape that has its own rules that must be followed lest they be shunned. He meets No-Name, a narrator who never names himself to the reader but reveals much and provides the key to Jarom opening up to himself and others.

The story with be told in about 4 parts:

I: Lessons to be learned.
II: Life to be lived
Songs of Jarom
III: Lessons to be taught
IV: Lament for Jarom

The book is not an ongoing multi-book, pages ad nauseum story. Everything should be told in less than 200 pages.

The setting: cold semi-desert or desert. Location ambiguous but well-described throughout. The landscape developed as a character.

The characters: Noah, Hiram, Matt, Colm, Aref, Hilda and of course, Jarom and No-Name. There will be no second names, no descriptions that indicate race or ethnicity. The reader will know each by personality and actions, by descriptions that make them believable and all-too-human.

The storyline? Not a clear one yet. Hope it reveals itself.

Time: Once again, ambiguous. Told in present voice it shouldn't dawn on the reader until part IV that this could be an ancient story as well.

Culture and society: small town and tight. A living-on-the-edge as it were. Not a time of abundance. But... full of rituals and proper ways and proper roles. For some. Jarom breaks these rules and gives courage to others.

Fiction: character, landscape, culture, society, the passage of time should all seem real and internally consistent and true. But it must also be pure fiction. If it happens to mirror people or places the reader knows, it should still be understood as fiction/myth/not-whatever-you-think-it-is. However, it should make the reader question what we know about our daily lives today. In that way it should be universal.