Jaycee Woods

I beat myself up a little thinking I was afraid to work on editing my “Nature’s Foundling” draft. Then my sympathetic reader read the raw draft, which she liked; she observed that I had all that stuff at the end that I still needed to integrate into the story. That text was clips of my interactions with Microsoft’s Copilot AI about historical facts related to feudal Japan.

Turns out I wasn’t avoiding editing but percolating my integrations. In editing the first 60 words in the draft, I added more than a thousand words.

Mainly I rounded out the motivation of Lord Akamatsu and established the conflict for a whole series of stories around reason vs. traditionalism. Added explanation of societal hierarchy in feudal Japan, including incorporating a new Burakumin character. In all introduced three new characters that would have important roles in the series. Added foreshadowing to a conflict between Akamatsu and his uncle that will take place over at least two subsequent stories “The Betrayal” and “The Prodigal Ronin.” Introduced elements of the kami and Shintoism that will be an expression of the traditionalism within to story.

Turns out that by setting the story in feudal Japan I couldn’t just say that the feral child seemed to be 10 years old. Unlike ourselves, a baby would have been counted as age 1 at birth. Further age is incremented on the first day of the solar calendar instead of on the anniversary of a person’s birthday. Thus, the child might only be 8 as we reckon age. Why does that matter? The explanation introduces cultural variance within the children’s story to make the setting more exotic while emphasizing that the traditions and customs of feudal Japan that dominates the story series are not the same as our own.

Unlike my other edited stories, this one isn’t set in contemporary US so there is a need for more world building. Fortunately, I am familiar enough with Japan that I know the right questions to ask an AI to quickly research immersive details to flavor the story. For example, I already knew about the role and social standing of the Burakumin (the unclean hereditary lowest caste) to form the basis of a future story in the series focused on the moral virtue justice in contrast to tradition. In another example, I was able to plan a birthmark by its shape and placement that would be full of spiritual meaning within Shintoism.

What started as a short draft experiment in nonverbal communication has grown into a planned series that will be like an old school Disney princess story set in feudal Japan. The feral girl is raised as the adopted daughter of a young daimyo. Later she is discovered to be the long-lost granddaughter of a rival daimyo. She plays the critical role in restoring peace between the rivals.