Back to Eveline's Strangest Journey

Introduction by EC, Thoughts on my Ninth Novel

"Eveline's Strangest Journey" is my ninth full-length novel and follows the story of a completely new set of characters in a completely new setting. The story exists within the same fictional universe I have created for my previous stories, but the plot is not connected with anything I have previously worked on.

The story started out as a picture series that I created in Poser and posted off-and-on between 2015 and 2018 to my account in DeviantArt. I wanted to create a series following the nude-in-public and embarrassed-nude-female adventures of a US high-school senior who, through a series of mishaps, lost all her clothes and was forced to lead a naked existence.

I drew my inspiration and some ideas from several now-defunct stripping and nude-in-public online story forums, most notably the forum that operated under the name Indian Outlaw's Stripping Naked Storyboard, which sadly, closed in late 2019 after serving readers and authors for 15 years.

I began creating Poser pictures for the Eveline NIP/ENF series starting in 2015. I posted several paragraphs of narration for each image and over time developed a plot and story line. I posted and added to the series whenever inspiration hit me, but without having any clear long-term goal in mind. During that three-year time period I worked on several other picture series as well, so I did not give the Eveline project continuous attention. Still, over time a longer story did slowly develop from all those illustrations and captions, and eventually I realized I had enough material to turn the series into a novel.

During the early part of the summer of 2020, with my normal activities severely restricted by the Coronavirus quarantine in Oregon's Multnomah County, I finally had the chance to set aside the time I needed to complete the Eveline Rogers narrative and turn it into a novel. I managed to overcome distractions, procrastination, and writer's block to finish the initial draft. It was something I had wanted to do and had planned to do for years, but other events and other projects kept getting in the way. Fortunately, for a few days, everything else that had been keeping me busy receded and my concentration returned, allowing me to write.

A story based on a nude-in-public premise presents unique challenges to an author who wants to develop a longer story. A typical NIP/ENF plot needs to push the story's protagonist through an increasing progression of public exposure, and in some cases, extreme embarrassment. The challenge for the writer is having a coherent plot and background world that makes that progression plausible.

My novel follows that standard progression of the NIP/ENF genre, as Eveline goes from being exposed in school to being exposed to the entire world. All of her efforts to get dressed end in frustration, and instead force her to commit to being naked even more. My novel follows Eveline as she adapts and adjusts to her situation. She never finds any clothes to wear, but she does find the inner strength she needs to accept her naked life and prosper.

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As the novel progresses, the characters find themselves involved in the world political situation that exists within the imaginary universe of my fiction. Part of that universe is a rising empire called the West African Confederation and its ruler, Comandante Foxtrot. Readers who are familiar with my previous novels, especially "The Girl with No Name", will recognize several themes that I develop when my main characters are forced to interact with national leaders. One of those themes is creating charismatic rulers who are political geniuses, but at the same time are very problematic as human beings. Those leaders accomplish great things for their countries and are considered national heroes in the societies they control, but are also flawed and abusive at the personal level. Any examination of popular historical figures clearly shows the contradiction of great leader / terrible person has been common throughout civilization.

When I posted my previous novel, several readers complained about the behavior of my character the Grand Duke of Danubia, due to scenes in which he plagiarizes scientific discoveries, commits numerous human-rights violations, and forces young women to become his concubines. Well, my fictional Danubian ruler is based on real-life European monarchs who lived during the time period the novel was set (the mid 1700s) who were known as the "Enlightened Despots". If you examine the biography of the Russian Empress Catherine the Great, for example, the behavior of Danubia's Grand Duke would seem benign in comparison.

Through my character Comandante Foxtrot, I re-examine the themes around power, charisma, and national leadership that I touched on when I wrote about the Grand Duke of Danubia. The only real difference between the two leaders is the scale at which they operate. The Grand Duke was consolidating power within a single country. Comandante Foxtrot is trying to take over an entire continent.

In my narrative I don't want to pass judgment on whether Comandante Foxtrot's ambitions for Africa are "good" or "bad". I want my readers to make that judgment for themselves. That is why, towards the end of the novel, I included a brief scene in which the ruler has a chance to speak for himself, to explain some of his motivations.

A final note on my fictional universe, writing the novel, and what did not go in. There was some background about the overall international situation and the specifics of Comandante Foxtrot's social policies that I developed, but decided not to include. I figured the extra material would complicate the story and stray too far from the life of my protagonist Eveline Rogers.


Chapter 1