Talking About Stuff, with Mike and Christiana

Over at the NaNoWriMo Forums, they've been circulating a template for profiling your planned story. So since I'm planning to try my hand at a Young Adult novel, I chose that version and here it is...

Novel Title: Punctuated Equilibrium

Estimated length: Aiming for 50-60,000 words.
Your writing experience: A half-dozen short stories, one completed novel and two half-done. (One of the half-done ones is last year's NaNo.)

Young Adult - new genre? Or old favorite?: Mostly new. Some of what I've written straddles the line a little.
Other genres of your novel: Science Fiction
Gonna publish?: Gonna try!
Cliches/archetypes you're including (not necessarily a bad thing!): Coming of age, Trying to make peace between uncooperative opponents, Nature vs. Technology.
Cliches/archetypes you're avoiding: Black and white morality, Nature=Good/Technology=Bad.
Theme(s)/Issue(s) discussed: Genetic engineering, war, forming your own opinions, the importance of balance and open minds.
What we (the readers) will learn: Balance is important but an obsession with it can be very destructive. Learning that the world is more complicated than you thought can be hard, but it's still a good thing. Sometimes you need to stand up for what you believe in even if it makes you unpopular.

Main character(s): Tenskwatawa "Tens"
Secondary characters: Older brother, quiet weird cousin, strong best friend (All still unnamed), Parents, village leader, Wasters
Protagonist(s): Tens, a 15-year-old boy who lives in a small village of people who have genetically engineered themselves to live in "perfect" balance with nature.
Antagonist(s): People on both sides of the conflict who are unwilling to let go of old hatred.

Setting: At the beginning, a small village in a rain-forest-style jungle.
Is the setting static or does it shift: Shifts to "Waste-lands" and Waster cities, and maybe a bit of outer space, I haven't decided yet.

Main Conflict: Nature vs. Technology, Tolerance vs. Hatred, War
Sub Conflicts: Sibling rivalry, overcoming insecurity, forming your own opinions and standing up for them. Agreeing with ends, but not means.
Obstacles in the journey: Overcoming old predjudices, long distances, trying to make an impossible compromise.
Expected resolution(s): Tens will become more self-confident. The two opposing sides will make the first steps toward peace and acceptance.

Summary of plot: Tens lives in a small village of people who have genetically engineered themselves to live in "perfect" balance with nature. He stumbles across some stranded "Wasters" who don't respect the environment. He's horrified by their attitudes, but more horrified by what the rest of his people do to them. To show him how bad the Wasters are and how they deserved it, he is sent along on the journey to return the non-biodegradable components of the Waster equipment, but on the journey, he starts to question the age-old fighting between the two groups. Can these two separated civilizations find a way to have peace?

Despite the weighty subject-matter, I'm also planning to try to include some humor, and I'm still obviously in the very early planning stages of this, but what do you all think?

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