My plot has changed a lot in 2 weeks.
I started out with InuYasha fan-fic.
It evolved into a Japanese folk lore based on Beauty & the Beast.
Next it left Japan and went to 13 short stories retelling Beasty & the Beast.
Than is became, Beauty and the Beast and . . . the Ice Dragon. ???
From there is became pure fantasy with ice wizards and ice dragons in an ice realm.
Now it's left fantasy behind and is moving into sci-fi, with a primitive-lifestyle culture on a distant frozen planet, yet they have spaceships and laser weapons. I have a very clear image of these people in my head. I can see how they live and what they look like and I really, REALLY like them.
I'm liking the whole primitive folks on the ice planet, fighting off other aliens with space ships and laser weapons. I'm plotting it all out in my head. Everything is moving along great, and I'm finially coming up with a story plan I think I can write for NaNo. So I 'm here, building up the planet and the races and cultures and plant life and animal life, and designing the ships and weapons and than it hits me:
Primitive lifestyle with spaceships and laser weaponry? WTH?
By primitive I mean not quite cave people but not quite medieval either, somewhere in between. They still were furs and skins, but they have woven cloth too. They hunt with spears and swords (guns and cannons not yet invented). They have no cars, or such, and still ride on horses (and dragons). One or two wealthy familiys have a wagon-like thing, but every body else walks or rides a beast of some sort. They do not have electricity, but use some weird crystals that acts like fire to bring warmth and light but doesn't burn they hands so they can carry them around.
And yet, they have this huge intergalactic starship, and in it are several smaller space ships that can go from the planet's surface to the starship. And here's the oddest thing of all: they are carrying these laser weapons, kind of a 1950's ray gun like thing.
So here's the thing that brings me here to you guys: How can they be such a primitive peoples, and yet have these ships and laser weapons? Does anyone have any thoughts or ideas on how I might be able to explain this phenomena?
Still got 2 weeks to go before NaNoWriMo starts. I wonder how many more plot changes I'll have between now and than?
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0 / 50,000
Oct 14, 2008 - 03 30
If the spacecraft came with self-repairing robots to operate and repair everything, then at a stretch I guess they could just find them left over from some other civilisation and take posession of them. If they are a real primitive society, not just a technological society that reverted to primitivism, they would probably need some kind of AI or some such to tell them what to do, as I doubt they would otherwise even be able to comprehend the idea of space travel. Personally, it doesn't strike me as very plausible, although it does remind me strongly of He-man.
6,972 / 50,000
Oct 14, 2008 - 05 43
Maybe the spaceships are from another, much more advanced culture. A fleet either had to make an emergency landing or landed purposefully to build a base or something, but then they all died. Maybe there's some disease or gas in the air that's fatal to off-worlders, I dunno. And so the 'primitive' people of the planet started salvaging their stuff and working it into their culture.
'Primitive' doesn't mean -stupid-, after all; it just means there's a lack of advanced tools. Show a 'primitive' person how to work a laser gun and they'll get the hang of it pretty fast.
So anyway, those are my thoughts. Feel free to borrow anything you'd like for your plot.
0 / 50,000
Oct 14, 2008 - 07 56
I wouldn't be so sure about that. People from less technologically advanced cultures have even had difficulty learning to use modern weapons. The Zulus, for instance, would fire their rifles into the air because they thought shooting high gave the bullets strength. People from primitive cultures are not stupid, but they exist in a different cultural paradigm, and some things may be difficult for them to grasp because they do not think about them in the right way. For some things, as well as education, you need a technological frame of mind. If these people have education and a technological frame of mind, they are not in any way primitive, and will probably use their knowledge to improve on other aspects of their society.
100,259 / 50,000
Oct 14, 2008 - 19 09
Look up the character Eric John Stark there was a trilogy called the books of Skaith with him being a bit of a buck rogers kind of guy in a conan the barbarian world.
Well written, but very very dark. I hear there are earlier short stories with Erik John Stak in them that are less dark but no less flash gordon like.
53,645 / 50,000
Oct 14, 2008 - 20 28
Everyone makes good points. But I think we have to remember that there's a difference between technology and culture. I agree that if this technology was recently introduced, then the people wouldn't be able to understand it enough to use it to its full potential. It might even be tossed aside and ignored as useless to them. There would have to be someone who uses the space ships and ray guns to show them how to work the stuff. But if they learned how to use it, wouldn't they explore space in the starship? Wouldn't they bring back more technology and ideas from other societies? How could they stay "primative"?
I think that the technology can be there as long as two things happen:
1. The tech can't be recent. It'd have to have been introduced at least a couple of generations ago for people to not only master it, but be comfortable with it. Also, why did they decide that this tech would be useful to them? People advance tech (historically) b/c of war or for ease. And since your people hunt with spears instead of the ray guns they carry, I'm guessing they don't use the tech for ease. So, maybe they accepted the starship, smaller ships, and guns from others who were helping them fight against an invading enemy. If they still fear said enemy (maybe superstitous), that would explain having the guns without using them (ie, have them around "just in case").
2. There must be an understanding that their culture (way of life) means more to them than anything, so that they would continue to live as they do. I mean, they must have a reason for accepting some tech, but not wanting to become more "modern" (for lack of a better term) as the advanced society that they must have gotten this stuff from. There are cultures that have cars, computers, cell phones, etc... but who refuse to "westernize" culturally. They like the tech, but keep their beliefs, way of life as it has been for hundreds of years. Whether for religious reasons, fear of too much change at once, pride in their world/history, comfortable the way things are, just doesn't see the point... people have their reasons, and your people need a reason to change some things, but not all things. (Or maybe they want to, but lack the resources/money/education to do so.) Also, in some of these societies, the more advanced the tech, the smaller the amount of people who have them. There may be a cell phone or computer, but maybe only the village head has one, or they're only in towns. So, the ships/guns might only be used in certain areas.
All the same, if you have people traveling outside of the planet, and/or interacting with other people from outside the planet,(hey, if you have the tech, some curious ones have got to be using it) they will probably want to introduce new ideas and tech to their people. This could provide more conflict between those who want to become more like the advanced societies and those who want to keep their world the way it is.
Also there's those who gave them the tech. What did/do they get out of this? Does the planet have a resource that they need? Maybe the ships and the starship are now a way to trade resources. Now the tech gives them some ease in their life (the resources, an ally), without completely interfering with their lifestyle.
Anyway, that's a way or two that you could reconcile their lifestyle with the technology they have without it seeming implausible. It takes more explanation and background, but it could work.
----------"A good story is life, with the dull parts taken out." ~Alfred Hitchcock
238,153 / 50,000
Oct 15, 2008 - 03 08
{{{huggles}}}} to all! Thanks for all the great replies. You guys have got me thinking all sorts of new thoughts on this now.
I'm thinking that maybe they had the tech years ago, but that some sort of massive *Armageddon* type event wiped out most of the population... and the ones that survived had no idea how to build the tech again, but somehow figured out how to use it at least minimally... (maybe leaving only children?.... thinking of the Star Trek episode Mira right now). Possibly that is also why they are living in an Ice Age as well?
And now my current era would be a few generations later.
Maybe they still have these items and keep them out of remembrance of their ancestors.
or maybe view these items as *god-like* because they have not figured out yet how to recreate them and so they only use them when *calling on the gods*?
When I say they are a *primitive-lifestyle culture* I mean they are still living without advances sciences and stuff, so are still living like Medieval times without such things things as electricity and plumbing and such. I see them as very intelligent beings, but they just have yet to discover the ways to advance scientifically yet. Basically they are content with the lifestyle they have so there is not too much goal to improve things; for the moment at least.
I'm still working on the details though, so I'm not sure exactly what I'll end up deciding.
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Creating Character Profiles
Create a Fantasy Realm
Some Thoughts on Writing Fantasy
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