Story Ideas

funny coincidence i too am choosing to write from real life.

i'm thinking a roadtrip. still fuzzy on the details but that will all come out once the writing starts. can't wait!

There is no such thing as an ordinary human. - Dr. Who

Last year I wrote part of my epic fantasy story. This year, I am considering either rewriting bulk parts of that story or trying my hand at SciFi. I'm pretty excited about the SciFi idea though. I'm still working out some details, but it involves a colony on Mars, terraforming, human clones, enslavement, and bloody rebellious war. All in the 22nd century.

\m/

:blog:: http://mreynoldo.blogspot.com
:AIM:: polypatterns

None of my fiction really strays that far from reality. I wish I could write something crazy and sci-fi, but for now I think that's just out of my range.

Last year I wrote about a girl dealing with a death that she witnessed. This year I'm thinking more of having a main character in a crisis of faith, going down a road that she can't turn back from, and not sure where she's going or how she got there. I have more fun writing out people's psychological trauma.

Rachel

NaNoWriMo 2008: "Dreams" - winner

I'm writing a YA urban fantasy - at least that's the plan for now!

It centers around a 16 year old mage in modern day. She'll be tested when demons resurface (after a 200 year absence) and attack (kill or kidnap, haven't decided yet) all the adult mages at The Tournament. She'll be aided by a boy named Gadriel who belongs to the Paladins, an ancient secretive clan of Holy Warriors/Assassins who are blessed by the angel Michael.

That's all I have so far!

http://www.twitter.com/sarahnfisk

I'm writing a historical fantasy set during World War II.

I've been doing a ton of research for it for the past month. I have a notebook set aside for notes, as it's what I'll be dragging with me when I go out and write. No internet for me.

My current topics of research (definitely subject to change depending on what I'm focusing on): POW camps in the Far East, the Blitz, British home life during the war, M15 and the Double Cross System, mythology of different nations, etc. It's a bunch of stuff left to do in the next month.

"Do you think he plans it all out or just makes it up as he goes along?" Captain Theodore Groves . . . on NaNoWriMo?

I handwrite NaNo. Yes, I am insane.

Moderator :: Writing Groups and Clubs

I have a cyberpunk-ish story idea going currently. Kinda fuzzy on most of the details, but have another piece to finish first. I've pinned down one of my 2 main characters & other than that I get the feeling it's going to be another 'seat of the pants' nano adventure. No outline, no real story notes, just a vague sense of setting and a decently pinned down main character. Not what I'd like going into nano, but more than I had last year.

Cat

The idea that came to me this week is about a woman who goes in search of information about an estranged Grandmother's legacy. The world that has taken form in my head is leaning toward Steampunk with a hint of Wild Wild West. The story opens in an alternative Victorian era London, then takes a turn toward adventure - think of the "atmosphere" of the early 19th century explorer in the jungles of eastern Asia running across mighty temple cities overrun by vegetation, but this will take place in an environment more like the Sierra Nevada, Rocky Mountains, Alaska, aka the American Gold Rush!

A mysterious will from her Grandmother Edna will spark Maveline's adventurous spirit and take her on a journey into a wild mountainous country with mystical tribes as well as thriving mining towns filled with all manner of ambitious humans and other races. I plan to let my imagination go crazy for NaNo - devising steampunkish machines and technologies to make life more feasible (let alone comfortable) in the wilds. Of course, depending on machines can have serious setbacks...

Iris

"Never, never, never give up." Winston Churchill

For years now, I’ve wanted to be a novelist. I am a writer, and I am an author of four books; however, I never thought I was “good” enough to be a novelist. But this year all that changed. I wrote a collection of short stories based on the ancient Lucumí (Yoruba) patakís, which are myths, and my publisher, Inner Traditions, contracted for the work. Add to that the fact that a close friend of mind started her own publishing label, Knickerbocker Circus, and she wants to publish my 16 volume collection of short stories (same theme), and finally I’ve convinced myself that I CAN tell a story.

A novel, however, is still only a dream. I think the NaNoWriMo challenge is what I need to get the rough draft for this first novel written.

I’ve had a concept in my head for years now: To tell the old Lucumí/Yoruba stories in novel format, developing the plots and characters (the orishas) into something that a wide audience would want to read. Also, the project would create more than one novel, because the story lines are so intricate. My first novel would be a springboard, and each chapter in that novel would serve later as the foundation for the next novel in the series. I have quite a laborious and intricate concept here that it’s frustrating and overwhelming me . . . but I’m committed to trying it.

The novel I’m writing for NaNoWriMo? The Yoruba creation of the world. I’m outlining it now on note cards so I can cover all the twists and turns that happen.

Anyway – that’s what I’m working on. Sorry the post got so long!

Ócháni

I just saw Pandorum. It was quite an intense movie. Sci-Fi suspense/thriller type. Go see it if you are into that sort of thing. Plot twist at the end was kinda cool too.

Point is, I may now be shifting gears. Still sticking with sci-fi, but instead of writing a sci-fi political/war book about an uprising of enslaved clones on a martian colony, I may write a nail biting, edge of seat sci-fi thriller. Depends on if I can turn this inspiration into motivation. :)

\m/

:blog:: http://mreynoldo.blogspot.com
:AIM:: polypatterns

Well, I thought I knew what I was doing... but now I've got two ideas brewing and am trying to decide which to commit to. Oddly enough, each one's a backstory to the two main characters from last year's Nano project...

Idea 1: Urban-ish fantasy set in an isolated island community where magic abilities are the norm. The main character finds as she comes of age that she can't do magic, and the story is about her dealing with the stigmas attached to it and finding her own way. Oh, and she figures out she's good with computers and hacking. Yeah, don't know how to reconcile that with fantasy. :D Plot's still kind of fuzzy, but I wanted to get to know this character better by writing her past.

Idea 2: Something a little more grounded in reality. After Nano last year, I wrote a short story for a class about a family dealing with the loss of their mother. It was pretty well-received in the group, but after two rounds of workshops, we concluded it needed to be longer to work. I know you're supposed to start from scratch with Nano, but I'm contemplating writing the novel version from start to finish. It might be the only way I move forward on this project.

So yeah. Two completely different ideas. Last year, I changed my mind around 11:58 on Oct 31st, so we'll see what happens when we get there. :)

(Photo Source)

I was a Nanowrimo writer last year..but wasn't successful in writing the whole 50,000 words. I had to travel for Thanksgiving towards the end of the month and I couldn't write that much while I was on the road... :(

So this year, I'm thinking about writing the same story that I started writing last year but switching into a different point of view. Alexis Jane Bryant lives in a world of friends, family, and fast cars. After losing her father in a terrible car accident, she vows to never become one of those racer girls, but can she resist the temptation to join her brother's racing crew. She falls in love with the new kid at school, Damien. But their relationship takes a turn for the worst when Alexis finds out her brother was right about Damien's abusive behavior. Now Alexis must get away and stay away from Damien while she continues to race for her brother's crew. Then one day she unexpectedly meets her celeb crush Jackson Patterson and the fall in love, but while Jackson's away filming a movie, Alexis races and totals her car and ends up in the hospital. Jackson gives Alexis an ultimatum and she must now choose between her love for Jackson or her adrenaline for fast cars. Which will she choose to keep in her life? (This has the potential to be a 2-3 part book series)

OR

Writing about a girl who wakes up in a room and doesn't understand what's going on only to find out that she has been changed into a vampire but her creator is nowhere to found. Now she has to learn the vampire world through the various other vampires she runs into who lead her a stray and she must make choices in whether she wants to be a natural born blood sucking killer or live a life of being a "vegetarian" vampire.

Either idea is still up for grabs in my head but the first one I have more detail on, but it's so hard to choose.
I would like to wish everyone who reads this good luck in writing for Nano this year. I hope we all reach the 50K word goal.

2008: Adrenaline (Failed, reached 30K words)
2009: Adrenaline - Part 2

@star_stuff, Interesting stuff. I was just reading about how a Canadian company is testing an Ion engine that will turn electricity into propulsion, and how it will make Mars Terraforming and exploration possible by shortening the trip there to something like 40 days (only once a year though, when we approach close enough). One of the main articles can be found here: http://www.canada.com/technology/rocket+engine+could+make+trips+Mars+rea...

@GatorSarah, Urban Fantasy is an under represented genre, and one I've hugely enjoyed. I've always thought it would be fun to write something like that, especially the "WTF" moment for normal folk seeing fireballs shooting down main street Dirty Harry style.

@Lady Lunas, Are you going to focus on any particular theater of war, or general life during the era?

@Ochanilele, I'll admit, I had to look up what you were talking about. Caribbean religions are rarely looked at in depth by Americans, which I think is a shame considering how rich and deep they are compared to many of our mainstream traditions. Do you have a personal history with the topic, or did you discover it at some point later down the road?

@charisangel, I don't see any reasons why those two story ideas cant be combined. Just because you are set in urban fantasy, or steampunk, or sci fi doesn't mean you don't need social interactions or family issues. I usually find that sort of gritty, familiar subject matter more interesting when placed in outlandish settings, especially as they can complement each other well.

@Wan2beNovelAB08, It sounds like you have quite a bit going with the first one. Like with Charis, have you considered mixing the two? Perhaps Alexis is only saved from her car crash by becoming a vampire! :O

-----------
And now for my stuff...

This year, rather than try to write something that will be the next big thing, I'm going with an idea that leaves me open to play around and have a bunch of fun.

My setting is a wild, decentralized world of adventure towns and wild hills and forests in between, where law and order rarely extends well beyond the townships. My characters are travelers on the various roads and paths of the world, getting into short story length adventures in each place they visit. My goals aren't too lofty, some of these stories might only be a few pages, while others might be several chapters. While there will be various characters per chapter/arc, my two main characters are a determined woman who believes in a rather unusual interpretation of karma (if I help others, I will get everything I want!) looking for her parents (she was abandoned as a child and is finally old enough to go looking) and her companion, a seasoned, though cowardly, traveler escorting her to repay a debt to her guardian.

Outside of the opening, I have planned very little out aside from ideas for story arcs. I'm looking to write something episodic, quick reads that you can pick up, watch, and put away (like a tv episode or short story collection where all of the short stories are interconnected).

-Enc

Nano 08: Tales from Nodegan Harbor (Winner)
--A Victorian Colonization novel about a child governor.--

Nano 09: Travelers of The Road (TBA)
--A Walking-The-Earth short story collection--

@Lady Lunas That sounds absolutely fascinating. It's a time period I become enamored with again and again. Do you mind if I ask what fantastical elements you're working in?

For my own effort I'll be working on a few things. The main chunk will be the steampunk/alt history story I mentioned in the introduction thread. (And can I say, as someone who's been watching the trend for a few years, how ecstatic I am that more and more people seem to be picking up steampunk and running with it.) The setting is a fabricated city, and the surrounding areas are European-ish, but there aren't places or names that will likely be easily recognized. It mostly centers around class struggle and revolution and a very important piece of missing jewelry.

Another thing I'd like to tinker with and finish (since I don't plan on finishing that first one, not by a longshot) include a story about a fallen angel and a member of the seraphim on the hunt for the trumpet, you know, that one that is supposed to signal the end of days, since it's gone missing. That will probably mostly end up like a horror/noir story. The person I'm writing it for specifically wanted the angels to be sort of dickish, so I'm having a lot of fun playing with their personalities.

And then there's the alt history fairy tale I was working on about a dead man on the run from a reaper who is helped along by a cast of fantastic creatures my friend has done paintings of. It's sort of a gift of thanks, but I'm hoping it will turn out to be of general interest. I don't think there's a happy ending in it for the dead guy, though. I mean, either way he's dead. You drop a body fifteen stories from a zeppelin and there's not much you can do about it.

You got no muscles to show for it (yes, the brain is a muscle, but if you show it to people it’s usually because part of your skull has been torn off and that doesn’t impress the ladies – unless the ladies are ZOMBIES! Where did this paragraph go?)
-Joss

There are so many good ideas in here! I'm excited to see where everyone is going to take them. :)

There is no such thing as an ordinary human. - Dr. Who

JollyMagistrate, one of my my main characters is a POW captured at the fall of Singapore. The other MC, his wife, is at home in London dealing with the some of the more magical aspects of the war. So it covers both the European and Pacific theatres, as well as British home life.

katilara, the magic in the story is based on each country's mythology and folklore. Hence the research. :-)

"Do you think he plans it all out or just makes it up as he goes along?" Captain Theodore Groves . . . on NaNoWriMo?

I handwrite NaNo. Yes, I am insane.

Moderator :: Writing Groups and Clubs

Well, I was going to write the crime mystery that I have been researching for about a year, but my current life inspirations have changed that. Going to be writing a fiction piece instead based upon some of my own life. It's going to be able a 30-year-old's life's struggles with health, losing weight, becoming vegetarian and her journey to make it back to the place she loves, Asheville, NC.

~Shannon Chenoweth
Musings of a Writer

That is actually a great idea....thanks. I will have to change a few things but nothing major....this could work. I never thought of combining the two.

I liked the story idea that you came up with..I wish you good luck in writing it.

2008: Adrenaline (Failed, reached 30K words)
2009: Adrenaline - Part 2

I'm toying between the second and third books in my werejackal and witch series.

1. Book 2 - "Primal Hungers"

This is about a witch and werejackal (both introduced in the first book, "Recogintion) who have opened up a restaurant in Providence, Rhode Island. Once a month, in conjunction with a local culinary school called Johnson & Wales, they host an exotic foods night. It's considered quite a status symbol to get in. On this particular evening, one of the dishes is emulating an Asian delicacy - live baby octopus on a stick. The danger here is that if you don't eat it properly, the tentacles unwind and suffocate the eater. For safety's sake, the restaurant has decided to use dead octupus. They are just situated on the skewers the same way.

However, one particular diner has his octupus switched for a live one. He dies, as expected. The big question is, who wants him/her dead, and why? (I haven't figured that out yet.) This book also introduces a group of wereanimals who have decided to pool their various talents and open a detective agency, called "Hunters, Inc."

2. Book 3 - "Hunter's, Inc."

The twin sister of the werejackal in Primal Hungers (also a werejackal) is one of the founding members of the detective agency. The two main characters of the first book, Stash and Hayleigh, are at their wedding reception, when her father makes an announcement. Stash is a witch, and Hayleigh's entire family are witches. Her father tells everyone that he's purchased a six-bedroom apartment on the constantly-cruising luxury ship "The World" (there will be a name change here, since that ship really exists). It's for the use of the entire coven, whenever anyone feels that they need a vacation. But for right now, the first month belongs to Stash and Hayleigh. He's sending them to Rome tomorrow, on the corporate jet, where they will meet up with the ship, staying aboard for a month as they cruise for their honeymoon.

Shortly after they arrive, a murder takes place on the ship before it can leave Rome. The officious and non-too-polite Italian police come on board, in the process roughing up a few of the passengers - one of them being a 4 month pregnant Hayleigh. Enraged, Stash goes after the officer, and gets himself locked up in Rome. Panicked, Hayleigh calls her father Aidan, who flys over with his wife, but not before enlisting the aid of Hunters, Inc. Everyone flies over in the corporate jet to rescue Stash, support Hayleigh and hopefully prevent a miscarriage, and find the killer(s).

Of course, the murder victim was one of the wealthy owners of a suite on the ship. I'm not sure the polizia would be as much of a problem if it was a staff member. They have jewelry stores on the real ship - I wonder if it will be a murder/theft...hmmm....

Seduction, running hand-in-hand with danger, and balancing on the edge of fear.

@LaraMcGill - Both plots sound pretty interesting to me, though I'm leaning more towards the second being the better call due to relevance issues. My thought here is that the "Book 2" example really dosen't seem to need the characters to by witches or werejackals in order to function, just chefs of a rather unusual persuasion. Of course, if the squid food thing is the inciting factor for the Hunters, Inc. group to show up/recruit the owners leading to some sort of wacky hyjinks related to the story, that would make a bit more sense. The second plot has a similar problem from the short description, mostly the "where do the witches and werebeasts fit in, but it seems like both could be pretty awesome with a bit of tweaking to make the inclusion of the fantasy elements crucial to the story.

@RangerChic - Always a fun idea! From my experience, the main difficulty of these plots is to get them moving forward with a purpose, my last attempt ended with a bunch of conflicts and too few positive resolutions or direction (much like my own life ^_^ ). Ashville is a beautiful setting, too. Kinda wish we were all up there rather than in the Central Florida Swamps.

@katilara - The falling guy could survive it in theory. Some applied phlebotinum (plot magic) could make the fall survivable, or you could give him something akin to those jump suits with the webbing in them that allow people to jump from planes and land safely (see this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n37ZvBQz_64 )

-Enc

Nano 08: Tales from Nodegan Harbor (Winner)
--A Victorian Colonization novel about a child governor.--

Nano 09: Travelers of The Road (TBA)
--A Walking-The-Earth short story collection--

Thanks for the hint, JollyMagistrate! It'll give me something to work on this week.

Lara

Seduction, running hand-in-hand with danger, and balancing on the edge of fear.

My NaNo project is going to be the second in a novel series, and will follow two main characters for a time. My working title it "Traitor's Guise".

At the end of the first book, Gordon Bradford was taken by the enemy unknowingly. He wakes up behind enemy lines... and six thousand years removed from where he was earlier that morning.
He is trained in the enemy's way of fighting, and sent back to the time he left with a mission to altar history. The only problem is, his loyalties lie elsewhere.

Meanwhile, Kalista, the main character from book one, Struggles to accept her destiny, the fulfillment of a prophecy, and all the difficult decisions that come with it.
She is engaged to marry the ruler of another province, but in her heart she still grieves her fiance that she has assumed was killed five years ago.
She will find him alive only days before her wedding, but it will be too late. He will die in her arms, but only after he has killed Gordon Bradford for being a Traitor, but not to Kalista.

@JollyMagistrate He could survive, but I think I like it better if he doesn't. Mostly because I'm a horrible person. :p

You got no muscles to show for it (yes, the brain is a muscle, but if you show it to people it’s usually because part of your skull has been torn off and that doesn’t impress the ladies – unless the ladies are ZOMBIES! Where did this paragraph go?)
-Joss

@blkblt1279 I love those kinda NaNo adventures -- I literally wrote about 80% of my outline the hour before the clock struck midnight. :D I salute you, fellow breakneck speed planner of stories!

@GatorSarah That totally sounds like something I would read. Can't wait till you finish it!

@Ochanilele I'm super excited to see what you come up with. I absolutely <3 religious-inspired stories, especially things based on old myths and tales that I've never heard of before. I got sucked into the articles that I had to google for to get a better grip about what you're writing about. Sounds like it's gonna be amazing.

@iristimm Your synopsis is giving me visuals. These visuals are made of wholesale awesome with sprinkles of squee.

Oh yeah, gotta talk about my stuff!

I'm writing what I guess you'd call a fantasy, or some sub-genre of that. It's set in modern times, and certainly deals with the supernatural -- it's about a girl named Dawn. She starts off as a bluntly predatory character -- the women she's attracted to always end up dead the next morning, and she winds up looking prettier and eternally young as a result. She never really thought to question this, as she blacks out completely just before they die, and simply rode the wave of excess and danger for years, moving from city to city to avoid any possibility of capture.

When she arrives in Las Vegas, however, she finds someone like her. She has to come to terms with NOT being the monster she thought she was, but an immortal who'd worn the mask of innumerable deities since the dawn of mankind. Being essentially 'reborn' after a devastating conflict between her fellow immortals that left the world barren of godkind for centuries, she and her companion need to piece together what happened so long ago from the fragments of their shattered memories. Everything begins to change, however, as others begin to wake up to find the world devoid of their influence...

This started out as a short story about a girl that preyed on other girls, but I'd had a weirdly epic idea stalking the bedrooms of my brain for a while, so I took that and spun it into this. I'm fascinated by religions and love seeing them twisted around and interpreted in odd ways, so this is my first stab at trying to mash multiple cultures and beliefs up in an interesting fashion.

-- Phil

"Wait, wait, wait. What?!" -- Me.
http://www.stuffaweek.com -- It's rib-stickin' fun.
NaNo 2008: FAIL.
NaNo 2009: The Ladykiller

But I love you more *because* you are a horrible person, KL. :p

Orlando ML

These are all such cool ideas! Mine isn't all that fully formed, but I'm okay with that.

I've been feeling restless lately, so I want to write a girl taking a road trip. Probably down the eastern seaboard, since I've traveled that many a time myself. She's going to adopt a dog that she finds on the side of the Jersey Turnpike, and he will be her traveling companion. There's going to be a guy at some point who she meets up with, but I'm not sure how or why. It's going to be an over the phone thing that ends up meeting face to face.

Then I was listening to the Tori Amos album "Scarlet's Walk" the other day, and one of the lines in "Taxi Ride" jumped out at me. "I'm down to your last cigarette..." Made me think of the idea of someone who's died, and in their house is a half pack of cigarettes they never finished. And the character smokes them, because how can someone really be gone if you're still able to bum cigarettes off them?

So all I know now is my character Libby will be traveling down I-95 in a rental car, with her dog Oliver and her grandmother's cigarette case. I've never written something this vague before, it's kind of exhilarating!

I think I'm going to write about war, and hopefully I'll put in how it's pointless.