Story Ideas: Share 'em, Love 'em, Hate 'em, Do It Here

I'm more focused on throwing a lot of things related to the phenomenon of deity together. I consider a lot of things related to it: gods, demons, monsters, space aliens, kings (authority figures in general), heroes and celebrities, masks and costumes, stateliness, power, immortality (or endurance), accomplishment, intelligence, symbolism and archetypes (and types of all kinds), wonder and awe (the pleasant kind and the unpleasant, such as disgust and horror). It could even extend to emotions; fear produces a sense of reverence for things and so danger and the absurd and all that is different from oneself can come into play in my considerations. Narcissism (respect for self above the non-self) comes into play; will-to-power, the expression of oneself at the expense of others - these and other psychological phenomena will probably make their way into the novel.

In the case of what I'm brainstorming: plot is second in importance to description of these things and their relations to one another. I think, however, that a plot will result from considering that each character's nature is not static and needs to grow in this way or the other, with surrounding entities by the active comparison of which they are granted their uniqueness.

I don't know; what do you think?

Sounds interesting, and a good plot and pull it all together. While I understand you want to focus on the themes, without a good plot it will be all jumbled and incoherent. Especially if you're going to cover all of those topics.

I started building a fantasy world (no magic), and within it two nations modeled after Ancient Rome and Ancient Egyptians. I'm working carefully with both of them so they are as realistic as possible with life-like economies and religion. Anyways, the story looks at one person from both sides of the growing conflict. As the events progress, the two characters will begin to hate the other nation, each believing the other to be cruel and barbaric. Eventually a battle breaks out and the two characters become heroes, leading their nation to victory. But only one wins, and I know which.

Any feed back is great, send it along.

I'm not sure I mind "jumbled and incoherent"; I'm a child of a postmodern age, after all. I wouldn't even be doing something new by the approach I vaguely described to you. Notable authors, for decades up to now - have been using techniques that eschew linearity in plot and hierarchy in character importance, exploring themes that tear down modernist notions of order as well. Joseph Heller's Catch-22 is the most widely-known example; Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five is another.

I may be not the greatest advisor concerning a historical fiction. My inclination goes "the more research, the better." I go completely overboard when I research.

I'm jumping back into Sci-Fi this year, after last year's foray into a story featuring Fantasy/Mythology/Death as a job. This year will be all space ships and Free traders/smugglers set somewhere in a future sci-fi I've already established in other projects. not sure what time period it'll be set in in that universe yet. I have different stories covering period of roughly 1500 years so far, so probably some where in there. Regardless, the main character will find himself dragged into events that are larger than his own problems and he'll have to deal with it. what those events are I haven't figured out yet. That's what November (and the Muse) is for. :D

Indecision May Or May Not Be My Problem.

Sci-fi was the first thing I got into seriously, and I still have outlines lying around of stories I might like to do. I only recently completed my first short story http://impishidea.com/critique/65/primer-draft-3, but then I got swept up into preparation for NaNoWriMo.

I'm playing around with a dark little red riding hood retelling. ^_^. I think that sums it up nicely. And I'm doing last years NaNo's sequel about a winter fairy court. Shootin' for 150k this year, woo!

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"Pen names are masks that allow us to unmask ourselves." ~ C. Astrid Weber
NaNo 07 -Melodia Della Neve -100k
Screnzy 08 - Society of Illusion - 100 pages

I'm writing an Urban Fantasy, working title is "Welcome to the Jungle." Basically, a vamp named Cash is working on Jungle Isle, the place where most of the People of the Night live (vampires, werewolves and witches). He is trying to collect an overdue bill (human companies hire his agency to collect in the Jungle, being afraid of them), when he is caught up in his target's life. The target, Ethan, has stolen a powerful Djinn Stone from the isle's most powerful witch. So the werewolves, witches and vampires are all after the Djinn Stone. It is powerful enough to make the owner the ruler of the Jungle. Of course, Cash doesn't understand what all the chaos is about until it is too late, and by then everyone has turned their unholy eyes on him.

Not too dark. Unlike my four previous Urban Fantasies, this one will be relatively light, with minimal violence and no sex planned. I want it to be PG-17.

BTW, I like the Little Red Ridinghood idea, especially if it has werewolves. But I'm weird like that.

I've never done romance, fantasy or historical so I'm combing them all into one and going for broke this year. I'm doing vampires that don't bite people to become vampires living in late 1800's outside New Orleans who end up getting infected by yellow fever and, of course, there's a love story in there between a non-vamp and a vamp. :P

Mine is a bit of a twist on the 'overthrow the evil overlord', part of the twist being that this evil overlord has studied the Evil Overlord Handbook, so to speak, so he's survived and thrived in his reign for over five centuries; another twist is the fact that he is now TIRED of it all and wants OUT, but he can't step down, can't quit -- he can't even die, but must be vanquished (he's tried several times, but suicide just doesn't seem to stick in his case, and the assassination attempts stopped generations ago). So, now he is faced with the daunting task of orchestrating his own overthrow without anyone knowing anything about it, or the plan won't work!

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Ms_Tamany
tammy@purple-platypus.com

Ms_Tamany,
That sounds hilarious!!! I wanna read it!

:) Criss.

Criss, la Reina
DFW co-ML
www.crisswrites.com
http://crisswrites.blogspot.com

Me, too! That's why I have to write it. ;-)

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Ms_Tamany
tammy@purple-platypus.com

That sounds hilarious. I might do something from the hero point of view, where he tries to orchestrate the rise of a villain to kill him, but yours is much better. I might do it anyway, but not for this NaNoWriMo.

Thank you so much! It's looking like SO much fun, this one! :-)

Has anyone ever read 'Villains By Necessity', by Elizabeth Forward? it is a fabulous take on heroes and villains, stereotypical and non. In it, basically, six villains have to save the world from being destroyed by overwhelming goodness and light, and all for purely selfish reasons, for if there is any selflessness or altruism in their actions, that would only strengthen goodness and light and cause the destruction of the world just that much faster. Fantastic story! It's out of print, but you can still find it in some libraries. I must admit, it did shape this 'evil overthrow' idea just a bit. ;-)

Ms_Tamany

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Ms_Tamany
tammy@purple-platypus.com

I'm kind of torn...
on the one hand, I have an idea that I've been sitting on since middle school, about a boy that wastes his life, ends up dead, and wonders 'what happened to me?' he develops a plan, put on a cape, be a super-hero. 'Desperate measures always get results, don't they?' he thinks. A voice like his replies back: "...But not always positive ones..."

on the other hand; I've a piece that, thus far at least, is very character driven. thus far has the feel of a harem anime (feel free to denounce me at your leisure) in it, the main characters die in various ways, and wake up in what seems to be a foggy London city block. I was considering this as 'light' reading, something to put to paper to have it done.

$5 to the first person that guesses the origin of my user name.

Personally, I'd rather read the second version, but thats only looking at a rough idea. It's up to you.

Well, I doubt I'm up to the task of writing the first one at this point, especially in a month. Has a lot of personal meaning, and such,.
The second one, however, just occurred to me one day, and I thought to myself; 'cool'

$5 to the first person that guesses the origin of my user name.

Yeah - go with the second one, then. You don't want to be stressed next month trying to pull off perfection.

Am toying with the idea of exploring the emotional devastation and subsequent *recovery* (used figuratively since the word implies someone can get over this like a flu bug) of a woman and her family after the death of a child. While it might sound grim, I'm hoping to incorporate hope and healing into the story while looking at how relationships are impacted.

And I have NO idea what genre this will be categorized...... Thoughts? I've wanted to attempt this for awhile but haven't had the guts to actually say it out loud.

*chicken here*

Sounds like it would be in the Contemporary Fiction genre to me.

Candace

Keep on writing! :)

My first NaNo was a story I'd been mulling over for a long time; lots of personal meaning and such. Now, I was also going through a divorce at the time, which helped fuel my emotions and my muse (the rage gave me superhuman energy, as well), but I was successful - met my word count, wrote my story.

I have some massive editing to do on the novel, but NaNo allowed me get the words on paper and get the story written, and work through the personal stuff.

Just wanted to say, "serious" stuff can be written in November, I promise! Pick the story that speaks to you the loudest November 1st.

:)

Criss, la Reina
www.crisswrites.com
crisswrites.blogspot.com

Criss, la Reina
DFW co-ML
www.crisswrites.com
http://crisswrites.blogspot.com

I'm no expert on genres, but if you focus on the mom, you can call it "women's fiction." Sounds like a good book - write it!

:) Criss.

Criss, la Reina
www.crisswrites.com
crisswrites.blogspot.com

Criss, la Reina
DFW co-ML
www.crisswrites.com
http://crisswrites.blogspot.com

Thanks for the advice, Criss! It's exactly what I needed to hear as my story is incredibly personal to me.

Love your posts nearly as much as Chris Baty's! ;-)

I really love this thread and think you all have wonderful, gripping, hilarious, and touching story ideas.

This year, I'm committed to write a story I've cheekily named A Special Case. Since I love stories that have elements of characters reaching turning points in their lives, romance, horror, and supernatural thrillers, this one will have it all.

It's about a woman letting life pass her by, working late hours as a late-night disk jocky for a Buffalo oldie's station - and still lives at home with her grandmother. Then she gets a harrowing visit from a distraught and newly-dead little girl. After the initial terror, she realizes the ghost needs her help in discovering how she died. She gleans enough information to warrant an anonymous call to the police. One problem: she gets transfered to the very detective that's been calling her with song requests and friendly conversation the last couple of nights. Thus begins the tale of a newly-made ghost median bumbling about in hopes of finding answers for both her spectral visitor and handsome detective, albeit reluctantly. Unfortunately for her, little does she know she invariably draws the attention of an otherworldly serial killer.

[URL=http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/179835][IMG]http://img50.imageshack.us/img50/5029/mybanner49005314058b5ch9.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

Sounds like a fairly convoluted idea, in a good way. I've been working on a side project with lots and lots of supernatural in it. All of it, actually. But I've already written some of it, so it's disqualified from my NaNo, but I wasn't going to abandon my original project. I'll post what I have soon on impishidea.com . If you don't want to see it, check the site out anyway, there are lots of good writing tips.

Reina,
Well, it's not that I disdain writing something 'serious', it's that I doubt my prowess as an author. So, to 'test the water' I'm going with something that just sounds fun to write... though I'm still wrestling with a few things about it... I wanted to have 11 characters, I have 9. There's also some thematic elements I'm not sure if I want to gloss over... the difference between PG-13 and R, et cetera.

Maybe next year I'll go for that (the fictionalized auto-biography, or option 1).

Questions? Comments? Curses?

$5 to the first person that guesses the origin of my user name.

My story at this point is meant to be light and fluffy, but it could turn out to be more in depth than planned. I do genealogy as a hobby. It's one that I pick up for a year and then put down for a year. This is one of my 'on' years. The problem with searching your family tree is that down some branches you'll hit dead ends with brick walls staring at you. Some walls are faulty and you eventually find a chink that will get you through it. Some walls are so high and thick you may never get through them. These are the ones that drive me crazy.

I started out thinking I would take one of those dead ends and create a story for it. Then my idea expanded to include a way to explore several of the dead ends. That's when it occurred to me to have my MC, Maisie, stumble across a watch from her Great-Great-Grandfather that allows her to time travel.

I love that kind of story! I'm horribly disappointed that I don't have an attic in my house, where my great-grandmother could have stored a magical ring, or quilt, or toaster, that I could one day discover and which would take me on magical adventures!

:) Criss.

Criss, la Reina
DFW co-ML
www.crisswrites.com
http://crisswrites.blogspot.com

So I've been itching to write lately, and I've found a constructive solution. You can write about other characters in your world, and it won't violate your original NaNo idea. This helps you flesh out your world, and lets you write until November comes.

I'm either writing ChickLit, or a sort of coming-of-age story. I haven't quite decided yet. Either way, I fully intend on having fun.

Ms_Tamany, that sounds like some crazy-amazing idea! :D I would love to read it! *cheers for you*

WhiteNight, you could also probably write about the characters outside of the time frame of your world. That's what I did with some of mine a few months ago.

My NaNo plot started out as lyrics from a Red Jumpsuit Apparatus song, "Justify". "Visions I have seen have left me torn / between the resurrection and the prophecy unborn." I was meditating and listening to the CD, and the line stuck with me subconsciously (I didn't realize that I had gotten the idea from the lyrics until I was aware of myself again and had listened through the CD another time through). Promptly, Alec (followed almost immediately by Jesse) jumped into my brain and started clamoring about this story.

So the idea is that this prophetess told of a child that would be born to save his nation during its greatest need - typical hero kind of thing. Problem is, there was a time frame for this child to be born... and he never was. (Technically, he was stillborn, but no one knows he was because the parents realized that he was the child of prophecy (marked with a star on his arm), and the father went mad and killed his wife and everyone around. It's only known as a great tragedy... the body of the child was buried/burned/can't be found, so the general population isn't in complete despair over the death of the foretold child.)

But all hope is not lost. Somehow, five people find themselves drawn together, and, as a group, fulfill the prophecy. Each one is marked with one section (one "V" I call them) on their arm, together the V's make up the five pointed star of prophecy. Alec, Jesse, Jasmine, Kendra, and Rej work together to defeat the Seeker (my brilliant but not really fleshed out antagonist, who's really not all that bad in the end but dies anyways), and there's some interference from my "Mount Olympus" (also called an "incestuous orgy" by a friend), but... for major plot line... I don't really have that created yet... It's CONSTANTLY on my mind though so... hopefully my muse will hit me over the head with it. If not, I'll hit her over the head with something.

I like the idea so far, I just gotta make sure I keep my music inspiration up... Raiding of friend’s music libraries and the collections of writing music put on the main forums? Ohyes.

Music, my heart. Writing, my soul. Gaming, my life.