A science-fiction/mystery idea I came up with last night

[Montag]

The inspiration for this story is some dream I had when I was a little kid. I had pretty much forgotten it until I saw someone watching the Harry Potter movie with those dementors in it, and triggered my memory.

The basic idea behind it is some huge, world event that doesn't actually affect most people at all. It's like, if NASA suddenly announced that living microbes had been discovered on Mars or Europa, that would be a massive story, possibly the biggest story ever. But it wouldn't affect the average person. It's just a microscopic critter on a planet millions of miles away.

I guess you could classify this as an alien invasion story, except there is only one alien, and nobody is really sure if it is actually from another planet. The alien doesn't destroy cities or genocide people, it just demands control of all the worlds governments, and rarely even does anything to the detriment of humans. Some of the stuff it does could even be beneficial. Almost nobody in the world is affected, their lives continue as normal, and the thing doesn't interfere. However, governments are suspicious of each other, thinking it is some devious, elaborate plan to take over the world. Conspiracy theorists think it's a nanobot cloud or genetically engineered human. Religious people think it is god, a prophet, or satan, depending on their alignment. And so on. That's where the conflict(s) stem from. Anyway, here's what I wrote yesterday. Sorry if it's kind of scattered or something.

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<Excerpt removed - ALL writing for review MUST be posted in the Review Room>

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What do you think?

[Sugar N. Spice]

I'd like to see it. It's not really the story idea that can be judged- it's how you write it.

[mammamaia]

been done, but that doesn't mean you can't do it again, in a different way... perhaps the most famous of all the varieties of this plot is heinlein's 'stranger in a strange land'... if you haven't read it yet, i strongly suggest you do so, before getting too far into your story...

[Montag]

Oh, right.... thanks mia I haven't read that. Seems like everything has been done.

[Cogito]

That's pretty much true. Most storylines you will ever encounter have been done before, and yet every year authors come out with new books. Many are best sellers, many collect critical acclaim.

What makes each one fresh is the author's treatment of the theme. Character development is a huge part of it, and I personally place far more emphasis on character than on plot. For any plot line, and your story may contain several overlapping ones, it should develop logically and fit well with the characters you have chosen to populate it. Avoid coincidence as much as possible for major plot development; the best use for coincidence is to expose an inconsistency which brings a character's attention to a mystery or puzzle. I'm not only talking about the mystery genre either, every story can benefit from an element of mystery that challenges the reader to unravel what is really going on, as opposed to what it appears to be on the surface.

[Montag]

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. I read the plot of Stranger in a strange land, on wikipedia, and it doesn't quite sound like what I had planned. I got the book too (the uncut version), but haven't started reading it yet. I guess I'll keep plodding along anyway.

[Mr Sci Fi]

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. I read the plot of Stranger in a strange land, on wikipedia, and it doesn't quite sound like what I had planned. I got the book too (the uncut version), but haven't started reading it yet. I guess I'll keep plodding along anyway.


It's a great book and definitely worth a read.

But it doesn't matter if it's been done before or not, just how you tell the story.

"West Side Story" was a rehash of "Romeo & Juliet," but the way it was presented made it different.

"Rita Hayworth & The Shawshank Redemption" is pretty much "The Count of Monte Cristo," yet the film went on to become one of the greatest of all time.