Well i have written previously on these forums requesting your thoughts on my script. I'm here to ask a different type of question now, but first here is the pitch: As the captain of his high school football team, Sean struggles with a secret passion he has...to prove science wrong and create a working perpetual motion engine. He has long had an obsession for physics; one that's been buried since he was a child. Wanting to escape his clichéd lifestyle shaped by football, he sets out on a journey to inevitably create what mankind believes to be "impossible." Armed with his intermediate knowledge and the passion to pursue the unreachable, his journey begins... So I am curious, do you think it would make more sense to steer the plot in the direction of Sean's struggle as a young adult with his passion, or actually make it about the object itself, and how he accomplishes creating it?
Quite honestly, whenever I see anything hinting at perpetual motion engines, I groan and roll my eyes. The three laws of thermodynamics are ironclad and airtight, and with an adamantium shell. You'll never sell it to anyone with a solid science background. Seriously.
That may be, but didn't "scientists" used to think the earth was flat, and everything revolved around our planet. All I'm saying is that, while yes I do agree with your perspective of thermodynamics, its still a fun idea to be played with. I mean come on...since when were all movies able to be proven scientifically? LOL, Just think of the movie 'Contact', think anyone with a real scientific knowledge bought that?
The argument that 'scientists' thought the world was flat is wrong. Learned men as far back as the ancient Greeks had a pretty good idea that it was round. As for a perpetual motion machine: It's been debunked a bit too thoroughly to make it plausible to anyone who did even high school science. I suggest cold fusion, or something similar. Not to mention that cold fusion would be a lot more useful than a perpetual motion machine. There's a difference between using something that isn't scientific, and attempting to make the utterly absurd plausible.
My secret to making something fictional such as your engine of doom seem real is give little detail about the whole workings. Yet write it as if it is real. I made very little sence, and since your focus requires much detail, you'll have to do something clever... maybe find the theory with the littlest amount of problems and then fill the gaps with subtle fiction.
I disagree, the perpetual motion engine could make a good plot device, like psionic "mutant" skills-- why ever does Stan Lee think that excessive radiation causes anything but cancer? Or that someone's genetic makeup can allow them to control the weather?? Ah, why ask at all-- he's rich. Just a plot device, though-- so I vote "NO" for making the story about the object itself. That would only result in... well... *prods quote* But the struggles of the character, to make a mark or break the mold, can remain very true and real for someone no matter what the story's devices are. A bit off-topic, how can anyone prove science wrong when science itself is self-correcting?
I only say prove it wrong because of the exact first answer I got when I posted this. Everyone believes the laws of thermodynamics and that something like perpetual motion is unattainable under those laws. Granted I know laws have been broken before, so why couldnt this one?
It is completely a fictional movie script. I am aiming for that fantasy feel that "August Rush" had, but with science, not music.
My opinion is to go with the drama plot as the focus. If your goal is this mythical (for now) object, the end will fall flat because you are not going to invent the object as your ending.
My point was, its fiction, you can do anything. But in your case you just have to make it realistic, believable.
Because the thought itself of a perpetual motion machine is paradoxical. Energy has to come from somewhere. But, I agree with the others, you should focus it more on the struggle of breaking the mold and trying to excel in something else. Sounds inspiring already .
Ok, well seeing as the flow of the plot may work, just not the physical engine behind it, what would any of you suggest as for the project he is working on. I already had 1 person say cold fusion, maybe but been done quite a bit though I think...right?
There's nothing wrong with the perpetual motion story. Just make sure you write it as fantasy and not as science fiction. Think of it like trying to find alchemy or magic.
Invariably, when someone thinks they've invented a perpetual motion machine, they have overlooked an energy flow into the system. If that energy source turns out to be from a previously unknown source, THEN you have a story. (Tapping into hyperspace physics, extracting it from a parallel reality, etc. But make sure it doesn't come for free.)
