1. orbiting.loona

    orbiting.loona New Member

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    Potential Story Idea

    Discussion in 'Plot Development' started by orbiting.loona, Jan 19, 2020.

    I don't have a detailed plot formed yet, but I have a vague idea of what I want. Essentially, a kid discovers this fruit and bites into it, taking them to this other world. Whilst on their adventure, they discover that this other world holds an evil entity waiting to be defeated. The trouble is, with every bite you take of this fruit, you lose a fragment of your soul. The more trips you take to defeat this evil force, the more you lose yourself. The main character embarks on this journey with several other kids of the same age range.

    As of right now, I can't come up with specific events that would lend itself into an outline. Any tips?

    Thank you :)
     
  2. jannert

    jannert Retired Mod Supporter Contributor

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    You don't have to start writing anything just now, including an outline.

    What I would advise is that you come up with some scenes for your story. Use your imagination to put your characters into a scene, and get it so it 'lives' inside your head, like your own private movie. Don't worry about it fitting into a plot or outline. Just make it come alive for you, and let events take you where they will. You'll need some thinking time, daydreaming time, etc, in order for your imagination to flow, so give yourself that kind of environment.

    Once you have a scene envisioned, you will have ideas for more scenes. Of course you can write these ideas down, so you don't forget them. But just keep them together in a notebook (if you're using pen and paper) or in a file on your computer.

    Build the story this way, and sooner or later you'll know where you're going with it.

    At that stage, you can either write an outline, or start writing the actual story without one, and see where you end up.

    Just try not to rush this process. And don't be too quick to start asking other people for ideas. Give yourself a chance to create your own! Have faith that you can figure this out yourself. That's what most writers do. Think about it like this: where ELSE do you have total control over what happens? I wouldn't be too quick to pass that control over to other people, by asking for their ideas instead of creating your own. You've got the basic story idea, which sounds good. Now you need to formulate other ideas so the story will work. That kind of problem solving is fun—and will give you huge confidence as a writer.

    Good luck.

    Oh, and welcome to the forum! :) I'm one of the moderators here, so if you have any difficulty getting settled, don't hesitate to contact me via a 'conversation' (just click my owl avatar and follow the signs.

    I would strongly recommend that you read these two links as well. They will help you get oriented, and give you an idea of the kind of framework we operate with.

    New Member Quick Start

    Forum Rules

    And have fun! Explore the forum, contribute to anything that draws your interest. Let us get to know you while you're getting to know us.

    See you around the threads.

    Cheers,
    Jan
     
  3. Kalisto

    Kalisto Senior Member

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    That sounds like you do have a good idea. And you're right, it would need some believable events. And I'm not going to suggest events as much as I am going to suggest what should happen with events. Hopefully it would help.

    1. How do they find out that the fruit has consequences? I would suggest they find this out somewhere later in the story when they are already emotionally invested in saving this world, but that will lead to some events:
    a) Early on, something showing the consequences, but not really explaining that it's the fruit causing it. For example, one of the kids starts to feel more tired. Or they start to feel depressed or something. And they don't know why they're feeling this or what it is doing.
    b) A disagreement between the main characters about what they should do, now knowing that this has consequences. Do they continue to save this world? Do they go home and forget they ever came here?
    c) A decision of what they're going to do to mitigate this damage? Are they now just going to decide not to go home anymore? And this can even lead to other consequences.
    i) If they decide that they are in for the long haul. They will not risk any further travel, how does everyone react? Does someone take it poorly?​
    d) Who decides what? And this is going to be the part of where they decide to split up? Some decide to take the last journey home to never return. This can even lead to a potential for a betrayal;
    i) Bad guy offers them a way to travel with the promise there's no consequences, just like Satan promised Eve that eating the apple will have absolutely no negative effects. None whatsoever...​
    2. A moment that makes them decide to help the people in the first place. What's nice is that you're using younger people. Because, believe it or not, teenagers can be very quick to want to jump in and help, once they have. And you don't have to worry about them thinking about consequences because teenagers never do anyway. Adults are all like, "Dude, that can kill me." Peer pressure can really push all of the teens who come to this place to unify in helping. But even with that said, there still has to something about this place that makes these teens want to defend it.
    3. A moment where teens face set back based on their own actions, as opposed to the actions of the villain. These actions can be they not taking the villain seriously. Or not listening to a warning. Failing to act on an opportunity. Failure to do their duty. Let's say one of the kids is supposed to keep a torch lit, but he gets bored and forgets about it.

    Hopefully this helps.
     
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  4. orbiting.loona

    orbiting.loona New Member

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    Hello, Jan!

    Funny enough, this is exactly how a lot of my stories form in my head! Often times, my trouble is figuring out all the bits in between major plot points and events. I'm inclined to think my confidence in my writing is dormant and that I urgently need to wake it up :')

    I never got to say thank you for your inspired response! I will definitely be putting your tips into good use. And hopefully, I'll be active here to share my progress (assuming I don't end up being a complete doof and disappearing for another two years).
     
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  5. orbiting.loona

    orbiting.loona New Member

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    Hey, Kalisto!

    Thank you for your thorough plot/story building guide! I find that I often overthink and expect too much out of myself for any given story idea until it becomes this giant snowball of expectation to create some magnum opus.

    The questions you've posed are going to help me immensely; I admit many of them hadn't even occurred to me until reading your detailed reply. Thank you again for the help!
     
  6. Mogador

    Mogador Senior Member

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    What you have there is Frodo and the ring. Mystery item shows the protagonist a great evil which it becomes their responsibility to defeat, by attempting to defeat that evil they must use the mystery item more and more, losing a part of themselves in the process, with the fundamental tension for the reader being whether the protagonist will be so corrupted by the end that the whole quest becomes futile.

    Not meant to imply a lack of originality on your part, every story's overarching narrative hook is like something else and that's a very good one to be similar to. Hopefully having it pointed out will be useful to you in jolting some thoughts ("What would JRRT do?")

    It sounds like you know already that the actual events of the story are where the real work is, that the 'umbrella plot' you already have is not much on its own. Besides what was said above I'd emphasise that character is everything because human interest is everything. You might be hooked into LoTR by the high fantasy evil ring concept, but you keep reading because of the characters in the fellowship. By a couple chapters in I personally would have kept reading if Sam were carrying Frodo across an Asda carpark in a desperate last ditch quest to renew his Job Seeker's Allowance.

    Who will be your Sam? (Etc.)

    Another (shallower) comparison you are going to have to address is Eve and the apple. Unavoidable, even if you address it by dismissing it.
     
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  7. orbiting.loona

    orbiting.loona New Member

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    Thank you kindly for your response!

    I appreciate that you emphasized it being okay to have an idea that isn't completely original. I am too often caught up in attempting to write a story that is as original as possible rather than allowing myself to write a story with themes that have already been explored. It certainly widens your range of storytelling possibilities.

    Believe it or not, I've never read LoTR so I really appreciate the elaboration because I otherwise wouldn't understand the parallels presented. It's a honor to be, in any way, compared to such an influential work of fiction!

    From what you've expressed in your second paragraph, that is a goal of mine with this particular story idea - creating characters with ever-evolving depth and camaraderie. I'm excited to eventually post updates on the progress of my seedling of a story. Thank you again for your interest and guidance!
     
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  8. orbiting.loona

    orbiting.loona New Member

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    Hello again, fellow creatives!

    Just a quick backstory for a little bit of context before I get into my new idea for it. I've had an idea for a story in which several kids in elementary school (grade 4 to grade 6) discover this other world by way of eating a mysterious looking fruit. The issue is that a great evil has been slowly enveloping this other world, prompting the main characters to fight for peace. Eating the fruit, however, comes at a cost with every use - every time you use it to transport to this second world, you steadily lose yourself (this will manifest itself differently depending on the user).

    I hadn't thought up any solid incentives for the characters to want to help the second world until now. What if each kid, upon eating the fruit, is transported to different regions within the second world. Moreover, what if these regions are tailored to needs that specific kid is not getting fulfilled. Example: Kid A lives in a super strict, bland household and their second world is vibrant and accepting.

    Your thoughts? Many thanks!
     
  9. Mogador

    Mogador Senior Member

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    Thought one:

    Glad to hear you aren't worried about the pursuit of originality. Its way more fun to steal anyway. Just ask Picasso.

    Speaking of names beginning with p, Pratchett once advised a fan that the only thing the fan really needed to do before he wrote any stories was read more.

    I'm assuming you're as avid a reader as the next forumite, but when writing what sounds like young adult fantasy there is some specific reading that it would be masochism to skip. Tolkien is top of that list.

    Any advice or thoughts you get on here you would likely have yourself after reading the Fellowship of the Ring. Even if you are going for another style entirely; string theorists still need to have read Newton.

    Thought two:

    Sorry to be this person again, but what you have in your last post, is Narnia. Once again, totally fine, advisable even.

    Add CS Lewis to the reading list if you haven't read it already. Its worth getting all the way to the end of the series because The Last Battle is chocka with the themes you're looking at. And its moving, and theological, and it manages to discuss not just kids who lose themselves in the other worlds, but also kids who lose themselves in the real world and are cut off from Narnia and thus grace.

    Thought three:

    The structure you have is fine, and so was the previous one. If you changed it around to involve a magical door at the back of an old knick-knack shop on Portabello Road that would be fine too.

    That all my thoughts are about other books so far is a hint that you aren't going to get much out of this forum until you have developed those personal stories of cameraderie and human interest. As it stands there is nothing for us to say beyond, 'good luck, let us know how it goes'.*

    What gets your blood pumping, and how can you work that in? Absurd, pointless heroism? Touching moments of friendship? Heartbreak?

    Me, for example, I happen to like people pushing through exhaustion and confusion to persevere, even persevering with something stupid. Makes my skin tingle. Its much easier to write your story so it heads towards those feelings.

    TLDR? What itch is this going to scratch for you?

    * Although I've managed to blather on for a hundred words or so anyway. Must like the sound of my own keyboard.
     
    Last edited: Jan 28, 2023
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  10. off

    off Banned

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    Every time the kid and his buddies lose a piece of their soul, the evil entity gains goodness and loses a few units of his evil ways. Until all the fruit is gone, and the roles get reversed. The evil entity travels to Earth, takes the place of the kid, and he becomes a diligent, studious pupil, helps his mom, breaks up fights, and earns a medal from the local police for his good deeds. At the ceremony he gives a speech. He says that he could not be good without others being evil; the world needs both evil and good for its proper functioning, and he's just too happy to be on the side of the good.

    He furthermore expresses that good and evil are completely relative moral concepts; what evil to us that an evil entity does, the same way to the evil entity our good deeds seem like evil. If you take an apple away from a money and make your child survive that way, you are good, but if the same monkey's child dies due to the lack of apple, then to the monkey you are evil.

    The kid goes on to say that therefore we should not judge others, instead, we should try to work out ways in this life in which ways good and evil are not antagonists, trying to eliminate the other, but they should recognize the validity of the other, their right to existnce, and go from there. R E S P E C T, he spells out.

    Then he gets a prise for winning the intramural spelling bee, as well, on top of the police citation.
     
    Last edited: Jan 31, 2023

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