I have no idea where this should go, but maybe it's fine here: Okay, so I had a friend who turned out to be a sociopath. I was weak and I latched on to a strong, charismatic "leader". Long story short, I spent thousands upon thousands of dollars supporting him for several years, and when the money ran out the "friendship" spontaneously combusted. However, one trait of sociopaths is that they tend to construct elaborate stories in order to justify themselves. Given the amount of time and my gullibility, the story constructed by this particular sociopath is quite an epic tale. I'm considering adapting this vast set of lies into an actual story; It starts with an Ender's Game type abduction by the government - he was supposedly "trained" as an assassin of sorts and was meant to foster the next greatest war of all mankind (grandiose sense of self is an understatement) During the course of this manipulation, many characters were created; one was a special forces commander who is the consummate soldier - having joined and gotten bored with all major military forces on the planet from the Israeli Army to the SAS and Rangers. This man allegedly commanded an elite team of super commandos, taking orders primarily from himself, and entrusted to act on the behalf of the "secret government" - the puppeteers behind the scenes of all world government. This commander had two particular friends of interest - one was a super-hacker formerly under the employ of the NSA who had access to pretty much any information which was digital. Either he had legitimate access to files or could breach any system through uber-hacking skills. The other acquaintance of this modern day Leonidas was an ancient man, several thousand years old. He was "blessed" (or cursed) by the equivalent of "god" (called the Watcher in this tale). This man was gifted with extreme strength and stealth - basically a master ninja. Because of his age and tenure on earth, he had learned to hate people and technology but had no idea what exactly he was (effectively Jesus Christ, the son of god). This man had been responsible for causing (and averting) many global catastrophes, such as the Cuban Missile Crisis and the more recent tension within North Korea. Supposedly, he had infiltrated a north korean base and threatened some very important people. He identified himself as American and said something to the effect of "If one American can get this close to you, how safe will you be with an army breathing down your neck?" - and that caused NK to comply with the nuclear regulations being imposed. The whole point and purpose of this mission was to foment global change. There are many more points to the story, as I said, it was created by the unbridled imagination of a megalomaniac. I think that this would make quite an epic story...
Usually any story that demands change can be called epic, if it doesn't tell people that 'this is what to believe.' But I doubt the message will get across to people if these super-soldiers only affect America's political affairs. If you want to get a message across to the world, then make it relevant to the world.
I don't plan to push any agenda - though you do make an interesting point... The super soldiers act on behalf of "civilization" - if there is a genuine threat to the peace on a global scale, they are the ones who thwart it. If they had been around during the 1940's they would have stopped the Third Reich before it got started. These "super commandos" became a necessity as globalization progressed. They have no official political affiliation and therefore act in the objective interest of all humans. America just happens to be the seat of most power today.
No two countries have the same interests. And politics changes fast, if you choose America as the main leader in the story now, and base that on current affairs to make it more realistic, then in a few years it won't be as relevant. Anyway, about 'human interests,' look at 'international human rights.' The so-called breaches of them are merely other countries and nations having different opinions of what human rights are, and therefore are unwilling to replace their own definitions with those of someone else. These are not rebels, but perfectly legitimate cultural affinities that have been built up over thousands of years, and provide both someone's inherited traits and their environmental ones. There's simply no way that any goal is international. Whether or not they claim to have no affiliation, in practice that's impossible. If you try and construct a world where it is possible, either have the setting as another planet or have some very good reasons. It won't sound realistic otherwise. I mean, do you take politicians seriously when they speak of 'peace and equality amongst every human' and then look at people who actively support capitalism, Communism, religions, etc.?
A story concept means nothing. I can tell you now, it has been done before. What matters is how you write it, the characterization, the flow, the imagery, all of it. There's no point to asking what other people think of the concept! They'll either say,"Sounds great," or, "it sounds like a ripoff of..." If the idea stirs you, write it. Then ask people what they think of the final story. After they tell you what they don't like about it, revise it, usually several times, until you're happy with it or until you throw up your hands and say the hell with it. Please read this thread about What is Plot Creation and Development? (and yes, this is a template post, which should give you an idea of how often this comes up.)
I realize that it ended up coming across as a "hey check out this plot-line!" but that's not what I had originally intended it to be... I think this will be my next BIG project...
Seta. . . It took me about 10 minutes to read your post; I couldn't stop laughing. Not laughing at you, though. I have an older brother who is just like your friend, except that my brother's tall tales are even more extraordinary (dragon prince from another planet--how's that?) At one point, he even had his own cult, and lies were his living. I grew up with him, of course, so I always knew he was full of it. However, after years of watching him in action, I came to understand a basic universal truth: with the right delivery, you can convince almost anyone of almost anything. So don't feel bad! You're probably no more gullible than the vast majority of people, honestly. That said, the idea sounds like a lot of fun. It's exactly the kind of scenario my bro would come up with, haha. You've got most of the details already, courtesy of your crazy friend, so all you need to do now is weave them into a story. I'm not sure if I'd feel comfortable writing someone else's story, but that's just me. . . And you may as well try to salvage something from the experience. Plus, it sounds like he owes you.
I'm glad I'm not alone. I actually learned a LOT by living with an egomaniac. No ordinary human has the ability to intimidate me now (another hallmark of the sociopath is intimidation). My friend was physically larger than me (I'm 160 lbs and he was 200 lbs) and had no problem becoming violent on occasion. I have SO much content still in my head from the 5 year long story - sifting it out into a coherent novel will be difficult. Anyways, he's too lazy to do anything so coherent as write a story or get a copyright. Plus, he can't admit to his lies, so even if I were to write the story, he'd say he had nothing to do with it. Anyways, as far as the world is concerned it was just a flight of fantasy between two friends. I was an equal part in "creating" the story, so it's just as much mine as it is his. He does owe me. Maybe I'll send him an autographed copy later LOL
I think this sounds like a pretty cool idea. I like your idea and I would be interested to see how you could develop it and add in a positive message. I think you should go for it. At the least, you'll get better at writing.
Wait, you mean this friend of yours actually tried to sell this story to you? That would make for any interesting story
The story idea itself seems kind of cool, but the true story is more interesting. Maybe you could start the story off where it is more like what really happened. This guy trying to convince another guy of this crazy stuff. But then he starts to uncover clues that lend credibility to the story. Weird things start happening.
Oohhh, I like Architectus' idea. I had been thinking that if your friend was really so convincing, (like my bro) then you've already got the basis for some very immersive fantasy. But I agree that the real story is more interesting than the fantasy itself. If you can play around with both aspects and somehow make it work. . that book could be one hell of a ride. Write what you know! hehe. . This is where your real life experience could really pay off, Seta. I had considered doing a similar project based on my brother, but I couldn't go through with it. He would hate me for writing about him that way, even indirectly, so I won't.:redface:
Yes, I have been thinking about writing it from my perspective - someone makes lots of HUGE claims and there's lots of mystery and slowly things start to be validated and the MC sinks into this hidden world of intrigue and assassinations - learning more about the world than most people ever dream of. Great minds obviously think alike! I think this will be a very fun way to recoup the cost of sheltering that former friend... I can understand not writing about your brother though, that's too close.
