1. Basically this is the main story in which I'm working on now. Set in the medieval time period a Prince is seeing dreams of the most beautiful girl he has ever seen in his life but the thing about this girl is that deep down the prince knows shes real and not just a dream but he goes forth and searches for her. I'm kinda stuck on how I want him to find her. There is a lot of fairy tale reference and witch craft in this book, well not a whole lot but I wanted to included a hidden kingdom found on no map and mysterious person who helps the prince. 2. The second story I'm working on is a space oddesy but I'm having a difficultly coming up with something. Right now I have four Factions (unknown name of the factions right now) that are leaving Earth after its resources have run dry and Humanity is dwendling to only a few thousand in each faction. They must colonize another world and start humanity over. The biggest thing is combining the Factions with out war. They all soon learn however that there is more life out there. (PM if interested in helping with this one). 3. This idea is sparked from Howl's Moving Castle (a great movie to watch btw) This is in my to do list of ideas but still something I'm considering developing ideas off of cause the cinematography of this movie and the scripting is amazing. But I was thinking of creating a world similar to this and adding a somewhat strong romantic plot.
1. Easy: have some kind of image he must follow, some kind of simple reference: like a vision of a paticular bridge or castle or mountain or lake or inn or something. He could search for it, describe it to people. Over time, he'll find that the journey itself seems to be leading him closer to her. He could find a monk, a knight or a priest or a thief or something who says he'll lead him there (you could even have a sub-plot where the thief is actually just planning on robbing him via an elaborate con). If the hidden kingdom is hidden though, how can he find it on a map? Have it be found through a strange ship that goes into a foggy sea, or a through a cave that goes under once thought impassible mountains, or through a swamp that seems to never end. 2. That seem's simple enough: common cause. They could have to work together (though they hate eachother) to survive the natural dangers of the world. Or, they must unite or face extinction by an the alien's on said planet. 3. Never watched it. Good luck!
1. He's a prince right? Maybe an advisor or record keeper has a prophecy that gives a vague riddle about a woman from an unseen kingdom who can save theirs from an approaching disaster. The prophecy can kick off his adventure by pointing him in the general direction he needs to go. You could hide the kingdom in a mountain range, in an inaccessible valley. On normal maps the mountains appear as just mountains, however, if some one were to get above the mountains (maybe with an airship) they would clearly see the kingdom in the hidden valley. 2. If resources are becoming scarce, your factions would probably have to come together in order to even get off planet mining operations started. I'm currently writing my own sci-fi novel where something similar to this has happened. Many nations on Earth and Mars came together and built a station orbiting Neptune that enabled humanity to travel, and mine resources from the Kuiper Belt. Many of the nations almost went bankrupt funding the venture, however the resources gathered and produced from the stations mining operations soon enabled Earth to be recreated as a paradise for humanity from the ground up. The Mass Effect video game series also uses a theme like this. Nations go bankrupt during the first contact war forcing the formation of the Alliance, a human force bigger than any individual nation could possibly muster on their own. There are a lot of ways for you to get your factions to form an alliance, especially if the choice is get off planet or stay and die. Just remember that space travel is ridiculously expensive.
