My story is about a man named Derek set in the 1800s, who travels from his world to a parallel world, in a city in america that is a steampunk society controlled by a religious cult whose leader is Marcus. The city uses what is thought as Jesus blood. In the past Marcus conversed with a parallel world that showed him about the art form alchemy and how using this so called jesus blood to create runes for transmutation. Marcus has a plan for the future to attack the US because they are more of a doomsday religious cult, but Derek comes to retrieve something that gives Marcus more reason to attack the outside world seeing the outside world trying to bring there troubles. What this thing Derek is looking for comes from his world that Marcus took. And this wouldn't be the blood, it came from another world separate from Marcus and Derek's. What could Derek be looking for?
I solve these sorts of things by wandering around in my vegetable garden pulling weeds or forking soil and explaining the issue to Columbo in my head. I consider this to be a form of Rubber Duck Debugging. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbo https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck_debugging I think my point is that this is going to have to come from you. You could just leave it unexplained for a while, but wrap facts around it as it touches the plot (“It has to be physical and smaller than a breadbox because Joe smuggled it out of Australia in his suitcase...”) in the hope that someday it will announce itself. That’s roughly how I figured out what Male Protagonist wanted, and later why he wanted it, and then later even stronger reasons for wanting it appeared. Of course I’m pure amateur, so it’s not as if I necessarily have a clue.
Steampunk sounds like Cyberpunk, because it has Punk at the end, and deals with cool technology and MCs that don't giva'fuuuuck. Derek(classic cyber/steampunk name) is obviously on the prowl for some strong spice(drugs) and kinky cyborg sex with a clockwork lady, when he gets his hands on some hot gears that control the GenisysDevice(note the Y for extra counter-culture vibe). If the enemy is a religious power structure, Derek being a hedonistic peripatetic suits the setting.
But I'm looking for actual ideas. This is the main problem I've had, and have had this problem I think since January that I've just said F it lets ask some people. You might have heard the saying just start writing but it doesn't help my writers block.
But I'm looking for actual ideas. This is the main problem I've had, and have had this problem I think since January that I've just said F it lets ask some people. You might have heard the saying just start writing but it doesn't help my writers block. It really doesnt.
OK, you need to add substance to what I’d call a MacGuffin. Some possibilities: A book with a magic spell or some other relevant knowledge A “key” to translate a book A magic crystal that you can see unknown things through A special herb with which to make a drug that allows a state of mind that does something or other An ancient piece of jewelry A map that points to the Stones of Power or whatever The identity of a special person A painting A sacrificial knife A Hat Of Seeing A piece of music that summons the gods
Pickled Beetroot. The crinkle cut sort which is regarded as heretical in Marcus' world but is an essential part of all sandwiches in Derek's. Really this isn't something we can do for you. As ChickenFreak has shown, it could be anything on the basis of what you tell us.
Hot gears... that control the GenisysDevice... with a Y. Each of the seven gears were created on the first day on a different leap year, from silver ore harvested from one of seven different mines cleared out by holy water: the gears' metallic composition is impossible to recreate. Each gear was master-crafted by seven master craftsmen from the Master's Guild in Master Town, operating in isolation from each other, each of whom was ritualistically killed after finishing their respective gear: the knowledge and skill to repeat the process is gone forever. During the forging processes seven different choirs of seventy prepubescent boys sang seven holy hymns repeatedly, causing the naturally occurring carbon fiber in the Damascus silver to reverberate at seven unique frequencies, creating unique strands in each gear: the 490 boys have aged to manhood now, and their unique voices are impossible to recreate. The gears turn the turbine on the GenisYsDevice, a holy machine that summons God to the Earth.
