A while back, I wrote a fan fiction (set in the universe of the TV show “Voltron: Legendary Defender”) that I think would make the transition into original work fairly easily. The only problem is, I’m having trouble with world building. The show takes place in outer space, where a group of humans and aliens have come together to fight the evil race of Galrans who oppress other alien races under their rule. The fan fiction is centered around several minor characters who have recently detached from the Galra empire after a moral panic (Acxa, Zethrid, and Ezor if anyone here is familiar with the show). So, basically all the new world needs is the capacity to conceivably contain three different races/factions who are at odds with one another - the Galra equivalent, the Voltron equivalent, and the third “mystery alien race” equivalent - and also plenty of room for travel, whether it’s road-tripping or aimlessly floating around in a space ship. It can take place on present-day earth, dystopian earth, or outer space - it doesn’t matter, so long as the general plot and themes still hold up. It needs to have some things in common with the Voltron LD universe, but ultimately be unrecognizable/original. I have some ideas, but this is really the only area where I am completely stuck. Help would be greatly appreciated, whether it’s ideas or questions to get me started or anything else that might aid in the creation of a new story universe. Thanks! EDIT: I just noticed the typo in the title. It’s meant to say “converting”. Anyway. Bye.
Aright, as someone who's yet to actually do this but absolutely plans to, my two cents. What pieces of the Voltron show are absolutely essential to your story? I.E. could you manage to shift it to be soley set on Earth, or is it necessary for it to be set in space? Do you need a 'Voltron', so to speak, or would just a 'team' working together for a purpose do? I'd say take the setting apart, figure out what bits you need, what bits you can discard, and what bits just need a lil tweaking. Maybe look into combining characters, for example maybe your 'Allura' could also be your 'Shiro'.
Thanks for your reply. I’d like to write out some of my thoughts here, if that’s ok. It probably doesn’t need to be set in space, but it also doesn’t not need to be set in space. My main problem is that I still need to have the idea of three in-conflict races/groups without it being copy-paste. If it takes place in space, this would probably be alien races, similar to canon. If it takes place on earth, it would probably be “factions” within a dystopian setting (think the “Divergent” series). I need one of these races/faction to be a corrupt government (AKA Galra), one to be an innocent-seeming alien race that is secretly plotting something evil (e.g, genocide, etc) against the “Galra”, and one to be some sort of diverse rebel group that is dedicated to fighting the “Galra”, if that makes any sense. Honestly, I’m having trouble thinking up a reason to put them on Earth. It would be less copy-paste, but there are other ways to generate originality. Thinking up a reason for the human race to be divided like so would be extremely difficult and time-consuming, and I honestly think the space theme makes somewhat more sense. I will absolutely not be keeping the idea of a five-person team that is anything like Voltron at all - it just needs to be some sort of rebel alliance (I’m thinking with membership around 5,000 people if the Galra race has a population of around 800,000; I’m not good with numbers). Having it be at all similar to canon would make it too recognizable, and I don’t need to keep anything at all, really. I can definitely cut the “hunk” equivalent, the “Koran” equivalent, and several others, but for the sake of the story I need a “Keith”, a “Lance”, a “Pidge”, an “Allura”, and a combined “Krolia/Shiro” - obviously, a lot can be changed regarding these characters and some can probably be combined. I can also switch up relationships and backstories a little bit. Pidge doesn’t need to be the resident science geek with a missing family - that just isn’t necessary, esspecially since she’s going to be such a minor character. Allura doesn’t have to originate from a nearly-extinct race of aliens; heck, she can be human and it wouldn’t make any difference (all that matters is that she has some sort of prejudice against the Galra equivalent). Etc, etc. I keep getting fractions of an idea that ends up getting stuck. I’ve gone as far as I can into character/plot development without a solid world. Thoughts?
I find babbling like this is sometimes a good way to generate ideas, sounds like you're getting there! Okay, re:space, yeah, I'd say it sounds like you're leaning towards that setting- and the genre is so wide you can do that without people screaming 'Voltron ripoff!'. Maybe your 'Galra' race could also take inspiration from the Empire in Star Wars? You talk about 'rebels' which makes me think less 'invaders' and more 'corrupt overloards' sort of situation. I'd say with a group that small you might want to go a more 'guerilla warfare' than 'head-on fighting' direction too. Unless you want more big epic battles- then you might want to shift towards a more 'invaders' style than 'corrupt government'. As for characters, sounds like you already got a good start! Have you thought of other ways you could make them different? I.E. would the story still work if "Lance" was female? (That is one that sounds particularly interesting to me btw.) Maybe mix and match the backstories- "Allura" could be the one with the 'family taken prisoner by the "Galra"' backstory, and "Pidge" could just be an overly-smart kid with a rebellious streak or something.
