1. Shanksy

    Shanksy New Member

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    Space Empire help

    Discussion in 'Setting Development' started by Shanksy, Feb 1, 2012.

    I found a bunch of notes and the first chapter of a small story i wrote a few years back. It was meant to be three, maybe four chapters and the basic storyline was that a small group of soldiers are sent to a remote mining station, light-years away from any sort of support and the mining station's crew have been killed by aliens. So it was pretty generic. One thing that made it different was that the British controlled the space empire. Basically (I didn't flesh it out too much in all honesty)

    After the end of WW1 the British took a large part of Germany for themselves, with the other parts of it either being French or British puppet state. A few years later the close tensions leads to a war in-between France and Britain, which the Brits win. There isn't a WW2, so there’s no A-bomb. Being as they now own most of Western Europe they go on the warpath more or less and attempt to grab all the former French colonies around the world, while at the same time annexing serveral smaller countries (One thing i was sure on was that the Netherlands becomes a Crown Dependency, I.E owned by the Royal Family) etc. etc. etc. Then at some point years on a Brit becomes the first man on the moon, ten years later, us Brits become the first country to have a manned moon base, again this goes on and on until the British Commonwealth owns the entire earth. That part isn't that important to the story line, but i wanted to have sort of a mix in-between 1984 and Star ship troopers, i could post a few lines from the story so you get the idea (Wasn't 100% I could do that) I was just wondering how i could help develop the idea that rebelling against the system will get you killed, but if you work for the glory of Her Majesty you'll be fine.

    All of this makes perfect sense to me, problem is, I’m not 100% sure it'll make sense to you guys!:D
     
  2. Cogito

    Cogito Former Mod, Retired Supporter Contributor

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    It doesn't matter. It's not a story, it's your story concept. Whether it is interesting or as dull as a knife made of silly putty - or completely incomprehensible - has no bearing on what the final story is. That will depend on how well you write it. Period.

    So anyone's opinion on what you posted above is meaningless.
     
  3. Shanksy

    Shanksy New Member

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    Sorry, i drifted off... somewhat. I was wondering if any one had tips to develop a story line which is a mix of The Party in 1984 and the propaganda in Starship Troopers (The movie more than the book)
     
  4. EdFromNY

    EdFromNY Hope to improve with age Supporter Contributor

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    Sounds as if you have a very short attention span. Either that or I didn't understand the question.

    That said, you have the bare bones of an idea that sounds like it mixes some alternative history that has so many things wrong with it (just from a logical historical perspective) that I won't go into it here, to which you want to add ideas from two other works (or was it two films? Or a book and a film? Doesn't matter), based on a premise that is grossly overstated. It is one thing to ask for assistance in working with reference to a complex topic (mental illness is a popular one on this forum), or a specific point of plot or character development, or even questions of style. But this sounds as if you don't even have the concept firmly in mind. When you write, it should be as much of your own as possible, however good or poor that may ultimately be. If you can't even work out the basic plot ideas on your own, how are you going to do all the rest?

    I hope I haven't caused you to drift off again. But if you did, you may want to see a doctor. Narcolepsy is tough stuff.
     
  5. joanna

    joanna Active Member

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    I generally agree with this assessment when someone posts their story idea, but if someone is asking whether their idea is comprehensible, internally consistent, etc., opinions are useful and valid.

    Case in point, I agree with EdFromNY's analysis. If I can't wrap my brain around this storyline, it is unlikely that the story itself will be any more comprehensible, and if this is the consensus among others, it is perhaps an indication that the idea ought to be altered or tossed.
     

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