Recently I've been having this story idea rumbling in my head. It's basically Phantom of the Opera, except it's set in modern times, in Poland, and the main characters is a young girl from Brooklyn and a ghost of a man who died in the Holocaust who is searching for his beloved jukebox that he used to record his musics on. He takes the girl under his wing and teaches her how to play the violin while they search. Somehow, they wind up in an ancient Polish castle toward the climax and...yeah. My concern that it's too much Phantom of the Opera-y, and plus...I've the faintest idea what to do with this idea! Where do I even start? And what do I do with it if I'm not passionate about it enough to write it? Another story idea that seems to haunt my brain daily is set in the early 1910s about a young boarding school student in Vermont who stumbles across a house own by a Russian couple, and the man is 'Krom Irrikov' who is a paleontologist. The first scene is of the girl and her classmates meeting this couple, and the second is of the girl, alone, biking all over the property of this Russian man to investigate him. They both haunt my head, but I've no idea what to do with them and I don't really feel the urge to write them just yet. Thoughts?
If I were in your position, I'd just write scenes, without knowing where you're going. I don't know where Shuteye is going, but I'm writing scenes here and there, and I think that they're triggering other scenes. However, you say that you don't want to write them, so...I'm not sure what else to suggest.
It could have a modern twist - it's ok that it's obviously Phantom of the Opera if you make it like a modern spin-off. The way Bridget Jones used the name Darcy, the same way Bride and Prejudice is a spin-off of Pride and Prejudice. I'd say since it is so similar to the Phantom, make the similarities obvious, but have your own take on the whole thing. What should have happened, could have happened. Make fun of the stupid stuff in the classic version. Write an ending you would have preferred for Phantom. Although, personally I think Phantom of the Opera as a story sucks. It has no substance whatsoever and didn't make an ounce of sense. So to be honest, you probably have a lot of room to make your own stuff up
Honestly, I thought it was the start of Raging Bull. I once watched Frank from Some Mother's Do Have Them as the Count of the Opera, and he eventually won over Betty by falling off his bicycle. It wasn't the greatest version I ever saw, but it worked. Do not confuse your version with Frank Spencer.
I've never watched Raging Bull. To be fair, I was more worried about ripping off of Phantom of the Opera because there was singing. To wit: Lindsey (the MC): I never heard this tale, In all my years. This caaa-aa--aastle in Poland, It still stands. What wonders took place here? What sort of delight? What sort of magic? Before black despair? Did the Nazis trap you here? Behind these walls? Did they break your mind? Though the Polish dude is a ghost so yah. Still, who's gonna be my antagonist?! Don't get me wrong, I WANT to write them, just...not right now. xD
Eh, not likely. They're too independent of each other. I'll just write scenes for both and see what comes out of it.
Sometimes, the only way to determine whether an idea is a) viable and b) ripe for writing is to, as @ChickenFreak suggests, start on some scenes.
"Retellings" are pretty popular now, especially in YA. I don't think it being obviously POTO will be a downside.
This is what I do. I call it story dough. You can put this dough in the fridge and wait until later. If I don't do this, these ideas fade and become the memory of a memory.
Good to know. And honestly, if I remove the singing bits, it probably won't be too much of a ripoff of Opera. I mean, when you boil it down, it's about a girl from Brooklyn following a ghost as she looks for a jukebox.
I save it for later I spent years working on a Fantasy setting that I liked, months working on a bank robbery scene that I liked, and had characters that I loved for both but no stories to tell about either. Realizing – again, months after the fact for the one and years after the fact for the other – that my bank robbery scene took place in my Fantasy setting gave me a story about my bank robbers discovering the supernatural for the first time
Epic description - i'm nicking that for folder naming "Story Dough" (incidentally you don't put the dough in the fridge it needs to be put somewhere warm to prove [/baking pedant] ) I have so many different ideas washing about and i'm only writing three or four wips at once, i need to file the extra stuff
on point - how did he record music on a juke box.. they work by playing records - chances are a man who died in the holocaust would have recorded his music manually in writing as home recording didnt kick off til long after big mistake number two
Verdammit! >:[ OK, replacing juke box with violin. That would be more fitting for the Polish guy. Maybe he was a violin instructor who played in operas and other concerts and wrote his own musics?? Hmm...now the creative wheels are moving...
The antagonist can be time (Polish dude only has so much time left on Earth or something), the search, a mystery, etc. It doesn't have to be a person to be interesting .
But he dead. Unless you're saying he's a Holocaust survivor trying to find his old violin before old age/sickness claims him and he and this little girl goes to find it before it's too late?
I don't think your first idea is that bad. Kind of reminds me of the movie, "She's the Man". You know, how it's sort of a modern-day version of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night".