Hi there, I am planning on a story about a creature that science thought that was naturally impossible to evolve. But I do not want to stick to a certain formula like say the King Kong formula where the main characters end up on some weird island. I also do not want to portray it as a man-eater. Here's a few info, the creature evolved in isolation. It is flightless, runs on fours. It's eyesight is not bad but it has a superb biosonar
well the question is the plot as I have little idea of how to go about it.... As I have simply no idea of how to make the creature meet the characters or somethin'
That's mostly your job as the writer. Lets do some brainstorming though. Ok, so we have a creature created by science and I'm guessing there's some people involved and most of them (or some or all) are going to die. Ok first, we're gonna need a setting: Where does the story take place? Jungle, desert, island, city etc. Now each of these presents their own problems. How do the human characters come into contact with it? Maybe there's an accident that results in them being trapped with the creature. Maybe your characters could be the scientists who created it and their monster has escaped the lab or something. These are the kind of questions that as a writer you must ask yourself. Brainstorming can be a long annoying process but its the foundation of story building. What are your characters like? How do they interact with one another? Where are they and why are they there and the like. It may be the case where you come up with many dud Ideas before you get one that works for you or your story but you know the saying. "Nothing ventured nothing gained!" We can't write your story for you (Otherwise it would have our names on it). Its up to you the writer to ask the critical questions and to toy around with ideas until you find the one you like. I suggest an outline. Just jot down the story and don't even worry if you like it or if it is or is not good. make an outline and go back and revise it until you've created the story you want. Once your done outlining the hard part of writing can come into play. Hope this helps .
Well, flightless, bad eyes and highly advanced sonar suggests darkness. Perhaps a story of exploration, either in an underground cavern or an alien world that is, for whatever reason, short on decent light sources. (Actually, a planet lit only by distant starlight could be quite evocative as a setting; the food system being fueled by fungus, or perhaps geothermal heat/chemicals sponsoring some plankton for the basis of it.) From there, you need to then have, well, a plot. Figure out why people are exploring the location, and put something in their way.
Well this is a place for brainstorming the plot right? The creature is a product of nature rather than man. It's not blind but its eyes are only as good as humans. But its biosonar is very good. It's as big as a wolf.. Okay I came up with a few bits and pieces... Basically, the creature was captured by human hunters and since its a new species, it doesn't have the protection by WWF. But then one question is why will hunter capture this thing? Do new species generate good money? Anyway, it was shipwrecked as it approached near the docks in a storm and escaped. But I am going like to emphasize that this creature is not a man eater. No animal is a natural man eater. I see that most sci fi creature always shown the creature as a adapted to eat humans. I am going to change that. In the end, the creature gets killed by humans though
If it's not dangerous, why is it a problem? Likewise, hunters aren't likely to be the ones to care about a new species. They'll shoot it, and THEN realize there's something strange about it, take it to a university, and some professor will wet his pants over it and write a research paper and basically have his career handed to him. There's not any money in new/rare species unless they are: 1) Cute and easily sold as expensive pets. You need a supply of these, though, not just one. 2) Potentially the source of some sort of "miracle cure" like those plants that supposedly are lurking in every rainforest and can cure cancer. Otherwise, rare and endangered species mostly cost money, in the form of protected land and enforcing anti-poaching laws and suchlike. Scientists will be very interested, of course, but they don't usually hire people to shoot at each other with guns over new species. Basically, you need a conflict. If the critter's not dangerous, WHY does anyone care about it being loose? Why would it get killed, other than maybe running afoul of a car due to unfamiliarity?
Well have you heard of the tragic tale of the thylacine? The thylacine was blamed for the number of sheep deaths when actually later it was discovered that it was wild dogs that killed the sheep. Until the creature became extinct then the truth was discovered. Any creature is dangerous if you provoke it enough. A pet cat when you mess with its fur will bite or scratch you. This creature is a new species so maybe the hunters maybe hired after a first specimen was found but it got a live specimen and it got shipwrecked on a foreign land! That's a good intro! It's a carnivore but it lacks the courage to tackle larger animals unless its pack is with it.
Stop. First. Nothing can 'evolve in isolation'. It needs a specific ecosystem that caused it to be what it is. That is your first step. What environment would make this thing exist. Now what do you have. A Quadruped, which could be a anything from a field mouse to a Tiger, or from a desert monitor to a brontosaurs. So giving a size ratio might be a good idea. You said, size of a wolf. And sonar ability, this would mean a lowlight or underground environment, like bats for example. So first you need to find a niche to put it in, then you need to figure out how humans came into contact with it. As for why humans would kill it? Because, they are humans is normally enough of an answer.
He's noctural no doubt but anyway, this creature's adaptations will be up to me. But the big question now is to I did some thinking and read up on the reference to the thylacine' tragedy. I think maybe something happened in the town where he was shipwrecked. Maybe a murder which was done by a human but it looked like it was done by the creature.
Boy! That was a bad nightmare last night! But now I have a good idea... Okay, from the start. The creature was captured by hunters and put on a ship. Storm shipwrecked the ship and the creature escapes to a urban place near a dock. In that town, there have been a spate of so-called animal attacks on humans. And of course a detective is on to something that it may not have been an animal but a human psycho but his boss dismisses the idea. And of course the creature gets sighted and gets on the wanted list.
That sounds good to me, are there any significant characters besides the detective or are the townspeople just meatbags?
Errr stray dogs and also a little girl who will become an angry but reasonable cute scientist in the sequel? There is also a serial killer/former cop who suffers from psychological problems who turns out to be the real killer.
meatbags for the murderer I think. The story might be 3rd person viewpoint but it's the creature who's the main character. Well judging by the way foreign talent is viewed by some countries. I think the local wildlife will not be so.... friendly to our creature.
I have an idea: It can be third-person for when the viewpoint is on the creature, and then it can switch to first-person during the detective bits. I like this idea because it's a nice callback to the old 'detective' stories wherein it was the detective himself talking about a case or something.
