I started this story with a sort of list of things I wanted in it. One of those was a fantasy story that doesn’t involve saving the world. At most we can save a city. But I got about halfway into writing the first draft and realized I was setting up a save the world plot. Love the characters and dialogue I had going and the B plots but I have to trash the A plot. Plus I’m having to reconstruct the world so it doesn’t need saving. I’d appreciate any advice for avoiding saving the world. Also plot ideas that don’t involve saving the world might help as an inspiration and for brainstorming. Please throw them out there if you can.
For the movie Logan one of the specific requirements going in was for it not to be a save the world story. So instead they did a 'Hero's death' story, where he began self-centered and unwilling to help others (even his newly-discovered daughter), but by the end he decided to sacrifice his life to save her and her friends, thus dying a hero. So maybe put the focus on one character's arc instead.
Well hero’s death is out of the question. MC has a death wish from the beginning so it wouldn’t be much of an arc. More of an escape for him. Partially based his character on Abraham Lincoln who never carried a knife because he was scared he might be tempted to turn it on himself. That said we might go the other way. Not an easy task. The guy literally says in an early dialogue “I know there is no true happiness to be had in the world and we must all go our whole lives yearning for things we will never find… but why this!?” Hmmm a little too wise for his own good. I’ve been fascinated with Jekyll and Hyde recently and there is a sort of impish spirit character in the story. What if it were somehow a reflection of his dark side he has to wrestle with? Thing is our little imp also wants to die, but can’t until the world ends, she she wants to end the world. Failing that she wants strange and terrible things to happen. New and unexpected developments are all that keep her from boredom which is her real torture. She’s lived so long that everything seems to fit into her mind and she can barely distinguish between her imagination and reality anymore. Come think of it, our MC suffers from much the same issue. Too much knowledge. But like Jekyll he has a virtuous character, yet he could certainly be tempted if… yes he does have something to live for but that’s also why he wants to die. but I already have something like that. I just don’t know where to go from there. what sort of world should it be? A world of facades. Characters who all have something hidden. Hidden agendas and distrust. And a sort of macguffin to stand in for the forbidden desires. Something that promises to fulfil desires. The promise of true happiness. Hmmm. And this impish character embodying our MC’s dark side, she’s somehow that thing, and he thinks if he can just master her or find some way to negotiate with her he can have what he wants. Something like Lady Fortune and her Wheel. He has the ear of fortune or something but he can’t find how to control her (which of course no one can). He’s too wise to rise up the wheel except in a passion. Much like Goethe’s Faust. And like Faust he ought to commit some terrible crimes to start with. I’m thinking his goals are threatened and he accidentally releases the power ad kills or drives mad everyone he knows, but then dedicates himself to mastering it. But how is fortune mastered? Well if we listen to Machiavelli, fortune favors the bold. so suppose goes to try to seize what he wants recklessly. Now fortune would favor that, but fortune also loves to abuse her favorites. Our MC knows that. He’s the sort to move cautiously. But make haste slowly. A slow and determined course of action. The death of his father and Duke would free him from restraints. He would seize the wealth of the city, pack it away. Take the horses. And perhaps find some way to pass himself off as a noble. Buy an estate. Establish a new identity. But there are some who know of what he’s done and the power in his hands. To thier minds a kingly power. And let’s say the present king isn’t too popular. Many would either wand our MC to rise or to use him. That’s not bad. I’ll need to think it over. The real object of his desire is the key, which is both noble and perverse. He would need to be very subtle about it. Deflect blame and assign his own guilt elsewhere but seem to accept responsibility. Interesting.
How about emphasising the inhuman scale of events, the inevitability of goings on much bigger than anything the main characters can comprehend. This way you are setting up the reader for a story about surviving without being crushed in the cogs. Meanwhile in the background the world saves itself, or goes to hell, or just keeps on turning its crushing wheels. Chaplain in the wheel in Modern Times springs to mind. All The Tramp wants is to walk down the road in freedom with his girl. Tangential inspiration-grist related to our characters being a part of a world that's bigger than them: "A FROG, one day, peeping out of the lake, and looking about him, saw two Bulls fighting at some distance off in the meadow, and, calling to one of his acquaintance, Look, says she, what dreadful work is yonder! Dear Sirs, what will become of us? Why, pray thee, says the other, do not frighten yourself so about nothing; how can their quarrels affect us! They are of a different kind and way of living, and are at present only contending which shall be master of the herd. That is true, replies the first, their quality and station in life is, to all appearance, different enough from ours: but, as one of them will certainly get the better, he that is worsted, being beat out of the meadow, will take refuge here in the marshes, and may possibly tread out the guts of some of us: so you see we are more nearly concerned in this dispute of theirs than at first you were aware of." --- The Frogs and the Fighting Bulls, Aesop
I wasn't saying you should imitate Logan, but that you can do what was done there—put the emphasis on a character arc rather than saving the world.
Feel free to ignore this advice. I am rather straight to the point and many people don't like that, but I do feel some people need it. Like many questions in writing when someone asks "How do I do X" my kneejerk reaction is "By doing it" (in this case by NOT doing it) This is sort of hard for me to wrap my head around because the answer is, don't make that the plot. So I will based my answer around two styles of writing, Architect/Outliners vs Gardners/Pantsers. Architects - super easy, pick a plot and don't make it saving the world. Boom done. As I am more of an architect writer this is exactly why I have a hard time understanding how the above is an issue. Don't want to write about saving the world, pick something else to write about. Gardners - If I was Gardner... it might be harder, and I think I see why, and I do have some suggestions. I created topic awhile back "why do fantasy writers love maps", between that topic and this one, I do get it. There is 'world building' in all fiction, but fantasy the encourages world building on a scale unlike any other genre. While world building is generally a metaphorical term in most fiction (build the setting of the story) in fantasy you pretty much have to build the actual world, geography, culture, climate, history, factions, social norms, taboos, flora and fauna, etc. etc. etc. Your literal world is a big part of the story... so if the conflict of your story doesn't involve your world why include the world as part of your story. To be clear this isn't true, but it can be the subconscious thinking. There is a funny thing our brain does, if we focus on something, even if we are focusing on it to avoid it, we still tend to go towards it. Like the kid learning to ride a bike and they don't want to hit a tree, so they obsess on the tree, and it is like they magnetically drawn to it, and they hit the tree. This passage is so clearly the kid focusing on the tree he doesn't want to hit. The TC doesn't want a 'save the world' story, but literally has characters whose motivations are tied to the 'the world ending'. So even if the TC is a Gardner and is making up the plot as they go, they've at least subconsciously created a situation where the conflict is "fate of the world." Which does loop back to my straight forward answer of "Just don't do that" But a more detailed/nuanced answer would be as a Gardner you plant seeds, "saving the world" is a weed that will grow naturally if you let it. What you want to do is plants of OTHER motivations for your character, if the IMP's goal is to burn down a forrest rather end of the whole world, then the natural conflict will be between her and the people who protect the forrest, or maybe she will need to protect the forrest for another reason more important than her original motivation, and then she is in conflict with herself. But if you make sure motivations are smaller and more personal, it is easier to avoid "saving the world" plots. Or do the saving the world plots.
Absolutely right. Here, try this real quick. Don't think about a pink elephant. I'll bet a pink elephant is all you thought about, right? Apparently the mind doesn't hear negatives (that's the theory in Neuro-Linguistics), or telling somebody not to think about something fails to give them a different target for their attention, so the mind fixates twice as hard on what it's not supposed to be doing and stresses on it. The trick is, rather than think about what not to do, you need to come up with a new thing to concentrate your attention on. Ergo don't think in negatives (which is a double negative, so) think in positives. Don't think about what you want not to do, instead think about what you do want to do. It basically means work out a plot that's about something other than saving the world. Like the angel of the west is saying.
There is a novel writing guide that's titled 'Saved the Cat'. The whole premise of the book is controlled and direct action toward a very specific goal, namely saving the cat and only saving the cat. I did this exercise in the form of a narrative poem centered around my current cat, Potato, (named after a famous gardener from the Shire). The piece was out of left field, but with the focus on a very set goal, it really turned out well and provided a significant chunk of critical backstory in the process.
