I'm writing a story in which every person is born with a gift. The main character, Nevaeh, was born with the gift of deciding fate. At 16 she was brought to this mountain where here and the rest of the recruits are to be trained to properly use their gifts to help mankind. Unfortunately, I have no idea how to execute it. I'm on chapter four, and she's supposed to start training for the first time (also being the first time she's actually attempted to use her gift). As part of training, all the recruits are assigned a family to watch over for a month. They're supposed to decide their fates, and from that the people at the top of this hierarchy will choose where this person's gift will help the most (deciding who gets what gifts, what a persons life will be like, when someone should die, etc.). There are 3 different ways you're supposed to be able to work with this family: One, is on the television. There would be a specific channel that you can access which would give you stats on your family, tell you what's been going on, etc. The second one would be a tiny box that can give a hologram of the family's household, and from there you can decide on minor things like whether they'll have a good night's sleep. The third is what I'm having trouble with. It has to be something where she can somehow use her ability to make decisions on a larger scale. Originally, I was going to make a room. One where if you gained access to it, the technology would be able to access this certain part of your brain that only the people with this gift had (which is why you needed the gift) and you would be able to see where the person was and everything, without actually having them see you. Although in execution, it seemed like a not-so-great idea. As well, I felt like that was taking a shortcut out of my problem, and I want something really good. Help?
The whole 'people with gifts' thing reminds me of Heroes (the TV show from 2006- Save the Cheerleader?). As for help with the writing.. if you ask for contributions for your story, it won't really be your story anymore (like IVF with donor eggs). Go on a long walk, find somewhere tranquil to sit down and brainstorm ideas, or take your laptop to Starbucks and sit with all the unemployed hipsters, if that's more your thing. Some of my ideas were years in the making, and others were like flat-pack furniture. By the way, I did once find an old teacher of mine sitting in Starbucks. Either he lost his job, or the demographic has changed since I last visited. You'll probably be okay in there.
I have a question about the whole "can decide another's fate" concept. If she can decide anyone's fate, then wouldn't she just decide everyone lives happily ever after? Or just decide that she aces every assignment without even doing it? Deciding fate sounds too absolute to be usable in a novel.
Well it's less of deciding fate exactly... it's kind of hard for me to explain, but I know what it is in my head :s
If you can explain it then you can write it, if you can't explain it then you can't write it. I have a very complicated skill/magic thing going on in my story, what I do sometimes is draw diagrams of what they can and can't do. i also try to describe every ability they have in details. Another thing i do is sit down, put on some Epic music and try to imagine the characters using their powers, just like in a movie. This helps a LOT!
I can see how deciding fate would work if the whole 'even balance - good vs evil' yin yang is in play. Bad times helps us appreciate the good times. We all have to die at some point. Every path leads us onto another etc. etc. So i'm sure you can make it work. The question I have for you - Is it that you can't explain it or is it because it's too long winded and you can't be bothered to explain it right now?
You have my internets. I do the same thing. I find a music piece (mostly instrumental so that i won't be distracted by lyrics) and i try to play the scene out in my head as it would play in live action.
