Hello! I have been stuck on this WIP for a while. I have a worldbuilding, it's an urban fantasy story. There is magic in our modern world, magic has become a taboo when a magic user used her magic for the bad. Elemental magic (fire, water, air, earth) is considered the most dangerous. There is also an intelligence organization that is meant to protect magic users but also to stop those who use magic for the bad. I have ideas of what themes I would want to write about. Such as: Privilege and how it manifests in different ways. The desire for power and control. Prejudice. How others perceive you and how much you may play into it because it may feel safe or that is how others like you and you like to be wanted and liked and appreciated. How you want others to perceive you, controlling your image. Recognizing toxic and abusive behaviours in relationships and not romanticizing them, in any type of relations may that be romantic, familial or platonic. The pressure of the expectations others can have you and how it can have an effect on you like giving you anxiety about life, how we live in a society that Is obsessed with their own idealized image of how they want things to be or look like. Reputation and how to exceed the expectations and perceptions of others. People’s obsession with wealth and power. Learning that valuing other people and who you are as a person and how you treat others is ultimately more important than power, wealth, status and beauty. Which yes, are a lot of themes, I probably can not put all in one book bu those are some ideas I wanted to write about. I just don't have a plot and characters. I also wanted to write about a set of sisters. Could anyone help, throw me some ideas?
What about two minority sisters in a western country who grow up in some rather difficult conditions, both have very strong magic. One sister goes bad, becoming obsessed with power and all the vices of the modern age, she ultimately uses magic to dominate and control. Her end goal is to enslave humanity or something like that. The other sister who just tries to get by gets recruited to try and stop her sister. Maybe? I don't know...
The 4 elements are different families...with one family (I would go for water) the most privileged and rich, at the top of the social structure with a reputation to protect and complex inter family relationships. The other families want to topple them and take the power for themselves, to do good, bad, evil.....who knows?
Not neccesarily story ideas, but some inspiration for a plot someone to brainstorm some ideas with. To get the creative juices flowing!! Good concepts so far!
The best stories are small ones. Even in an epic setting with huge, world-impacting things going on (e.g. The Expanse), the stories that are best are the ones that are small in perspective. Pick two people, establish how they relate to one another, ask yourself how they got there, then write down that story. Repeat as necessary.
Heyo, I find the first stages of mapping out a novel the most difficult but it can also be a lot of fun! I found that starting with my antagonist and what they truly want in the novel is a great place to start and usually helps bring some ideas together - ask yourself what does my antagonist want, how are they going to get it and why do they feel like they are doing the 'right' thing? The best antagonists of stories are those that believe they are truly the hero of this story! From there you can usually work on your protagonist as they will want the opposite from the antagonist causing direct conflict between the two. With plot development I would take my story seed (the initial idea that got me buzzing about the story in the first place) and write that at the top of my page in bold, then ask specific questions against that story idea - example, why is elemental magic taboo in this world? is there only elemental magic or is there some unknown magic that has yet to be discovered? Keep going until you feel like the ideas are flowing. It will be difficult at first but keep going until you have enough content down to develop a story from. I usually start with characters because I find that I'm always thinking of a particular character that I would like to write about. In regards to your story, maybe the intelligence organisation are secretly plotting to harness this magic for themselves or maybe even irradicate it all together. Keep motivated - you've got this!
