For the last few years I've had this idea in my head. I'm going to try and do a basic summary... Two best friends buy matching journals. After several entries, one of the friends has a really bad day, but because she wants to appear better and not remember the bad things, she makes up a totally new day where things went her way. The next day, she lives the day she described in full. No one else seems to notice a thing. When she goes back to her journal, she realizes that she put in the wrong date. So basically she learns that whatever she writes in the journal will affect her future with the exception of one thing. Another journal holder, her best friend. She cannot influence anything that would directly affect her best friend. She becomes greedy and steals her friends journal, and tries to cause her friend's death randomly, but can't. She ends up trying to kill her with her own hands. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to end the plot though. My thought is that she ends up killing herself but I'm a little worried it's too much like the Monkey's paw thing. I got the idea of having a horrid character(the idea of the journal causing the future came way before this though) from Deathnote. It was so conflicting having the main character be in the wrong, you wanted him to live but then again he was doing bad things so you didn't. That's the kind of effect I wanted to create. So my trouble is this, should I have her on the run for awhile or maybe just have her struggling to get out of jail and ending up killing herself? I'm pretty sure I want her to die in the end, just not sure how to kill her... yeah that doesn't make me sound insane at all XD
One possibility might be what the police call "Police Suicides". I learned about this on a crime tv show, It appears there are many people that want to kill themselves but they can not do it alone so they get a gun (for example) and call the police on themselves. While the police try to talk these people away from their guns they discover the bigger issue is that this personality trait seems to want to be killed by the police because they do not have it within themselves to kill themselves- (perhaps for Religious reasons). -Just an idea that might burn up a few pages. My best. Terry
Without commenting on the plot as such (although it is interesting), my main comment would be on the "I'm pretty sure I want her to die in the end" idea. I'm a great believer in having a notion of where a story is heading, but I never think it's a good idea to have to much of a closed mind regarding the ending. Just write it, and see where it takes you. It may lead you to a totally different finale.
Just to go for twist's sake, is it possible that the friend causes the death of the main character, because she was having the same discoveries and jealousies the whole time? (But she was just more successful at ultimately getting what she wanted) Obviously for it to be a surprise, you couldn't tip your hand until the end, but based on what you told us, it's one of the first possibilities that popped into my head. (Since after many horror movies and Twilight Zone eps, having her cause her own death is something I think most readers might expect)
A story concept means nothing. I can tell you now, it has been done before. What matters is how you write it, the characterization, the flow, the imagery, all of it. There's no benefit in asking what other people think of the concept! They'll either say,"Sounds great," or, "it sounds like a ripoff of..." If the idea stirs you, write it. Then ask people what they think of the final story. After they tell you what they don't like about it, revise it, usually several times, until you're happy with it or until you throw up your hands and say the hell with it. Please read this thread about What is Plot Creation and Development? Which one inspires YOU more? Which story makes YOU want to put in the effort to write it, proofread it, revise, and proofread again to get everything just so? I find it somewat disquieting that you've decided she has to die before you have even settled on a story. You probably shouldn't be making that decision so early in the process and thereby limiting your choices.
@Jammer, that's an interesting idea but the she doesn't want to kill herself, it's not suicide in that sense, I was thinking she'd just end up doing it. Like her greed is what kills her. @Halcyon, thank you for the advice. Althought typically, before I start writing a book I like to have it all laid out in front of me, and have a basic plot so I know where the story is going. If happens to veer off, that's fine and I throw the other stuff out, but I need a starting direction. @Show, that's a good idea too. I never thought of having the same effects on the other girl that were more fine tuned. But then again, I didn't even think the other girl would figure out that the journal was special. @Cogito, I'm not asking what people think about it, I'm asking for other ideas or help to figure out a good twist and/or ending. And I know pretty much all the story except for the ending, the only thing I've come up with for the ending is her death.
Maybe it would be intense if she was on the run and she was using her journal to keep ahead of everyone but during a critical moment she goes to write something down to save herself only to find that she has run out of paper.
This really just calls to the really sadistic in me, but why not make the best friend secretly worse. Have her appear innocent, yet secretly, she's using her own journal to influence the protagonist. The reason she's becoming the greedy selfish person she is owes entirely to the best friend's journal. In the end, have her make this discovery... Then, the rest is yours.
OK, please allow me to toss this out (yeah, it's a bit crazy): If GREED is linked to her killing herself, it begs to ask does she KILL HERSELF, or if does a weird twist of her greed kill her (elements of Twilight Zone style here). If one goes with the latter I will share another idea I have. With all of the germ phobic people we have in the world that wash door knobs and such, why is it nobody sees the most obvious means of passing a virus, germs etc? I'm speaking of MONEY $$$- CASH. Maybe her greed could indirectly kill her due to her inhaling some deadly germ that was siting on a 1 dollar bill or something to that effect? If she does not try to kill herself, a weird twist might be her using a greenback to roll into a straw to snort drugs and instead of the drugs killing her, some germ/virus/ maybe even Anthrax is on her cash and she dies from it. Wow, I better go wash my hands now. Really, get a microscope! Common cash is covered up with germs of all kinds and many colds can be spread by cash alone as I understand it. Just think of all the hands that touch money everyday and it becomes like a phobic subject. After all, you mention her dying due to greed. Just another 2 cents. I can recall many many books that had happy endings or downright sad endings that killed off the star. Either way I bet some of those books had their endings planed in advanced. OTH: I am sure it is much more common in screenplays due to actor rotation, people getting sick, pregnant etc. I more or less have my final chapter already in my head well ahead of the rest of my book. Perhaps I'll move my last chapter to the first chapter and then go back and write about what lead up to the ending. I think some people have the ability to write better backwards. Then again, I keep making analogies to original music- I have seen bands actually work from the end of a song to the intro, in that backward order in a commercial studio!! - Strange, eh? It seems to work for screenplays as well, I can site a few StarGate tv shows that first aired the ending, then the rest of the hour was all about what lead up to the ending. Different strokes for different "dudes". Terry
@Norm, I really really like that idea. It sounds slightly... uh cliche I guess but maybe a twist on that would make a really good ending. @RobT, As I said before, she doesn't really commit suicide in that she did it on purpose. @Deevra, that's certainly an idea that can be expanded upon, however part of the story is to have the main character be the 'evil' one. I haven't read very many books where the protagonist is completely in the wrong and the ones I have read about it are amazing. I understand there's more to a story than just that but I wanted to attempt this concept myself. @Terry, there also is a Firefly episode *is a firefly fan* where they start at the end and then tell the rest of the story. Also, not a bad idea although the drugs road was not one I'm really planning to travel in this particular story.
Hey, I'm just glad I could offer some advice. I find no one is as simplistic as they may appear, and everyone holds measure of light and darkness within them. Find what makes your protagonist tick, why she uses the journal the way she does, and the truth will point to itself, so to speak.
