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  1. seira

    seira Member

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    Creating a novel from an idea?

    Discussion in 'Plot Development' started by seira, Mar 6, 2019.

    This idea came to me when a cyber hacker done something to the NHS so that no one could access patient information. The point is, without the internet they couldn't even call patients to cancel appointments.

    Secretaries, nurses, Doctors couldn't do a thing for as long as it was down. It made me realize just how much we relie on techonlogy and just how stuffed we are when it goes wrong because we have no “back-up plan”.

    I would like to put this premise into a Fantasy world, but instead of technology I want to use Magic. I wanted to focus on one race that seem the most powerful with it. This race can achieve a lot with magic but mostly they are healers and the magical medicine is complex and advanced. They can heal a broken leg in minutes, cure cancer in a week – the only thing they don't do is resurrect the dead. These beings are the essence of magic, they need it just to live, like humans needs air.

    Then mysteriously, magic starts to disappear. Magical objects lose their power, magical plants begin to die along with animals and beings that relie on magic to live. (Or maybe their innate magic is like their immune sytem, a protection so their bodies never build a defence against disease and infection). A magic begins to lose it's power, these beings begin to get sick. They have no back up for when magic falls apart and stops working. They dont have Science and they alternative remedies are as about affective as ours. Magic is all they've developed. And it's disappearing fast.

    This is an idea but how to I flesh it out into a novel? What steps should I take? Sorry I'm new to this.
     
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  2. John Calligan

    John Calligan Contributor Contributor

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    That’s the setting. You need a story to tell inside the setting.

    Doctor must compromise his morals to restore magic and save sick spouse?

    Attack on magic is the first wave of an alien invasion. Elf Team 6 must restore the magic by invading Mordor, before a daughter dies of magic fever.

    Dragon money Elf must back a wizard in a coup against the evil king to get the magic back on, but the magic is feeding an even more evil boss that will arrive later.
     
  3. Iain Aschendale

    Iain Aschendale Lying, dog-faced pony Marine Supporter Contributor

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    In The Magic Goes Away and its follow-on stories, Larry Niven posits that the reason history (and pre-history) is full of stories of magic while we have none is that mana, the power that made magic possible, was a non-renewable resource like oil. The idea began amidst the oil crisis of the 1970s, but basically, Once Upon a Time, witches and wizards were able to draw upon Earth's naturally-occurring pool of mana, but they never realized that every time they did a spell, they used up a little bit of the power. Once they started to understand, everything changed. In one of the stories, there was a weapon which was just a wheel, perpetually spun by magic. If you could place it in an enemy's territory and start it, it would eventually "use up" all the mana in the region, leaving the countryside magically dead.
     
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  4. Kalisto

    Kalisto Senior Member

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    I think you need to figure out who your protagonist is and how he or she will play a role in resolving this conflict.
     
  5. seira

    seira Member

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    That's where I'm having a problem.

    Finding out what role my MC plays in resolving the conflict and why it has to be her. Since this is young adult, she needs to be a teenager. Why would such a grave mission be given to a kid? The only idea I came up with was:
    These beings are magic and need it like humans need oxygen. But maybe my MC is not born to this race, maybe she is a non-magical being so the illness does not affect her. She is not sick or about to get sick. She has the potential to complete a task.
    But like I said I'm new to this and struggling to think even.

    Thanks for the help so far
     
  6. cosmic lights

    cosmic lights Contributor Contributor

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    my message hasn't shown
     
  7. seira

    seira Member

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    Also I forgot to ask what Genre would this be?

    Fantasy? Dystopian maybe?
     
  8. Aled James Taylor

    Aled James Taylor Contributor Contributor

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    You need a story. Stories tend to be along the line of: Problem, working towards a solution, solution.

    Firstly, before the story begins, you need to set the scene. Describe normality for these people, healing with magic etc. Then the story begins with the onset of the problem, magic no longer works. You could introduce a degree of urgency with a sick loved one who desperately needs to be cured. The protagonist then needs to investigate why the magic isn't working. Think of this as a murder mystery with suspects who need to be interviewed. Introduce more tension with characters who oppose the use of magic altogether and favour some method. Then a solution is proposed but this doesn't work, it's a false success and something else needs to be tried. The struggle continues. Ultimately, someone comes up with a clever idea, maybe stating the obvious that should have been thought of originally but was overlooked (for good reason which you include). Then there is the solution and all is well again. Finally, there is a rounding off with the now cured loved one living a normal life again.
     
  9. XRD_author

    XRD_author Banned

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    [Futile ergo redacted.]
     
    Last edited: Apr 11, 2019

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