[Edit]: Part about this idea being for a visual novel removed. It is irrelevant (though, I originally pointed that out). Anyways: What I am faced with currently is that I am stuck in the early stages of scenario writing. The story, I have decided, takes place at a university. The protagonist arrives alone - in other words, he decided to attend the university not knowing whether or not anyone he knew from before would also attend. But what would this mystery be? I will refrain from thinking it is foolish to go after such a concept, not knowing anything going into it, but I have wanted to pursue this genre. Also, I am hoping that even though the idea/the core of the mystery itself may be a "serious" subject, the way it will play into the story will still allow for humor where it is due. In order to make the mystery more impacting of course, it should in some way directly affect characters that the protagonist has interaction and develops good friendships with - perhaps, even, someone he knew from before that he didn't know would be attending the same university. I have a couple ideas - well, more like one - merely some thoughts which may be totally worthless... but see what you think. Disappearances of students - virtually unnoticeable at first; but then campus security (and consequently the police) pick up on this. A potential link is discovered when upon investigation they discover that certain individuals in the university were paid under the table to help develop a drug in secret, as a "vaccine" for a new animal-carried disease. The connection here would be that the experiments damaged the individuals that were tested on(?), and there was an attempt at cover-up. What the drug did to the individuals I will leave up to imagination, but perhaps the drug caused the individuals to go violently insane, but then resulting in their death (some drug-induced death, i.e. cardiac arrest). "Murder" as a mystery would be a bit stereotypical. Perhaps not. But I am not choosing to do this, it seems unoriginal and almost impossible to incorporate without introducing an element of "fear" too ominous for my liking. Theft would not fit a school environment either. I don't know how to write a mystery. It would seem quite evident. Any pointers would be most appreciated.
do you mean what is called in the trade, a 'graphic novel'?... as in one that's fully illustrated, like a comic book, but novel length? or something else? as for ideas, if you want to write a mystery, you must read mysteries...
mammamaia...Cogito removed the link that showed what the OP meant by a "visual novel". If you google "visual novel", you'll see Wiki refers to it as an ineractive gaming system. Personally, I'm not sure how it relates to writing.
I see. I didn't even need to include that part; I am only concerned with the plot for the creation of such a game at this point. But for elaboration which served only to clarify my own thoughts I included that part. I'll edit and remove it since it is irrelevant. It seems my posts are being moderated quite expressly. Anyways... For now, does anyone know of good mystery short stories I can check out, or anything that would help provoke thoughts in this direction?
there are too many good ones to list and we can't tell what kind you want to use for your game... just go to your nearest library and check out the mystery section...
I've got a lot of reading ahead of me, it seems! But it's true. In the end there is no shortcut. I will go search for those that involve conspiracy theories/paranoia and medical-related mysteries.
Sounds like you will have to do a lot of research into medical forensics if you are going to take that route.
