working title: applause of the locusts in a dimension called ‘the increase’ that is very similar to our earth in many ways but also vastly different, in a city named caterpillar, many years ago the people were met with a terrible curse, and most of them have fled by now. a strange visitor arrived a long time ago who seemingly disagreed with all of the people, the council and the culture of caterpillar, and he met with what he felt was the final straw in a caricature of him that appeared in a popular publication. he used his dark power to summon a terrible creature to terrorize the city, a creature with 100 lives, considered to be the most vicious monster to exist, known as the conformer. as the story begins, the conformer has been killed 99 times by the more powerful magicians and other denizens of caterpillar and other areas, but the curse entailed that the final life of the creature is when it is at it’s strongest, and it killed most of the powers keeping it at bay and all but levelled the city and morphed it’s environment into a bizarre and almost unrecognisable area. our protagonist, alex is 19 and the daughter of one of the best magicians from the city, and is developing new skills and power at a rapid rate. with her father and many of his friends dead, she is considered to be the only hope to save the city and restore peace and happiness to the increase, but still has a lot to learn and many troubles to face before she's ready to attempt to deal with the conformer. her mute half sister, crystal ann, is currently missing, but suspected alive by a likeable though peculiar ghost she befriended named adam. *the city being named caterpillar was a nod to the music group, city of caterpillar.
well i'm pretty elated you think it sounds like it could be good! i'm just wondering just that, if people think it sounds like it could be good, haha. i definitely feel excited to write it, cos i've been struggling for a while to find a concept that i'd like to work on. i want it to be a very fast-paced and written possibly in a unique style, if i can work on my skills and get to that level where i can do that. but yeah any random critique at all is welcome of course
I don't want to understate my reaction by calling it unique. This is a fantastic concept. It needs a lot of fleshing out, obviously, but it's a plot synopsis, so it does its job. You should take another pass at it for a more detailed, scene by scene structural outline, and I'd love to read it when you do. It reminds me a bit of the plot to one of those 1970's prog rock concept albums like 2112. Those guys were great at creating worlds unlike anything in classic fantasy novels. Of course, the hero usually saves the world in the end by playing a magic guitar or something, so probably don't do that. I also like that you mixed elements of ancient fantasy like Beowulf with modern, relatable fantasy without relying on genre staples. Keep it surreal. You're doing great. Just for fun, if you get a chance, check out "The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday" by Phish, unless you absolutely hate 90's hippie jam bands, in which case you could probably find lyrics on Google. It's a little sillier than what you're doing here, but it's my favorite example of a fantasy concept album, and it's totally free of tired tropes. The best version is on YouTube under the title "Phish - Gamehenge - Sacremento, CA. March 22 1993 HD". The album was only ever available as a primitive bootleg, but live recordings from the 90's include a few more songs they wrote later about the land of Gamehenge, and the music is better than on the original recording.
I read the lyrics, I saw some parallels in the plot to mine, haha. it was strange too. i'm glad you like the concept dude it's really encouraging, and yeah i've been mapping out some scene by scene parts already, i'll keep working on it and update you if i remember
It's not anything I would want to read by any merit but that doesn't mean you shouldn't write it. Some of the best novels in history have people that don't like it or are indifferent to it. So forget other people's approval because you don't need it in anything you choose to do in life. Good luck with this WIP
I think your last point is true in general and good, but I still think it's cool to find out if other people like what you're doing. As long as I definitely make something which is entertaining to me primarily, which it is. Also I can totally dig/hang with the fact that some people won't be into it. It's like that with everything.
