Plot

Hi All,

For a couple of years now ive been writing together little stories which never actually get completed as i dont plan too well, I'll basically just start writing when someone pops into my head - Im well into fantasy and things that dont quite fit into real life, but could... If you know what i mean. Things where theres a possability of it happening, for real.. Before i go off track i'll stop there.

I have an idea in my head of a story which starts with a young boy with a vivid imagination, The boys around 9 years old - Doesnt really have too many friends but is happy and confident in himself, He lives in a remote cottage with his family and his dad, who himself is a book writer.

The boy's life is quite a normal one, succesful parents, well educated and quite well off due to the sucess of his fathers writing - What i want the story to progress into from here is the boy notices over a period of time that what his dad writes, actually becomes true in the real world.

What im needing is idea's to take me forward from here and actually get onto write the story i wish to write, I would like the father to be able to write a book which is also about a boy in the similar circumstances, you could say the story been written is based on his actual own son but back in a time of fantasy, dragons etc..

As his fathers story is written, things from that world are brought into the real world but how and why this is happening is what im struggling to peice together,

Maybe the book his father is writing in is somewhat magical.. Please help with your responses and feedback into wether this is a story which could lead somewhere or should i go into a completly different direction?

Thanks in advance and have a nice day,

 

Well, this is just how I would write it. It's a bit different from your idea.

I know it's sometimes hard on your emotions to write about, but maybe you could make this a not-so-normal family. You know, to get a nice contrast to the fantasy world. Maybe the father is a once-successful writer who keeps rehashing his old ideas and can't find his fantasy anymore. Maybe his marriage is falling apart a bit. And maybe the faraway cottage is a bit much.

So the dad is writing this book under a lot of pressure, trying to make it his best, and he reads the new chapter to his son every night. His son kind of acts out the adventures in his head as time passes, but as troubles in real life get closer and closer, the book starts to get darker and sadder, and so his son's adventures are harder.

That's all I've got, really; as you see, I'd adopt for a much more realistic style of telling this story, but that's just me.

 

Have you ever read Inkheart?

 

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 point to 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?

(and yes, this is a template post, which should give you an idea of how often this comes up.)

Just write the story. Whether or not it succeeds will depend mostly on how well you tell it.

 

I'd leave the book thing unexplained. Don't invent some magic theory. Just explain what it does and leave it at that. Where fantasy and scifi in particlar get really tedious to read is when an author invents something and spends pages and pages explaining in excruciating detail exactly how and why it works....I'd much rather it just be left as something that just is, rather than something that needs endless explanation.
But besides that, your plot is your business. Its apretty open plot, so there are plenty of places you could take it, so that should be your first order of business (Does his dad use thebook to summon up hordes of undead? Does he become a serial killer/crime-fighter? Does he use the book to create a perfect faily for himself and neglect his real son? Just to name the first few scenarios I could thnk of, but there are thousands of other things you could do...)

 

The genre you seem to be trying to write in is 'Magic Realism' - stories in which fantastical (ie. magical) elements pervade an otherwise ordinary, realistic plot. From what I've read, many if not most writers in this genre do exactly what arron suggested: simply state what happened in a matter of fact way.

Consider Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis. The opening sentence is: "One morning, as Gregor Samsa was waking up from anxious dreams, he discovered that in his bed he had been changed into a monstrous bug." There are no explanations made in this first sentence, nor later. We are simply told that Gregor is now a bug (or vermin if you prefer the literal translation).

Also consider Angela Carter's The Snow Child. Here, a child simply appears out of nothing which contravenes just about every scientific law you can imagine, and guess what? No explanation! But it still works simply because of the way the story is told, which is, funnily enough, the most important aspect of writing.

So back to your original question, seeing as I've gone off on a tangent, yes it could potentially become a great story if you tell it well. On the other hand, it might flop if it isn't told well. The plot doesn't make the story, but nor do characters alone, or setting alone...the key point is that for a story, a good story, to exist, you need to have everything working together.

Just write it if it appeals to you and see what comes out of it.

 

The muse is going to be ticked; there's a great post somewhere in this forum about posting plots, and how doing so can kill the story completely. I would not have believed it, but sure enough - it happened to me.

The plot is yours. Love it, nurture it, feed it, spend time with it, protect it. If there's a story there, it will grow into more. But it does take some level of dedication to working out the convoluted thought process, and finding your pearl.