Hello again! I'm back again trying for another story idea. This was an idea I came up with a long time ago, wrote a bit for but then hit a wall in the plot and never really came back to it. The basic idea is that the reason you're scared of certain things is because it's those things that killed you in past lives. Of course some will need to be more symbollic than anything else. I had the idea that those deaths come to you in dreams. And that possibility if you were murdered in a past life, you may be able to track down your killer by yourself or others viewing his or her face. I'm not sure how to make a plot out of this but everyone says it's a really good idea. I'm best at writing teen/YA romance stories so if anyone has any ideas I'd love to hear them. Thank you so much in advance
Yeah, that's a tough one. I can come up with a lot of ideas for a past lives related plot line, but I can't find a point to it. For example, if they were murdered in a past life, they very well could figure out who the murderer was, but... Who cares? The murderer would be dead, so it's not like they could get justice. Or maybe they died and left behind a husband or something. Again, they could investigate the past life, but how would that relate to the present? They wouldn't be able to find their reincarnated husband, so the story would essentially go nowhere... Maybe you could make it a mystery! Woman is murdered in her past life. She keeps dreaming about it, but never sees the guys face, so she investigates. Eventually she finds the murderer, figures out he died, and wonders why the hell she was dreaming about him. But then someone tries to murder her! So her dream was trying to warn her. A lot of people believe that past life memories or soul mates show up in your life because they are important somehow. So she dreamed about her past murder to prepare her for her own potential murder. That sounded a lot better in my head.... Also, if you didn't know, this isn't just a story idea -- it's actually a belief a lot of people hold (for those who believe in reincarnation). I'm probably going to get heat for this, because anything spiritual always gets slammed, but.... When I was a teenager, I was majorly into psychics and past lives. I was part of a psychic forum full of some truly gifted people, and they regularly provided some interesting stuff. I had a lady tell me once that my fear of choking came from a past life. I had been a maid and witnessed my employer choke to death. Another time, I was massively afraid of water, and this same lady said I drowned in a past life. So there should definitely be more info online if you need it. ETA: Please, people who don't believe in this stuff, don't start an argument over my post. You don't have to believe in it, but I have my reasons for believing in the things I do, so no amount of arguing is going to change my mind. And if, by chance, you still would like to rant and prove that your beliefs are the only real truth, then by all means, private message me. But please allow this thread to stay on course. Thanks!
Yeah, essentially in summary that was the issue I was having. I don't personally believe in reincarnation as I'm an atheist. I didn't necessarily mean for this story idea to be strongly religion based. However, it's interesting to know that fears being a cause of death in past lives is actually a thing in that kind of community. It's really interesting because it's an idea I first mentioned in passing to a family member when I was actually quite a young child. I've always been quite imaginative but he just sort of told me I was on drugs and brushed the idea off. But now because I'm actually interested in writing I decided to turn it into a story or at least try to. Anyway, the idea of the murdered woman sounds really interesting. It's definitely an interesting possibility. Thank you for all your help I really appreciate it
You might want to check out Dead Again, a movie that touches on ideas like these. It's got a pretty good twist at the end so I don't want to give too much away, but I think it would connect to your ideas pretty well. Lifted from that movie - just because the main character died in the previous lifetime doesn't mean everyone else from that time period is also dead. Especially if you're writing YA, it's quite possible that your MC could have been killed, then come back to life and grown into teen-hood while the original murderer is still around and dangerous. So memories from the previous life could be a reason for the killer to try to kill the MC again...
Ooooo, that's interesting. Serial killer maybe. Preys on young girls. The girl in the past life could be his first victim! And of course, you could also tie in a boyfriend who helps her figure out why she's having these dreams (since you said you like YA romance). I like it.
Yeah. I was thinking of linking it into another story idea I had involving reincarnation. Basically the MC only has one year left to live and they want to make the most of it so they go to another character that's on their first life. Maybe the MC could be the girl and she could decide that she wants to spend the last year of her life hunting down this killer to protect and get revenge for not only herself but for all the other girls. And her boyfriend could help her out. They agree that maybe if she doesn't find the killer then he'll try to.
I Origins Scientist is trying to discredit intelligent design by mapping the evolutionary origin of the eye. He meets a girl. She dies in a freak elevator accident. Turns out eyes are soul fingerprints, and if you do enough iris scans you'll find matches of people who, at least subconsciously, retain the memories of their former lives. He finds a girl in India who matches elevator girl. He tries to take her on an elevator and she freaks out.
I Origins was a really good movie. It could probably give you some good ideas on how to write something like this. I forgot the movie existed.
What if the dreams are more intense with a shorter time gap between whatever killed you amd your reincarnation? Like if you died in the 1850s in a river, you might have vague, hazy dreams of drowning or something, but they dont really bother you. If you were murdered in the 1980s and were reincarnated in 1990, your dreams would be so vivid and may even drive you crazy because thet feel so real. In my story, my character has hallucinations and disturbing dreams, and she has to struggle harder and harder to keep her sanity and figure out what's wrong with her and make everyone around her think she's fine as they gradually get worse and worse.
