I started developing an idea for (what I hope) is an original story. I only got so far in recording my notes before I returned to another work-in-progress and now I’ve lost the feel of where the original idea was going. The original visuals and structure are clear, just not a usable plot. I’ll attach my existing notes below in good faith that they will remain my intellectual property. Any assistance or constructive criticism is appreciated. I know there’s not much to work with, so I apologize for that. I’m also open to collaborations and editing. If the partial or completed work is ever uploaded or published, due credit will be provided. **********Post-Apocalyptic or Utopian World (ie. The Walking Dead blended with The Giver) where everyone is blind instead of zombies. Sighted people are an extremely rare anomaly, and most can only see vague shapes/ shadows/ colours. (Male Character) and (Female Character) have “Sight”, able to see the full spectrum of light including some ultraviolet to infrared (auras) ***think Annihilation (2018) - IMDb***
If you're going the direction of people with sight are coveted or something like that then I suggest you watch See, came out this year. About two twins who are born with full sight, in a world where nobody has had the ability for so long they don't even know what books are, and are being hunted down by some weird public masturbating prophet/priestess dictator chick. Really I would suggest not worrying about your original idea for it. If you forgot, maybe it was a forgettable story. Start again, who are your characters, what's the conflict (should have something to do with the sight thing otherwise why bother with such a difficult thing to translate into text), how does it conclude? But definitely watch See, it's a tv show.
That sounds like the plot of Day of the Triffids. I'd suggest reading that for further ideas if you want to take this further.
By all means, go read Day of the Triffids, then don't do anything they did in the book or you'll be accused of stealing ideas. I just had this same discussion with another writer, where they wanted to go watch movies in their genre and just do whatever the movies did. There's nothing creative in that. You can use genre structure as a guide, but you really need to come up with your own ideas.
That’s a great suggestion GrJs, thank you! I looked it up on IMDB and it’s looks amazing! Not quite what I’m going for, but it’s already helped get some ideas flowing.
Thanks for the suggestion! I looked up the Wikipedia page on the book; it’s an interesting premise, but too much of a sci-fi bent for what I’m trying to do. But thank you just the same for taking the time to share a great new read!
When you say the story is blended with Walking Dead/The Giver, can you elaborate? Are the blind people violent? Or do they view the sighted people with reverence? Also, are the two lead characters involved romantically? I feel like that would place a different level of importance on some aspects, but if they're good friends with no possibility of being more, it's yet another story.
Hi there Lily ...I'm one of the forum moderators here, trawling the new threads as is my daily wont. I did want to point out that, apparently, 'ideas' are not copyrightable ...so the notion that your ideas for fiction are your intellectual property is, unfortunately, not enforceable. What IS copyrightable is the way you write these ideas. If somebody steals your actual words—plagiarizes them—then you you can take legal action. If it's just your idea, however ...urkkk, well, no.... So keep that in mind. But plagiarism is, oddly enough, a bigger problem for established authors than it is for newbies. Often plagiarism happens in the guise of publishing a known work via a rogue publishing 'company', where the author gets no money for it, but customers assume they're buying the real thing. Or people steal blog posts and repost them as their own work. That is also actionable, depending on where you live. Please read our New Member Quick Start guide while you're getting settled here, and also our Forum Rules. This will give you a good idea of how we operate, what we expect, and what we have to offer. (Including our pathway to collaboration within the forum.) I'm sure you'll have a great time here, and your thread has already got some positive responses. So good luck, have fun, and if you encounter any problems feel free to let me know and I'll do what I can to help. Welcome to the forum!
My god, I can't even imagine one of the people having vision being a psychopath or something. They'd be raping and murdering entire villages in one fell swoop.
