By odd I mean like more in terms of 'yeah how bout no' in terms of wanting to write it. I've had more than a couple that would have been fun for me, but I doubt there's much audience for them. The strangest idea I had was for a comedy that kind of is a parody of Ecchi anime. MC is a boy in his mid twenties, who's family watches over a peculiar shrine in the mountains. He finds out that at a certain age the men in the family receive a blessing from the shrine's goddess to help them find true love. His blessing is more of a curse, since making contact with girls will make them grow. (how they grow depends on the girl's personality, it should be fairly obvious since I mentioned it being satire of Ecchi anime) The worst part of it is the more nervous he gets the faster they grow. Which presents a problem since you know, he's kinda a derp around most girl types. Later the goddess explains that the point of the 'curse' is to teach him to love any girl in spite of their appearance. (yes, lame excuse for the Ecchi content, but please understand, there are far, far worse excuses lol) the problem is he's you know, a kinda likable/dependable guy (compared to most of the local guys anyhow) so he attracts lots of candidates. Eventually one of the girls figures out the 'curse' and tries to take advantage of it. Lots of comedic situations arise from there, at some point a Succubus gets involved I think too. My reason for not writing it, is I dunno, it just doesn't seem like a good enough conflict for a romantic comedy. I don't even know if the audience that this story is making fun of would find it entertaining. I think my main issue with it, is I have no idea how to write a truly likable male character. At least in the sense that multiple girls would consider him. The other issue is deciding if I want to go for a harem ending or not.
My oddest idea? A modern version of Dick, Jane, and Sally. "Run, Spot, Run." Would be Jamal, Ava, and Shanice. "Mask, children, Mask."
Oddest never implemented: Instead of writing "said in X", actually using othet languages. I actually considered this, but it would've needed me having confidence to write in 5+ languages (which I don't have). The oddest implemented one is abandoning medieval era for fantasy and embracing napoleonic times. Would never go back. 10/10 enjoying it.
A sentient cosmic hedgehog that commits mass genocide but then attracts a psychopathic robot who robs him and explodes a planet
I was tempted to have the characters in my story speak in their native tongues too. Then I realized how ballocks most free translators are (unless you want to do it word by word, and even then the meaning gets a little wonky) and decided to settle for the old 'spoke in y language' heh. That doesn't stop me from naming my characters names in foreign languages though.
The Devil comes to claim the soul of a guy after the contract is up. He made a deal to become the best bass player ever and as with all soul-dealings, this bassist challenges the Devil to a duel. The Devil agrees and duels him on guitar, at which point the Devil realizes they're actually jamming pretty well together and decides to get in a band with the guy. I have no idea how to put music into writing (ironically, I can write music), or this wouldn't have been crazy enough.
A few years ago, I wrote a story called "The Human Canon" about a professional flatulist who dies tragically on stage while breaking the record for the world's most epic gas-passing. Shockingly, it has yet to be published.
I always wanted to write a murder mystery wherein the maestro gets done in with the end pin from a cello.
I swear if that story takes place in Georgia you get man points for being punny Anyone got any comments on the idea I posted? I am aware that Ecchi isn't for everyone, but if I DO write it, the Ecchi content will be fairly light, compared to you know, existing stuff. Like the most 'saucy' thing that happens is two characters taking a tumble and ending up in an awkward position. (unless you count the actual growing part as 'saucy' personally I count it as more comedy depending on how it's written)
I chose Detroit for reasons I don't remember. If I'd gone with Georgia, I would have had to go with fiddles, and there just way more jokes to be made about bassists. ;o) And no. Sorry. I don't know what an Ecchi is. Googled it. Excuse me. My girlfriend needs a word suddenly. One of my favorite movies. I'm sure that doesn't come as a surprise. But in my case the devil wouldn't take his soul. He'd just go, "Screw souls, let's make some money!" I had a bunch of funny stuff planned with record execs and stuff. Seemed like a good place to let the devil go nuts. As far as dumb ideas go, it had some potential at first, if it wasn't for the music-in-words thing.
Most of the time I don't bother with Ecchi for the exact reasons you're thinking of. I don't even know if Ecchi is the right word to describe what I'm thinking of lol The most Ecchi thing in this story would be characters growing in various ways when making contact with MC. Honestly the most perverse thing that happens is MC face planting on a girl's bust after taking a believable tumble. Most of the comedy comes from the fact that for the most part the girls don't even realize they're growing. Also keep in mind the goal of the story is to poke fun at those kinds of stories, so it wouldn't have near as much (if any at all) of that stuff in it as a usual story would. It's why I'm hesitant to even call it Ecchi, cause there's so many ways things can go south lol
Oddest idea is a world/ collection of archipelagos that exists within the grim reapers hour glass. The world is a sea of sand which all flows in the direction of a vortex in the middle. I haven't quite figured out how to write that one and what the story would be out. The details are probably 'too out there' to be referenced in totality so it's very confusing to write about. But the image always seems cool to me.
I rarely have a "nah im not gunna write this" feeling but more of a "lets see where this goes," kind of curiosity. Case and point: i tried my hand at trying to write fairy tales. one of my WIPs is a fairy tale (with literal winged, tiny, squirrel riding fairies) that i'd attempted to write as a kid. reading it now, its soooooo cringe worthy. but I can rework it into something else. Another one, was a "what if" scenario. What if I took the villain of my one story and wrote about what his life was like growing up. This villain abused women in the worst way and also abused the faith of those who followed him. I thought it was interesting to explore how he came to that point-- downtrodden stable boy who was too poor to be taught by the Holy Men of his village and who was also a pariah because his father was a coward who ran from the war. He saves the life of a mystic girl who is on a mission to retrieve a stollen relic of her people, and he decides to go with her and her companion to learn about magic and find his purpose. Stuff happens, he learns a destructive form of magic, his like for the girl grows into obsession, he accidently wounds her companion but then lets him die, etc., etc., decent into maddness which culminates on him attempting to kill the girl for the relic (and because she doesnt return his affection... "we can rule together. Me and you, two out casts!") but her pushing him from a cliff (he lives, obviously because he's an old man and the main villain of my WIP) After a few pages, and a few key scenes, i stopped writing because i didnt want to humanize a rapist or give a weak excuse as to why/how he became the monster he became.
Once the romantic "maligned child's descent into madness" factor is removed, it's not a bad scenario, JT. Maybe he was a twisted little bully of stable boy who was too unstable (ahem) to be taught by the Holy men. He was a pariah for his thick mean streak toward animals and anyone who thwarted his desires and intentions, including the girl with whom he became obsessed.
I've had this weird idea for the longest time based on a "trip" a while back. I was sitting outside and imagined people could shoot ropes with their eyes and grab planets and then slingshot them across the sky. I feel like it's unique, but way too stupid to be anything real. I guess we'll see if I can ever come up with a way to make it more than a weird thought.
One of my many back-burner projects/ideas is that of a murder mystery where the backdrop is the "Galactic Stand-up Comedy Festival". So we're talking the Milky Way, but in a theoretical future in which thousands of sapient species from thousands of planets have established rudimentary contact with one another. Cue the idea of bringing aliens of all creeds to one select host planet for a celebration of unity in diversity through humour. In the immediate run-up to the festivities one of the human comedian delegates from Earth is found and suspected to have been murdered. It's up to a local sentient -- with no previous experience of other sentients -- to solve the case in the midst of what is tantamount to a circus of unprecedented proportions. The large and concentrated number of beings with diverse cultures, abilities and biologies makes the case incredibly complex. Our novice investigator will be faced with an incredibly steep learning curve both in terms of her profession and her general interaction with the wider world as she has to seek out and interrogate numerous comedians, organisers, politicians, scoundrels and locals of all backgrounds to get to the bottom of it all. I've always found whacky ideas appealing, especially when there's some potential merit in entertaining them. I like thought experiments and hypothetical situations, for instance. To embed jokes in the crux of the story has also always been something I've wanted to try to do, but this might be why this idea and others like it have been shelved for now; I find it nigh-impossible to write lines that fit the story that I simultaneously find funny -- it surely takes a lot of patience and talent ... and I'm not certain I've got either.
The idea of a slingshot the size of a planet or suchlike alone is a fascinating idea. The other stuff might be too crazy, though ... You definitely use this for something, but it'd be a lot of work to figure out the details of how it's work and fit a wider story.
I once had a satirical idea for a team of heroes that consisted of: A pacifist with super strength Someone who can fly but is terrified of heights A speedster who is a stickler for traffic laws A suicidal immortal A sniping genius who believes in strict gun control Someone with the power of invisibility who made sure to get consent before entering any room The villain was set to be a parody of Condiment King, and was named Milk Mustache. I still haven't ruled this out tbh.
I did some writing for this story idea but basically, an immortal lady whose powers reflected those of the Greek god Hades, and a half-immortal whose soul she controlled using an amulet. His physical body could die but his soul would be returned to the amulet and she'd actively seek out newly-deceased bodies or kill a mortal to provide him a vessel. His power aligns with the Greek god Asclepius, a healer, but due to his half-immortal state, he experiences limitations and healing to wounds such as cuts, broken bones, and certain diseases would transfer to his mortal form. Most of the story revolves around outer conflict but also the character's inner turmoil as he despises the MC and no longer wishes to lead an immortal life, typically sabotaging his physical forms to spite her. He also grapples with his morals as a grounded Christian struggling to accept their supposed origins and supernatural existence. I stopped working on it for a while since it's a complex state of affairs, and I need to further tweak the power rules and limitations.
Well, maybe their world is dying and that's why the water is drying up and turning into a desert. And it's also why they can now see the vortex. Their time is running out; the upper part of the hourglass will soon run empty and drag their world into the abyss of doom. So, the story might be about saving the inhabitants of this dying world, for example by finding magical artifacts or a hidden temple or whatnot that can bring them all into another world that is not dying yet. Sounds just like super overpowered Jedi to me. ^ ^ That premise sounds so cool and funny! But it might be difficult to even hold a contest, since humour could be extremely different across all these different species. Maybe in one species it's the epitome of hilarity to chop somebody's head off when they don't expect it, while another species finds it extremely funny to paint ghlörß in two different colours.
You've unearthed an issue I'd have to deal with ... but I also think it could add some interest flavour. Having the MC share her thoughts as the narrator as she watches a diverse sleugh of comedians cound be fun. Comedy turns into something very different when the reference pools don't overlap, for instance, which could lead to a peculiar situation where some of the comedians opt for universal humour and some to keep their localised one; either could be hilarious or utterly unfunny depending on the nature of the comedy, and on the beholder. I think I'd have tone down the idea that comedy might work entirely differently in different cultures/species, as I don't know how to properly deal with that. But I imagine I could get away with assuming the fundamentals could be the same, especially seeing as I wouldn't be trying to hide the fact that I'm happily leaning into the silliness rather than desiring to curtail it.
Well I kinda sorta did a parody version of 50 Shades. Though that fell off that map after a couple thousand words, and the fact that everybody under the sun has already done the same way back when. I guess I write down some of those odd ideas, even if they don't make it to a full story of any kind. Then again what's odd for some is normal to me, do with that what you will. But inspiration can be an odd thing and take you to odd places.
The funny route would be to have the audience find anything at all funny. If the audience is just as diverse as the performers, you know someone is going to laugh at some point. Even better if you have the 'intended' audience (members of the same race) booing while the other audience is laughing their asses off. Another odd idea I had is a parody of Magical Girl genre. Four goddesses (basically fragments of Gia personified) are sick of being gods so they choose to live among mankind as normal people. And they actually get away with it too, until the evil bad guys come back. Obviously they're still adamant about not interfering so it's up to the 'boyfriend' character to do the magical girl stuff instead. And no, it's not like that one anime where the guy transforms into a magical girl (I forget the name but it exists) but he's an actual super sentai type superhero. I may get around to writing this one for fun at some point, it's just goofy enough to work as a comedy. And the jokes I can make are glorious if I research the genre some.
