The plot of my sci-fi novel, The USS Santarnica is this: An alien race known as the Altrans have enslaved their archenemy, the Devonians. For fifteen years, they've kept an oppressive boot on them. They have this prophecy written in their ancient tomes that fortells a hero from another planet that will destroy them. In the meantime, the protagonist, Captain Helen Chert of the USS Santarnica is visiting London's new Globe Theatre XVI with her adopted Devonian son named Kenthew Rennald (that she coincidentally discovered and took away just months before his homeworld was invaded.) Suddenly, explosions are heard in the distance and in a matter of minutes, Great Britain is under attack. After a harrowing escape, Helen, Kenthew, and a few survivors realize the Altrans are coming. I have a few problems with this plot: (1) Who is the Chosen Hero? I want it to be Kenthew, yet I would love for the Altrans to mistakingly think that a British child is the Chosen Hero and this is their justification for the attack. But wouldn't it be predictable if it turned out that it was Kenthew they were after? Kenthew, a boy that's never been on his homeworld in his entire life? (2) Why are there no other countries rushing to Britain's aid? I mean, this is 2945 AD. I'm sure if aliens began to descend onto Great Britain, every other country in the planet would be jumping into their ships enroute to the island. It'd take them about thirty minutes tops to cover the distances. (3) Great Britain gets attacked...because of a prophecy. Isn't this cliched? I feel like I'm just setting this up to watch aliens zap London yet again. How do I change it? Maybe have a British commander go missing? (4) What is Helen going to do about this? If this is largely a British affair, her superiors might think she has no buisness and ground her ship. Like #3, for instance. What buisness would she have with investigating the disapperance of a British commander? That'd be like if, in our universe, a US naval ship went missing and a British commander went out of his way to investigate it, using up tax money and resources to find someone not even in the same army!
lol All I can think of is they are after the preserved mummified body of Peter Davidson - all the other countries have been after it for eons and as a result have asked the Altrans to attack Great Britain. Or maybe the Holy Grail since it looks like David Tennant is about to father Peter Davidsons grandchild lol
lol! But seriously, I considered another alternative. A British commander had been kidnapped and brainwashed by the Altrans. Helen and co finds him, somehow snaps him out of it and brings him back to a London hospital. Its there we find out who the Altrans are. The trouble with this is that Helen, an American captain of an American ship, would likely not be granted the authority by her superiors to go after a British commander, especially when the British space force is already doing it. Agh, so many plot holes! DX
They smell popcorn and decide they want some? Really... i'm not sure why aliens do anything? For new land, resources? Because they can? An alien son of a warlord who's trying to earn his father's respect? (i really like this one)
They attack Britain because their home planet is around 1100 light-years from Earth, and at the time that they departed, Britain was the major global power with an empire that stretched to the four corners of the globe!
To be honest, I really do think the whole aliens attacking thing has been done to death. You seem like too clever a guy for this. There has to be something more original you can think up. I say blow up the whole thing and start from scratch. Unless, of course, you're going to come up with some clever depiction of an alien attack that is super-unique. But I don't see that here. Chosen hero? cliche. I think cliche is more the problem than plot holes.
They like tea? The royal family is on thier people to see/kill/kidnap? The rule is: 1.terrorist/people seeking to conquer the world single handedly seek out the U.S 2.radio active prehistoric mutated dinosaurs attack Japan.(Godzilla, Gamara, etc) 3.UFO's always attack the whole world at once, and our weapons don't work on them. But a Mac computer will take over all their electronics with a few taps of the keyboard.(Independence day) (additional: Will Smith will be able to fly anything from any world.)
why dont you try the time tested "stonehenge" angle - maybe on a particular date the stonehenge reveal there secret - or maybe someone knows the secret and it has to be desgtroyed along a given latitude line leading to the stonehenge ! jus and idea
Well Great Britain had an Empire in the past, maybe in the dark damp corners of their past empire they discovered something and brought it back to Britain. It could be any of a number of things. Maybe the Devonians or Altrans was once ruled by a Nobility of telepaths that fought them using machines that enhanced the mental powers of those with latent Psionic powers. But there was an uprising and in a great battle for the rulers homeworld they escaped in their flagship, heavilly damaged and outnumbered they entered hyperspacce and ended up outside the known starpaths. This led them to crash on earth in the deserts of modern day Jordan where the british found their ship much later thinking it was a city built in the very rock they plundered it.
in all of the ufo conspiracy hubbub i have ever read/seen/experienced...the only person that looked at the alien question with a concern toward national security was a brit...perhaps they have a legitimate strategy regarding alien invasion while the other powers...well...don't
The one thing that I am concerned with is this: Why would Helen care? Why would her superiors care? Why wouldn't they just tell her to not interfere? This is a problem, even without the alien invasion. How would I make Helen and her superiors give a crap?
it seems reasonable to me that by 2945 there could be some military structures that are shared despite national sovereignty...think of NATO but way more integrated....
Ah, yes...good point. So if the King of England were suddenly assassinated, then 2945 equivalent of NATO would be hot on the trail of the assassin, and it'd be likely the American leaders would assign dear Helen on a... *GASP* What if the Santarnica was an international ship crewed by...well...members of various nation's space force? Okay, so I have the obvious of USA and UK. I also want to include France, Germany, Russia, Japan and... ...Well... ... Back to the drawing board we go!
Well, in addition to NATO being up in arms, England itself would be close behind. Assassinating an important figurehead like that would be a dangerous move, regardless of whether the king was well liked or not. The king represented England. It would be like assassinating President Obama. He may not be well liked in the US, but killing him would outrage most citizens.
I can see why you'd struggle with reasons when it comes to this country! I'd also say if you are going to set a book over here I wouldn't call it 'Great Britain', technically speaking you should call it the United Kingdom (which is England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and all the small islands like the Isle of Wight, Jersey, etc.) or just England if you only want English people and landmarks to be effected by this. Don't forget that we all have our own Governments too! I laughed at this, though I should find it rather offensive! This is kind of an interesting angle because you could have the monarchy having more power. At the moment they're more like figure heads, so would you still have a Prime Minister or would the King or Queen have rule over the country? Just another thought on that, would it perhaps make more sense to have this influencial figure kidnapped rather than killed? An assassination is a call to war, but a kidnapping is far more complicated and would result in some kind of a rescue mission.
