Okay, so for a while I've been wanting to write a cannibal story. I've managed to gather together a context and a plot and I would like if somebody could give me their opinion on it. Questions would brilliant to help me think from different angles :] Summary: Lucas wakes up every morning to the life he hates. Trapped in a marriage with a woman he hates, he throws his life into writing and staying out the house as much as possible. The only reason he stays is his teenage daughter, Ruby. Returning home one evening, he expects to find his daughter in her room with her music blaring. Instead, he finds his wife hysterical, clutching a shoe box with a letter taped on the lid. Inside the shoebox is clumps of his daughter's hair. Day by day, parts of his daughter is sent to the family home in shoeboxes, each with letters taped to the front. The letters soon spells out the name of a village that Lydia, Lucas's wife, recognises. Out of fear of what the kidnapper will send them next, Lucas puts his hatred for his wife behind him and sets out to find his daughter. Only, Ruby isn't the only target of a psychopath. A group of mutant cannibals are following Lucas on his journey and he's sure they're something to do with his daughter's disapperance. The mutant cannibals have a history too: They originated by an illegal experiment carried out by an underground group of scientists. Parents who had children born with chromosomal abnormalities had handed their children over to the group out of disgust. The scientists researched the abnormalities and began experimenting on test tube babies carrying the abnormal genes. Eventually, they were successful. They noted strange characteristics, such as the ability to move freakishly fast or to bleed continuously without further symptom. The more the experiments carried on, the more the group got worried about the strength of their creations. They finally decided to abandon ship and dumped the mutated test tube children on a remote Scottish Island and left the country. However, some of the children survived and due to their freak strength and untraditional upbringing, found them with a taste for violence and human blood.
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.) If the idea interests YOU enough, write it!
That seems like a cool idea, but the cannibal part turned me off a little bit. The science experiment thing could work, but you need something more here to separate it from a zombie flick. The beginning of your idea seemed very suspenseful and interesting, I actually thought it was headed towards a murder/crime mystery novel, and I think it's good that you're choosing a different route. But I'd be interested to see what connection these cannibals have to his family and if there is any purpose that connection beyond terrorizing the family & daughter.
I think its cool, but I like creepy stuff If it turns into a cat and mouse game of the main character being hunted down by the mutants that could be kind of cool, horror is suffering from a lack of creativity, Im sooo tired of vampires now... One time a friend and fellow writer of mine told me a plot fragment that he read in a book on horror writing. It had something about a plot idea, told from the point of view of the hero. Sounded something like this. ...he has a weird taste in his mouth, starts losing his appetite for some foods, but grows fonder of meat. Finds weird bruises on his body and scratches, from last night? Was he drunk? Tired all day like hes been up all night. Went to a restaurant and ordered a steak, rare. Didnt eat the greens or bread roll, just the steak, with his hands. On way back from work next day finds red grit under his nails, blood? Finds a butchers place, gets a slab of the rarest meat, eats it right there in front of everyone, who stare in disgust. Wakes up one day in bed with something hes craddling lovingly as if it were a teaddy bear. He turns on the light to see what it is, its someones severed arm, and the arm has bite marks in it, his... So, in that case, the plot generated its fear by exposing eveything through the viewpoint of the main character who is going crazy and becoming a cannibal without realizing it. Sets the mood and setting at the same time. Good luck mate
Haha as I was reading it, I wanted to have the father eat the bits of the daughter in a kind of symbolic act of appropriation....but that's just me. I think your plot sounds kinda meh to be honest...what you wrote up their is like cliche after cliche, and while I guess if you're a good writer you could pull it off, to me it doesn' t really sound worth reading. Then again, as you can probably tell, this kinda story isn't really the type of thin I enjoy...
I would read it sure. I think that it could be great...don't be put off by what other people post, just because one person doesn't like it. It doesn't mean that if you were to finish it and get it published it wouldn't sell. There are billions of people and you never know who would be interested in reading it. good luck...I say go for it!!!
Okay, okay. You DO make a very good point, but what if this person wants ideas from other people to develop their concept? I think this type of question can benefit from answers as long as they are beyond "yes, cool" or "no, boring"
I think you can run with the Cannibal idea more. Do some research on real cannibalism. personally, and this is just my opinion, if I was reading a story about cannibals, i would really want most of the story to be around them, so if you have that backstory for the man, that's cool..but I would probably be tempted to skip that part and read later. If I was writing it, I would use all that as backstory and start somewhere later when actually writing. Have you seen "People under the stairs"? It's nothing like you're story, don't worry (i'm not comparing) but man, that is a creeeeepy movie about cannibals. XD Look into it and let me know if you do.
