Ideas for stories

Lizra · 06-08-2003, 10:32 AM

I thought of an idea for a sci/fi, or fantasy story, but am too busy (lazy

) to write it. I thought a thread for story ideas would be fun!

*The Venus scenario*
Somehow, scientists delvelop the technology to "pull the plug" on Venus's greenhouse atmosphere. (sort of like cloud seeding, but on a big scale

) A "hole" is punched into the Venusian atmosphere, the CO2 and heat gradually escapes into space. In about one hundred years, the planet's climate has stabilized and dramatically changed to allow for human colonization. The story could start at that point with fantastical descriptions of Venus's surface, and the tale of the first colonies. Well, there it is!

***IronParrot*** · 06-08-2003, 02:10 PM

You should really write that sometime, at least as a short story.

Lief Erikson · 06-08-2003, 04:53 PM

That's not really a plot, but it is a background for a story or book. I'm far too busy to write it, myself. Do you ever write fiction, Lizra?

Gwaimir Windgem · 06-08-2003, 05:30 PM

Sounds quite interesting. A good idea for a story. And I disagree, it could very well be a plot; the colonists struggle to survive on a completely new world, without plant or animal of any kind, sounds like quite a conflict.

Lizra · 06-08-2003, 05:32 PM

No, no! I don't write fiction!

It's a scenario...OK!

I'm not asking someone to write it, I'm just saying...let's see some ideas for stories.

Lief Erikson · 06-08-2003, 09:55 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Lizra
No, no! I don't write fiction! It's a scenario...OK! I'm not asking someone to write it, I'm just saying...let's see some ideas for stories.

Okay. That's rather what I thought . . . just making sure

.

Quote:

Originally posted by Gwaimir Windgem
Sounds quite interesting. A good idea for a story. And I disagree, it could very well be a plot; the colonists struggle to survive on a completely new world, without plant or animal of any kind, sounds like quite a conflict.

Of course, they'd have come prepared. Although, there are ways to get around that

.

I suppose you're right, it is possible to make that a plot. Though it's not the type of story I'd write, unless I was going to write it as a historical narrative, rather like the Silmarillion. If I were to write it, I would do it to give background for some story that takes place at a later period.

Of course, that could very well be just me

. It is possible for people to write stories on that topic.

galadriel · 06-13-2003, 10:43 AM

I think it's a great asset for a story to have such a detailed background. But I agree... if you ever turn it into a short story, it needs a focus, a conflict. Of course, the conflicts that could arise from such a mission are endless.

Anyone read Contact, or seen the movie? Great example of a scientific and historical-ish "scenario" becoming a compelling plotline.

Lizra · 06-13-2003, 11:32 AM

I can imagine two or three different colonies, with different missions. Of course, human nature enters, and some colonists might dangerously overstep the bounds, trying to be the "first" in the history books for great deeds. Things will be very unpredictible of course!

***HOBBIT*** · 06-28-2003, 04:03 AM

Lizra, do you have any other scenarios for stories that I could use?

I've been meaning to write some short stories but I have no inspiration - and its hard to be original these days - i'd probably end up completely copying my favorite authors.

How do authors come up with new plot ideas these days? Especially in the Scfi and Fantasy genres...hasn't everything been done already?

Lizra · 06-28-2003, 08:42 AM

Hmmm, I don't read the stuff...so I'm certainly not seething with ideas!

I'll mull on it though! Obviously, I was thinking of interesting breakthroughs in science when I came up the Venus scenario. Try thinking of things that make you wonder..."Why couldn't someone do that", and then the story might come off of it.
I'll post any ideas I come up with! Right now I need to go to garage sales...where I might unknowingly purchase an unusual artifact from Atlantis that seems to have the power to *cure* infections in a matter of minutes. (Of course some infections are "healthy" so it might make me dangerously ill if not handled correctly!)

Lizra · 07-01-2003, 08:06 AM

Something about time travel, a story that showed the main character was obviously going back in time (not thru a machine, but by brain chemistry) really enjoying people, places or an incident from the past, with the "twist" at the end...It's a person with Alzheimers, (in a negative nursing home situation maybe) and the normal people don't realize how "wonderful" or "real" the time travel these people do is.

galadriel · 07-02-2003, 01:01 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Lizra
Something about time travel, a story that showed the main character was obviously going back in time (not thru a machine, but by brain chemistry) really enjoying people, places or an incident from the past, with the "twist" at the end...It's a person with Alzheimers, (in a negative nursing home situation maybe) and the normal people don't realize how "wonderful" or "real" the time travel these people do is.

That's really, really cool! I love it!

Lizra · 07-02-2003, 08:36 PM

Groovy!

My dad has Alzheimers, he watches documentaries on the history channel all day long. He has taken many vitamins and drugs to slow it down, but he obviously isn't in *reality* sometimes. I always wonder "where" he is!?

galadriel · 07-13-2003, 07:11 PM

Why does every sad story have to have a *true* sad story behind it?

Lizra · 07-14-2003, 01:51 AM

That's what gets us "thinking" I guess!

Baby-K · 07-14-2003, 07:50 AM

I have an idea for a story that I'd like to share. I am busy writing it at the mo', but I just can't seem to get it done with.....so lately my writing has stagnated a bit (but I have still done a bit of poetry and one or two essays).

Here goes (I'll just give the basic outline of the plot as I have it so far, I'm not sure yet of the journey the tale will take me on):

'Ironic that I should end my days as a number, just as they had started. Prisoner number 337815 of the Pollsmoore Penetentiary for violent criminals to be exact...........'

(I'm working on it........the intro I mean - should I do it first person or third, keep it local or make it international, use real / imagined places....... anyway, I'm sure I'll get there)

OK plot outline:

Mr X (a white man in need of some quick cash) donates a fair amount of sperm to the local sperm bank. Over the next couple of months his sperm is used to impregnate 6 different women, from all over the country - Jill, the 38 year old lesbian lawyer who bribes the doctor to do the insemination, Kerri, the 24 year old newlywed who has to get pregnant at all cost....., Meagan, the successful clothing designer with the violent alcoholic husband Jason, she was 6 weeks pregnant when she lost the baby after he'd beaten her - if he found out she'd lost the child he'd kill her for sure. Jessie (32) & her husband Michael (56), who so desperately want a baby to share their home with, but cannot conceive due to Mike's cancer, Jaye, the 29 year old artist, with the gypsy hair & crystal blue eyes who wants a baby because cats are boring..........besides having a kid will be the only way to get rid of her freeloader boyfriend Jacques. And then there is Jacintha, the young Hindu wife of a wealthy Indian businessman, who is subjected to the worst possible physical abuse & inhumane sexual practices...........surely if she has a child the humiliation will stop.

As the years go on the children of the women grow up & become young adults, (I don't want to reveal too much about the fate of the mothers in some cases). Each child has hopes & aspirations, one is studying to become a doctor, the other has joined the defence force & is training to become a fighter pilot, one is a model, another a firefighter, another is travelling the world before comitting to studies and the twins are studying to become a lawyer and teacher respectively.

Per chance two of the children meet & fall in love, they start dating, have a wonderful romance & decide to get married......

In the meantime Mr X has contracted HIV/AIDS and is dying - he doesn't know when he got it, could have been two years ago, during that wild night with the beautiful darkskinned bodybuilder and his two baby whores, could have been 20 years ago when he did that old guy at the train station to get money for the drugs......hell, it coulda been during one of his marriages, God knows his wives had never been faithful..... Guilt is riding him - he was never one for safe sex, hey man, he's a white man......AIDS is a 'queer' / 'black' disease! & he decides to make things right before man & God - he ventures to track down every man, woman & child he has ever slept with, including the women who had received his sperm 19 years ago................

Ok that's about as much as I'm gonna tell you right now, unless you really want to know more.

(Sorry for butting in on yer thread Liz)

Lizra · 07-14-2003, 07:17 PM

That's ok K! My, that story is "LOADED"!

You could be the Jacqueline Susann (Valley of the Dolls) of Entmoot!

Tanoliel · 07-17-2003, 03:08 PM

Cripes, Baby K! That's big stuff...

I'd like to read it, though, when you finish. Let me know.

Quote:

Originally posted by HOBBIT

How do authors come up with new plot ideas these days? Especially in the Scfi and Fantasy genres...hasn't everything been done already?

In terms of basic plotlines, if you go shallow, yes. All the sort of boy-meets-girl-who-is-really-an-elf-and-together-they-save-the-world kind of thing; yeah. But writers have an amazing capacity to look at things from a very bizarre angle, and out comes something new.

Take a walk and look very closely. That helps.

tano

Lizra · 07-17-2003, 05:51 PM

Boy meets girl who's really an elf, and together they save the world?

WHAT have I been missing! Hee hee!

galadriel · 07-22-2003, 04:18 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Tanoliel
In terms of basic plotlines, if you go shallow, yes. All the sort of boy-meets-girl-who-is-really-an-elf-and-together-they-save-the-world kind of thing; yeah. But writers have an amazing capacity to look at things from a very bizarre angle, and out comes something new.
tano

Something new... like girl meets boy who's really an elf and together they save the world? That's about the level of creativity at which my fantasy runs.

06-08-2003, 10:32 AM	#1
Lizra Domesticated Swing Babe Join Date: May 2002 Location: Reality Posts: 5,340	Ideas for stories I thought of an idea for a sci/fi, or fantasy story, but am too busy (lazy ) to write it. I thought a thread for story ideas would be fun! The Venus scenario Somehow, scientists delvelop the technology to "pull the plug" on Venus's greenhouse atmosphere. (sort of like cloud seeding, but on a big scale ) A "hole" is punched into the Venusian atmosphere, the CO2 and heat gradually escapes into space. In about one hundred years, the planet's climate has stabilized and dramatically changed to allow for human colonization. The story could start at that point with fantastical descriptions of Venus's surface, and the tale of the first colonies. Well, there it is! __________________ Happy Atheist Go Democrats! Last edited by Lizra : 06-08-2003 at 05:52 PM.

06-08-2003, 02:10 PM	#2
*IronParrot* Fowl Administrator Join Date: Dec 1999 Location: Calgary or Edmonton, Canada Posts: 53,420	You should really write that sometime, at least as a short story. __________________ All of IronParrot's posts are guaranteed to be 100% intelligent and/or sarcastic, comprising no genetically modified content and tested on no cute furry little animals unless the SPCA is looking elsewhere. If you observe a failure to uphold this warranty, please contact a forum administrator immediately to receive a full refund on your Entmoot registration. Blog: Nick's Café Canadien

06-08-2003, 05:30 PM	#4
Gwaimir Windgem Dread Mothy Lord and Halfwitted Apprentice Loremaster Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Thomas Aquinas College, Santa Paula, CA Posts: 10,820	Sounds quite interesting. A good idea for a story. And I disagree, it could very well be a plot; the colonists struggle to survive on a completely new world, without plant or animal of any kind, sounds like quite a conflict. __________________ Crux fidelis, inter omnes arbor una nobilis. Nulla talem silva profert, fronde, flore, germine. Dulce lignum, dulce clavo, dulce pondus sustinens. 'With a melon?' - Eric Idle

06-08-2003, 05:32 PM	#5
Lizra Domesticated Swing Babe Join Date: May 2002 Location: Reality Posts: 5,340	No, no! I don't write fiction! It's a scenario...OK! I'm not asking someone to write it, I'm just saying...let's see some ideas for stories. __________________ Happy Atheist Go Democrats! Last edited by Lizra : 06-08-2003 at 05:35 PM.

06-13-2003, 10:43 AM	#7
galadriel Elven Warrior Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: a castle made of clouds Posts: 459	I think it's a great asset for a story to have such a detailed background. But I agree... if you ever turn it into a short story, it needs a focus, a conflict. Of course, the conflicts that could arise from such a mission are endless. Anyone read Contact, or seen the movie? Great example of a scientific and historical-ish "scenario" becoming a compelling plotline. __________________ Human kind cannot bear very much reality. dreamflower - for all things Lady Galadriel

06-08-2003, 04:53 PM	#3
Lief Erikson Elf Lord Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Fountain Valley, CA Posts: 6,343	That's not really a plot, but it is a background for a story or book. I'm far too busy to write it, myself. Do you ever write fiction, Lizra?

06-13-2003, 11:32 AM	#8
Lizra Domesticated Swing Babe Join Date: May 2002 Location: Reality Posts: 5,340	I can imagine two or three different colonies, with different missions. Of course, human nature enters, and some colonists might dangerously overstep the bounds, trying to be the "first" in the history books for great deeds. Things will be very unpredictible of course! __________________ Happy Atheist Go Democrats!

06-28-2003, 04:03 AM	#9
*HOBBIT* Saviour of Entmoot Admiral Join Date: Nov 1999 Location: NC/NJ (no longer Same place as bmilder.) Posts: 61,986	Lizra, do you have any other scenarios for stories that I could use? I've been meaning to write some short stories but I have no inspiration - and its hard to be original these days - i'd probably end up completely copying my favorite authors. How do authors come up with new plot ideas these days? Especially in the Scfi and Fantasy genres...hasn't everything been done already? __________________ President Emeritus (2000-2004) Private message (or email) me if you need any assistance. I am here to help! "I'm up to here with cool, ok? I'm so amazingly cool you could keep a side of meat in me for a month. I am so hip I have difficulty seeing over my pelvis" - Zaphod Beeblebrox Latest Blog Post: Just Quit Facebook? No One Cares!

06-28-2003, 08:42 AM	#10
Lizra Domesticated Swing Babe Join Date: May 2002 Location: Reality Posts: 5,340	Hmmm, I don't read the stuff...so I'm certainly not seething with ideas! I'll mull on it though! Obviously, I was thinking of interesting breakthroughs in science when I came up the Venus scenario. Try thinking of things that make you wonder..."Why couldn't someone do that", and then the story might come off of it. I'll post any ideas I come up with! Right now I need to go to garage sales...where I might unknowingly purchase an unusual artifact from Atlantis that seems to have the power to cure infections in a matter of minutes. (Of course some infections are "healthy" so it might make me dangerously ill if not handled correctly!)

07-01-2003, 08:06 AM	#11
Lizra Domesticated Swing Babe Join Date: May 2002 Location: Reality Posts: 5,340	Something about time travel, a story that showed the main character was obviously going back in time (not thru a machine, but by brain chemistry) really enjoying people, places or an incident from the past, with the "twist" at the end...It's a person with Alzheimers, (in a negative nursing home situation maybe) and the normal people don't realize how "wonderful" or "real" the time travel these people do is.

07-02-2003, 08:36 PM	#13
Lizra Domesticated Swing Babe Join Date: May 2002 Location: Reality Posts: 5,340	Groovy! My dad has Alzheimers, he watches documentaries on the history channel all day long. He has taken many vitamins and drugs to slow it down, but he obviously isn't in reality sometimes. I always wonder "where" he is!?

07-13-2003, 07:11 PM	#14
galadriel Elven Warrior Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: a castle made of clouds Posts: 459	Why does every sad story have to have a true sad story behind it? __________________ Human kind cannot bear very much reality. dreamflower - for all things Lady Galadriel

07-14-2003, 01:51 AM	#15
Lizra Domesticated Swing Babe Join Date: May 2002 Location: Reality Posts: 5,340	That's what gets us "thinking" I guess! __________________ Happy Atheist Go Democrats!

07-14-2003, 07:50 AM	#16
Baby-K Corruptor Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Jozi SA Posts: 1,885	I have an idea for a story that I'd like to share. I am busy writing it at the mo', but I just can't seem to get it done with.....so lately my writing has stagnated a bit (but I have still done a bit of poetry and one or two essays). Here goes (I'll just give the basic outline of the plot as I have it so far, I'm not sure yet of the journey the tale will take me on): 'Ironic that I should end my days as a number, just as they had started. Prisoner number 337815 of the Pollsmoore Penetentiary for violent criminals to be exact...........' (I'm working on it........the intro I mean - should I do it first person or third, keep it local or make it international, use real / imagined places....... anyway, I'm sure I'll get there) OK plot outline: Mr X (a white man in need of some quick cash) donates a fair amount of sperm to the local sperm bank. Over the next couple of months his sperm is used to impregnate 6 different women, from all over the country - Jill, the 38 year old lesbian lawyer who bribes the doctor to do the insemination, Kerri, the 24 year old newlywed who has to get pregnant at all cost....., Meagan, the successful clothing designer with the violent alcoholic husband Jason, she was 6 weeks pregnant when she lost the baby after he'd beaten her - if he found out she'd lost the child he'd kill her for sure. Jessie (32) & her husband Michael (56), who so desperately want a baby to share their home with, but cannot conceive due to Mike's cancer, Jaye, the 29 year old artist, with the gypsy hair & crystal blue eyes who wants a baby because cats are boring..........besides having a kid will be the only way to get rid of her freeloader boyfriend Jacques. And then there is Jacintha, the young Hindu wife of a wealthy Indian businessman, who is subjected to the worst possible physical abuse & inhumane sexual practices...........surely if she has a child the humiliation will stop. As the years go on the children of the women grow up & become young adults, (I don't want to reveal too much about the fate of the mothers in some cases). Each child has hopes & aspirations, one is studying to become a doctor, the other has joined the defence force & is training to become a fighter pilot, one is a model, another a firefighter, another is travelling the world before comitting to studies and the twins are studying to become a lawyer and teacher respectively. Per chance two of the children meet & fall in love, they start dating, have a wonderful romance & decide to get married...... In the meantime Mr X has contracted HIV/AIDS and is dying - he doesn't know when he got it, could have been two years ago, during that wild night with the beautiful darkskinned bodybuilder and his two baby whores, could have been 20 years ago when he did that old guy at the train station to get money for the drugs......hell, it coulda been during one of his marriages, God knows his wives had never been faithful..... Guilt is riding him - he was never one for safe sex, hey man, he's a white man......AIDS is a 'queer' / 'black' disease! & he decides to make things right before man & God - he ventures to track down every man, woman & child he has ever slept with, including the women who had received his sperm 19 years ago................ Ok that's about as much as I'm gonna tell you right now, unless you really want to know more. (Sorry for butting in on yer thread Liz) __________________ Don't wet yourself with excitement.

07-14-2003, 07:17 PM	#17
Lizra Domesticated Swing Babe Join Date: May 2002 Location: Reality Posts: 5,340	That's ok K! My, that story is "LOADED"! You could be the Jacqueline Susann (Valley of the Dolls) of Entmoot! __________________ Happy Atheist Go Democrats!

07-17-2003, 05:51 PM	#19
Lizra Domesticated Swing Babe Join Date: May 2002 Location: Reality Posts: 5,340	Boy meets girl who's really an elf, and together they save the world? WHAT have I been missing! Hee hee! __________________ Happy Atheist Go Democrats!

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Tolkien discussion ideas	Sister Golden Hair	The Hobbit (book)	18	07-09-2009 06:28 PM
Tolkien discussion ideas	Sister Golden Hair	Middle Earth	30	08-11-2005 03:22 AM
Tidle Ideas	me9996	General Messages	8	01-19-2005 04:29 PM
Tolkien discussion ideas	Sister Golden Hair	Lord of the Rings Books	38	10-19-2004 02:34 PM
Some ideas....	maian	General Messages	1	09-16-2002 02:19 PM