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message 202:
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Brigid ✩, No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.
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1) Hmm, I like that concept. Definitely a very intriguing character trait. So are you looking for a motivation for this character to have this hobby? I would imagine that he is drawn to funerals because he has some kind of fascination with death––not necessarily in a morbid way, but maybe out of curiosity. Perhaps he's had some kind of near-death experience which made him frightened of his own mortality, and this is his way of coping? Or one of his close friends/relatives died, and he's trying to sort of numb himself to the idea of death so that it doesn't scare him as much?
2) I would think that if someone called him before calling 911, he would have some kind of close connection to the girl––maybe his best friend, girlfriend, something like that? As for why he doesn't feel repulsed, it could be from the shock/disbelief. But maybe he's a sociopath, and/or he's seen a lot of dead bodies before for some reason ... ?
So, I was wandering around the threads and saw this one. I had forgotten about it, so I thought, 'Hey, this would be a good place to try and get help with one of my stories I forgot about!' So now here I am. I have this story. It's About a guy named Fyre. He is made out of fire.
He's a totally jerkwad and has a really bad temper. There are three other peeps like him, they are Water, Earth, and Air.
They all hate him, because they hide their magic bodies. All of them have human forms, but Fyre is never in his human form unless someone spills water on him.
Now, the story is about how Fyre saves a hooker from an evil pimp and runs from all the people who want to put him in jail.
And I'm sure you see the problem I'm having.
I have almost no story at all.
I reaaaalllly have no idea what to do.
Should I try and make a story with this? Or should I just forget about it?
message 204:
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Brigid ✩, No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.
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I think a bit more detail is needed before I could give you advice on the plot ... Why is this guy made out of fire? (And what do you mean by that, exactly? Is he just a walking, talking fire or is it just that his skin is always on fire ... ?) And if he's on fire all the time, don't people notice that? (I also think the name Fyre is a little over the top. It's not very ... subtle.) I'm also unclear as to why people are trying to put him in jail, and how the whole pimp/hooker situation is related. I'm not saying it's a bad idea, just that you may want to give a bit more information/clarification before asking for advice. Hope that helps!
I'm so bad at descriptions but here's a plot I've had in my mind for YEARS. Basically it's about this seventeen year old girl named Aria. Her parents were killed in a tornado 5 years ago, and ever since she and her other two siblings have been raised by their oldest brother.
Since her parents death, she's been super in to storm chasing and photographing weather.
Trevor hasn't talked since their death, and Aria blames herself for shutting him out after it happened.
5 and a half years later, their town is hit again by a major tornado. Trevor is missing.
I was thinking about doing a dual perspective. Like of Trevor finding his way home, and Aria and the others trying to find him.
I'm considering putting in a slight romance aspect, but I mainly want it to focus on Aria and her family.
A college age girl 19 or 20 named Teresa tells the story of how a time shift turned her world upside down. Thinking maybe family member disappears and they find out he has been transported 30 years into the future.
My old story, Crazy, has a new (underdeveloped) plot.
The new idea is that this ordinary girl named Johanna runs away because she's angry at her parents, and she meets a charming but eccentric boy named Moss [main character of the first idea]. After a while she sees a missing-person bulletin out for him and realizes he's more than "a little weird"--he's completely insane, and progressing farther into mental illness. At the end, he either dies while trying to escape something that isn't there or...something. I'm considering different endings.
How do I improve it, and what's a good ending? :)
The new idea is that this ordinary girl named Johanna runs away because she's angry at her parents, and she meets a charming but eccentric boy named Moss [main character of the first idea]. After a while she sees a missing-person bulletin out for him and realizes he's more than "a little weird"--he's completely insane, and progressing farther into mental illness. At the end, he either dies while trying to escape something that isn't there or...something. I'm considering different endings.
How do I improve it, and what's a good ending? :)
Raevyn wrote: "My old story, Crazy, has a new (underdeveloped) plot.The new idea is that this ordinary girl named Johanna runs away because she's angry at her parents, and she meets a charming but eccentric boy..."
Is there still marine biologist stuff in the story?
Anyways, I'll try and help you a little with this....
First of all, give Johanna a really good reason to be mad at her parents.
Second....
Man....
I have no idea.
I really can only think of questions...
Does Johanna fall in love with Moss? Or is it like a friendship thing? How crazy is Moss? Johanna meets Moss and finds him charming and such, but you say he is completely insane, how could Johanna not notice?
Maybe he could try to escape from people trying to find out how he became crazy? By the way, is it still an illness? Or did you change that? I mean, you changed a lot, I just don't know what you kept from the first story idea or if you changed everything.
Anyways, I hope I helped somehow.
Brigid *Flying Kick-a-pow!* wrote: "Grace wrote: "So, I was wandering around the threads and saw this one. I had forgotten about it, so I thought, 'Hey, this would be a good place to try and get help with one of my stories I forgot a..."He is made out of fire, but in the shape of a human body. And yeah, people notice him all the time so they're all freaked out by him and call the police.
Water, Earth, and Air are all like him.
Water is a biker chick in her human form, but in her magical form she is pure water. And Earth and Air are pretty much the same. The thing is, they try to keep their magicalness hidden, but Fyre is always in his magical form, so tons of people see it. And that's why they want to put him in jail, where he would never be seen by human eyes again.
The hooker is named Carla, she was being beaten by her pimp when Fyre saved her.
Carla is a big character in this story, she helps Fyre find his way towards a better future.
Carla tries to help him make the other magical people not hate him, but it fails.
First, they try Water, but Fyre and Water hated each other the first time they met, so it didn't go very well.
Then they try with Earth, but same thing, they hate each other. Fyre burns nature and Earth hates him for that.
But with Air, they couldn't find her, so I kind of want the story to be them on a roadtrip kind of thing, bonding and such.
And I want Water and Earth to be hunting them, trying to stop them from finding Air.
But, I don't know why Water and Earth would care, I need help from there.
I hope that was enough detail or not too much...
Grace wrote: "Raevyn wrote: "My old story, Crazy, has a new (underdeveloped) plot.
The new idea is that this ordinary girl named Johanna runs away because she's angry at her parents, and she meets a charming bu..."
I don't think there'll be marine-biologist stuuf in this.
Friendship.
He starts out normal-ish, but he has mental illness in this version and it progresses so he's insane by the end.
:)
The new idea is that this ordinary girl named Johanna runs away because she's angry at her parents, and she meets a charming bu..."
I don't think there'll be marine-biologist stuuf in this.
Friendship.
He starts out normal-ish, but he has mental illness in this version and it progresses so he's insane by the end.
:)
I'd also like to say that this isn't definite yet! I might keep the old plot and just rewrite it....
Okay, I bet you're thinking 'Man, she really needs to focus on one story.' I know that's true, but I just start to think about an old story of mine.
There's this jerky guy- who's name is revealed at the end - who does drugs and smokes (but is under aged or something I don't know... Though the doing drugs part is probably worse than the underage smoking.)
He lives in an apartment in a big building, one day he somehow sets the place on fire. When he is running to get out, there's a blind guy and a little girl (it starts to sound a little too silly here...) he knocks them out of his way and they die!
But, the MC (I'll just cLl him MC for now,) dies in the fire too, because the blind guy is really an angel or something, I don't know, and holds him back or something,
So, he dies and becomes a demon cause he was an awful person and has one month to do good things to become human again.
There are other demons with him too, they all were human at some point,
There's one named Lily, who died of an overdose, she tries to seduce MC, but he's not into chicks like her.
By the way, MC became really gross after the fire... So I used to call him Ugly Burnt Victim when I was a wee child...
Also, when he first became a demon, the boss - whose name I don't remember. - took MC's right eye, he said it was payment for his sins.
When MC is looking for ways to become a better person, he meets Blue.
(Also, if I'm remembering this right, their home was in a sewer... So, Blue was wandering the sewers... Which is weird... Why would she be wandering the sewers when she was a wealthy girl going to school and such... Doesn't make much sense...)
Blue is a girl who can see demons, cause most people can't.
Blue has blue hair and eyes.
MC falls in love with her.
And then MC decides - after a whole lot of stuff I don't remember and probably it all sucked - to burn himself, to be reborn or something.
So, he does that and becomes human again, but nothing is the same because his parents think he is dead, Everyone thinks he is dead.
And then I dunno what happens after that...
I wanted to redo this story and make it better, but I don't know what to do...
I would really love any help.
I mean, the story is a bit silly because I made it when I was like, what, 10? I don't know I may have been younger...
Anyways, it's a old story of mine and I really want to make it better and I don't really care if I change the whole story, I just want to make a TON better.
But I want to make the part with Blue to be a bigger part.
I be vague.Dystopia after USA government falls due to war. Time travel. Robots. War. Other planets. Crimes. Deaths. Love. Traitors. Trust. Torture. Awesomeness.
Hello. I wanted some opinions on a story I'm developing.So there's this girl, Cecelia, who one days enters a weird shop and a shady dude knows her life is kinda difficult and offers her a contract "to make her life easier". She refuses, saying that she knew con men could do that to steal your signature (???), and leaves. Later she accidentally breaks something with a ridiculous price tag, and the shady dude tells her that, if she would just deliver a package to a certain location, she wouldn't have to pay him.
She accepts, but keeps the package at home, writes down where she is going, at what time, who asked her to, etc. in a piece of paper and goes to the location, where she asks the resident if he is expecting a package. He says no and she tells him the story, and basically they open the package with certain safety measures (which includes drawing an arcane circle on the floor ?????) and some weird runes pop up and all the nearby area is blown up and engulfed by green flames.
Later that night when she's still thinking "What the &&/%&$$#@ happened?", she gets a visit from shady dude and he tells her she was amusing and that that had been some good thinking, a la "I'm not even mad." He adds that he'll keep stalking her, just because. She, understandably,
Okay, so Cecelia is a low class third generation immigrant high schooler, who lives with her mother (who didn't finish high school) and she belongs to a street gang (which isn't pretty). I had planned the story as if she had just recently quit the gang and was struggling because you basically can't leave a street gang without they beating you up until you die (unless you move far away or such). She'd spend the novel trying to overcome certain undesirable character traits she acquired (she gets angry easily, speaks out of turn, threatens people when things don't go her way, tries to show off strength she doesn't have, etc.) but now I'm wondering if it would be a better idea to start it all with her still in the group and the experiences adding up and her realizing that she should quit. Thoughts?
I like that idea. It sounds really awesome, I'm serious.
You could either start with her still in the group or start with her after she's recently left the group and over time, as she goes through events, more and more about her life in the gang and why she left is revealed. You could do either one. You should have the resident she delivered the package to become a huge part of her life, because the package drew them together or something like that. Those are just what I would do. I personally am satisfied with your idea.
You could either start with her still in the group or start with her after she's recently left the group and over time, as she goes through events, more and more about her life in the gang and why she left is revealed. You could do either one. You should have the resident she delivered the package to become a huge part of her life, because the package drew them together or something like that. Those are just what I would do. I personally am satisfied with your idea.
Okay, I've come up with this story idea, and I would like some opinions on it.
There is this facility where people with supernatural powers live and are studied and experimented on. There is a special unit there, Unit 5, that deals with people with extraordinarily strong powers (specifically children). There are 8 subjects in Unit 5. One of them is a girl named Alice. She can make dreams realityand reality dreams. She accidentally uses her power one day to create her dream world, Alice's Wonderland. The other seven patients have been trapped there. They don't like each other, but they must team up and make Alice let them go. Unfortunately, Alice loves Wonderland and absolutely despises the other 7 children. She's the ruler of Wonderland and can do anything she wants, literally. They had bullied her in the facility and she wants them dead.
My title for it is Dead Wonderland.
There is this facility where people with supernatural powers live and are studied and experimented on. There is a special unit there, Unit 5, that deals with people with extraordinarily strong powers (specifically children). There are 8 subjects in Unit 5. One of them is a girl named Alice. She can make dreams realityand reality dreams. She accidentally uses her power one day to create her dream world, Alice's Wonderland. The other seven patients have been trapped there. They don't like each other, but they must team up and make Alice let them go. Unfortunately, Alice loves Wonderland and absolutely despises the other 7 children. She's the ruler of Wonderland and can do anything she wants, literally. They had bullied her in the facility and she wants them dead.
My title for it is Dead Wonderland.
Yes, the resident is the male "hero" (spoiler alert: he's a douche).Does it not seem like a wasted opportunity that she already quit? My mini first chapter summary goes like this:
Cecelia returns to her house only to find out that her ex-gang is waiting for her (presumably to beat her up). One of the members notices her approaching and alerts the rest. Cecelia takes a detour and ends up in a part of the neighborhood she had never visited. Looking for a place to hide, she enters an antique shop where she meets Brent. They chat and he offers her a "contract", but she declines and leaves a while later.
It's basically Brent being creepy and Cecelia being... Cecelia.
That sounds awesome, but I think I'll end up hating that kid.With such an amazing power, how did they catch her? How do they keep her there? Because, if she can use her powers, she can leave with no problem.
And those kids are all uber powerful, right? They couldn't have, ehem, killed her?
Also, there's maybe too many characters? Or, I mean, focus on a couple of them, because giving all 8 characters equal spotlight would leave the reader a bit confused and with the impression that the characters are underdeveloped.
Or do you intend to concentrate only on Alice?
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Sam~~ we cannot see the moon, and yet the waves still rise~~
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Celofán wrote: "Hello. I wanted some opinions on a story I'm developing.So there's this girl, Cecelia, who one days enters a weird shop and a shady dude knows her life is kinda difficult and offers her a contract..."
that sounds really cool and different, so congrats. the only thing i'm going to is what with all the bad qualities you give cecilia (which i'm all in favor of, because perfect characters in books are flat and kinda suck) you have to give her enough going for her that she's likeable with the reader. because if most of your readers dislike cecilia, they're not going to keep reading.
She's street smart, athletic, honest (as in, she says what she thinks, no hypocrisies), funny (I'm hoping), has a will of iron, is trying to get a sports scholarship to a uni and to fix herself and doesn't mind lending you her ear even if she doesn't know you very well.For instance, a 13yo joins her ex-gang and he's feeling a bit down. His mother is a sex worker and he has started hating her because even though she pays the bills she never has time for her.
Cecelia tells him that she's probably trying her best and points out he's actually going to a decent school, and that perhaps his mother hasn't noticed and the best thing would be to honor her wishes and do well in school (just like Cecelia wishes she had done). He should try helping his mother when she does the house chores. That way they can be together and she could have an extra bit of time. She advises him not to get too involved with the illegal stuff (some gangs are just groups of teenagers vandalizing stuff and not all of them are involved in the "hardcore" illegal activities, furthermore young kids get more menial tasks). Still he claims that his mother doesn't love him and that the jump in was too much trouble to even consider not joining the gang in all of the activities. Cecelia leaves, not without mentioning that the jump in has that effect: you feel you have to "enjoy" the full experience and do your best because you "went through so much".
So basically, she's also a very Cool Big Sis.
This scene is mostly there to show why she couldn't "just quit" and what the complications are. I'm thinking if I should really include it because it seems pointless from certain angles.
In Alice's Wonderland, she's in charge. Also, they're still figuring out how to use their powers. They have no idea what they're doing, including Alice, which makes it hard for them to do anything right. Alice is going to mess up a bunch in Wonderland.
I may actually change the amount of characters.
Also, I'm still working on how they managed to catch Alice. I'm going to say that she was born in the facility and was raised there and was too scared to leave (she's going to be a timid, easily scared person, until she creates her own world). Also, I may have it so that the facility had a device that toned down their powers and made them really weak, you know? And the guards could also have powers.
Actually, I may change Alice's powers. I might change it to something else, I'm still thinking about it.
I may actually change the amount of characters.
Also, I'm still working on how they managed to catch Alice. I'm going to say that she was born in the facility and was raised there and was too scared to leave (she's going to be a timid, easily scared person, until she creates her own world). Also, I may have it so that the facility had a device that toned down their powers and made them really weak, you know? And the guards could also have powers.
Actually, I may change Alice's powers. I might change it to something else, I'm still thinking about it.
Gashbeen(Hecate) wrote: "Okay, I've come up with this story idea, and I would like some opinions on it.There is this facility where people with supernatural powers live and are studied and experimented on. There is a spe..."
I like the idea, I just have one little problem the title...
It sounds too much like the name of manga 'Deadman Wonderland', which takes place in a prison like place, also if I'm remembering right, some of the prisoners had weird powers.
I mean, it may just be me, but I don't know. (I mean it's all I could think of when I saw your title.)
Anyways, I like the story, but why is it mostly children who have these strong powers? Also, I always love it when people who hate each other have to team up!
message 223:
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Brigid ✩, No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.
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I think she sounds like a very good and interesting character! And I like your story idea, too. As for the gang question, I think it would be better to start with her having already left the gang (as long as it's clear what happened). It might be difficult to balance the whole gang plot with the package/shady guy plot and I feel like starting her still in the gang would only add to that problem ... if that makes sense. That is, someone might start reading the story thinking it's about a girl in a gang, only to have the plot turn around and be about something different. So that's my two cents, I guess. :)
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Brigid ✩, No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.
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This sounds super cool! I love alternate reality plots, exploring the idea of "what's real and what isn't," etc. I agree that reducing the number of characters is probably a good idea. 8 is a lot of characters to develop and for readers to keep track of. I would advise keeping it at 4-5 characters at most.
Another thing: The whole "evil lab where they experiment on people" trope is pretty common, although it can be done well. (I'm trying to plan a story with a similar setup and I'm struggling to come up with ways to make it less clichéd.) I think the key is in coming up with an interesting context. That is, what is their motivation for giving people superpowers and experimenting on them? What time period is it? What's happening in the rest of the world that may have caused this to happen? And so on.
As for Grace's point ... I've never heard of Deadman Wonderland but that is a very similar title so you'd probably want to change it to avoid confusion and/or people accusing you of plagiarism.
Hope that helps!
Then I'll proceed as planned. Thanks for the suggestions.
Deadman Wonderland is about some characters trapped in a prison/amusement park, and they fight each other and try to escape, plus the MC is trying to solve a mystery (namely why he was taken there and such). I mean, the name is pretty similar but I don't think anybody would consider it "plagiarism"... the manga has almost nothing to do with Alice in Wonderland, really. Just be careful not to make Alice too much like Shiro (as in, a clockwork cuckoolander, innocently seeming cute girl who apparently talks like a four year old at times).
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Brigid ✩, No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.
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Yeah, I looked up the plot and it didn't sound similar at all to me. I just meant plagiarism of the title, not the story. ;)
Oh okay. I decided to change the whole lab thing to just an ordinary schoolgirl who accidentally creates another world. I'll probably change the title to
Okay, so I wanted to make his zombie story. (One without mermaids or element princesses.) Where there is this fungus thingy (Which is a real thing, I'm just thinking about making my own kind of it for my story.) that takes over the brains of animals, like bugs, and when a bird eats the bug, the bird. So I was thinking that some rednecks or something like that, grill up a bird that has the fungus thing and eat it. And there zombies! Though, I'm thinking I need to put more science into it...
Anyways, the zombies will spread! When one kills a zombie, and birds feed on it. If anyone eats those birds or rats, they will become a zombie themselves! I thought this sounded cool, unless it's already has been done.
I just need some help with the science and creating cool characters with coolness. :D
Rednecks... it always comes back to rednecks.Read some stuff about parasitoids. Particularly fungi. It'll really help you out.
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Sam~~ we cannot see the moon, and yet the waves still rise~~
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Celofán wrote: "Rednecks... it always comes back to rednecks.Read some stuff about parasitoids. Particularly fungi. It'll really help you out."
what? sorry, i'm not sure i understand what you're trying to say.
Grace wishes to research to find possible explanations for her zombie-state-inducing fungi. I suggested her to research the science behind parasitoids.
That whitewashing part really happens a lot in our world, unfortunately.I like what you said but you gave more backstory than anything, so maybe you should think a bit more about what your character will do as they're trying to force her to become the queen?
Just an FYI: I'm not actually planning to write most of the ideas I've posted about in the past anymore. However, I have a new idea or fifty (lol).
What could I do to improve this one?
As global warming kills off animals, heats the earth, and makes the oceans rise, a girl named Hazel must survive alone.
What could I do to improve this one?
As global warming kills off animals, heats the earth, and makes the oceans rise, a girl named Hazel must survive alone.
If global warming kills all animals, why is a human still alive? In order for that scenario to happen, humans would have to be without food for years, which we can't do.
message 236:
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Brigid ✩, No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.
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A few resources that might help you:
http://epa.gov/climatestudents/impact...
http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/impa...
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/ne...
Hope that helps!
Thanks. Yeah, I meant some animals not all of them. I'll take a look at the links later. :)
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Brigid ✩, No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.
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I have an idea involving a family academy for young children of a very large family of magicians. They all develop special powers and they go to the school to learn how to control/use them.They would all come from the same family with ancestors like Houdini (a teleporter) and e.t.c
I don't have any ideas for the plot but I have some characters.
I have about a month to write a cause and effect essay for my AP Lang. and Comp. class on music. Any ideas how I could approach this? It can relate to music in any way, but I have no idea where to start right now.
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Sam~~ we cannot see the moon, and yet the waves still rise~~
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about music? as in, an effect that music or a musical experience had on you? would that work?
The essay is focused on the structure and format. We have to conform the structure to the topics we chose in August. i.e. Our last essay was a compare and contrast and I had to make it fit the topic I chose at the beginning of the year (music), so I compared two different genres of music. The essay before that was an exemplification structure, so I did different careers in music.Music is just the broad, general topic I have to conform to . I can write about anything related to music so long as I can demonstrate direct cause and effect.
@T'lonie Heya! I'm not super experienced with fractured or retold fairytales, but I've done a fair amount of research on them.
What I'd recommend is stepping away from
European tales. I'd recommend searching for Eastern or Oceanic myths and fairytales. There are a handful of Japanese ones you'd like, I think.
If you want any more help, feel free to PM me. I'd love to get my hands dirty in research with another writer! :)
I have this exciting new story idea.
Dozens of kids and teens, from three to 17, walk randomly into a small Kanas town one day. They look like they've been mistreated, they speak an entirely new language, and they all have weird powers/abilities.
Is it too much like Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children? How can it be made more interesting or less plot-hole-ish (for lack of a better word)?
Dozens of kids and teens, from three to 17, walk randomly into a small Kanas town one day. They look like they've been mistreated, they speak an entirely new language, and they all have weird powers/abilities.
Is it too much like Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children? How can it be made more interesting or less plot-hole-ish (for lack of a better word)?
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Brigid ✩, No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.
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I second what Taylor said and say maybe try to stray away from European fairytales since those are commonly used (i.e. Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, etc.) although there are some European countries whose folklore is not as widely explored in adaptations––for example, right now I'm writing something inspired by Irish mythology and it's very interesting stuff! But there are a lot of other countries with very cool mythology, like Japan, China, India, Egypt ... This is a cool website that has articles on a bunch of different lesser known myths and mythological creatures.
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Brigid ✩, No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.
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Dozens of kids and teens, from three to 17, walk randomly into a small Kanas town one day. They look like they've been mistreated, they speak an entirely new l..."
It doesn't immediately remind me of Miss Peregrine's Home..., but of course the whole "kids with superpowers" thing in itself is a bit clichéd. That isn't to say that it can't be done in an interesting and original way, but if you're worried about it being too much like other books then I would focus on making it your own. One of the main problems I had with MPHfPC was that there were a ton of characters and they weren't very well-developed in my opinion. So having "dozens" of these characters might not be as compelling as having just a few of them who you could really develop into strong characters with distinct personalities, motivations, and backstories. Also, what you're providing right now is a pretty vague premise so there's not much feedback to give you until you know more detail ... most importantly, what is the conflict? What are the stakes?
Brainstorming help???My next novel idea is most likely going to be about a bunch of trans teenagers (and one that's not) living somewhere around Chicago or New York. My current character list goes like this:
Rachelle Matthews - high performance student that began to present as a female as 16; interested in her Kenyan heritage and theatre, currently 17
Henry Long - Asexual, Kubrick-obsessed, aspiring cinematographer who becomes best friends with Rachelle after they're the only non-homosexual people in the school's LGBT+ group (meaning they were effectively ignored)
Andrew Low - Recently just came to terms that he's a transman but hasn't began any sort of transitioning yet; shy and talented jazz trombone player
Luisa Velazquez - Andrew's best friend who helped him realize his gender identity; carefree and willing to help anyone; pansexual and genderfluid
August Orakzai - Leader of his own trans youth support group, currently undergoing hormone therapy although his parents are reluctant; steadfast, patient, and loyal; Muslim upbringing, but doesn't hold on too firmly to his beliefs
So far I have two different story arcs. Rachelle is my main character, and her goal is to achieve something acting-related, but I'm not quite sure yet. Since Henry's all about filming things, he helps her out on this goal. My second story arc involves Andrew, who isn't quite out to his family yet but is being supported by Luisa, his best friend.
Now, Rachelle and Henry met through the school LGBT+ group, as I mentioned above, but all of them there are gay and Rachelle and Henry aren't, so they break off and do their own thing. Rachelle meets Luisa through an acting class, and Luisa tells Rachelle of a group they go to that's run by trans teens for trans teens, and that's how these two story arcs interweave.
With Andrew's story arc, Luisa brings him to the group too, and August is very helpful since they're both transmen. Andrew soon develops a crush on August, and he's trying to conceal the secret that he's a gay transman from his family, because he's not quite sure how'd they respond.
That's all I have so far, and I'm not quite sure what to do for an overall plot. What should Rachelle be trying to accomplish? She's a senior in high school, so I don't know if maybe some sort of video scholarship for a college would work or not, which is why Henry is filming her and some of the other characters. I also don't know how to flesh out the whole August/Andrew subplot (well, I do, but more than just another forbidden love thing, especially since Andrew doesn't know if August feels the same way back.)
Then I'm not sure if I should tweak character names and personality and races/ethnicity. One of them is European, one is African, one is Hispanic, one is Eastern Asian, and one is Middle Eastern, and I'm hoping that's a good balance, but I'm not sure. I'm a bit puzzled. :s
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Brigid ✩, No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.
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My next novel idea is most likely going to be about a bunch of trans teenagers (and one that's not) living somewhere around Chicago or New York. My current character list go..."
AAHH THAT SOUNDS AMAZING AND I CAN'T WAIT TO READ IT. Ahemmm but anyway ...
Since Rachelle is a senior in high school it would make sense that she'd be applying to college. It could be for a scholarship but it could also just be for her application. When my sister was applying to various acting schools she had to send in audition tapes to some of them, and I think some schools require you to audition in person. So she could be making various audition tapes, going to auditions at colleges, etc. (Maybe they could go roadtripping to colleges for auditions together?)
Hmm I don't have any ideas for the August/Andrew subplot but I'll get back to you if I think of anything. :P
And I like the character names/backgrounds!
I'm glad the Rachelle thing works, then! I wasn't sure if making a video for college was a reasonable idea or not, so I think I'll do that. :)I'll keep working on the August/Andrew subplot. And thanks, I was trying to change it up! ^u^
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Brigid ✩, No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.
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Cool, good luck! :D
Young Writers
Books mentioned in this topic
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (other topics)Three Black Swans (other topics)
Harriet the Spy (other topics)
Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library (other topics)
Story 1: The image that sparked this is of a boy who attends local funerals as a hobby. One afternoon, he goes to a funeral he is definitely not invited to, likely because he was not on the best terms with the person who passed away. A young woman from the boy's school who is related to the deceased man stops him and asks him why he's there.
He's gotta come up with some awesomely deep answer. Why is he there? Thoughts?
Story 2: The image I have is of another young man who is sitting with the body of a girl who committed suicide by slitting her wrists. I'm wondering why he's there and why he's not repulsed by the body. So far, I'm thinking that someone called him over there before calling emergency medical services. But…why? Any ideas of what I can pull from that?