NationStates Jolt Archive

I'm looking to start a personal project, specifically, writing a full-length story. But I am having trouble deciding what to write about. I've narrowed down the plots:

- The discovery of an ancient doomsday device and the race to claim it

- A worldwide resurgance of Nazism leading to a WWIII

- An aircraft carrier is hijacked by madmen who are planning to attack major economic, political and religious sites.

- A human spacecraft is found in the near-future with its crew dead and its AI gone mad

Campy...yeah that is exactly what I thought while writing this. Believe me, it's all far more complex in my own mind and in my notes. If you do think that none are truly suficient, leave a suggestion of your own: I like stories about the supernatural and conspiracies.

I'm heading off to work so I will not be able to answer questions. Any and all advice would be appriciated.

The poll is forthcoming.

EDIT: And yes, I will absolutely post chapters here as they are written!

My 2 cents;

Start simple. Write a short story or two first, and stay away from the complex storylines until you have a feeling for your writing style.

Also, you should have a story in your head already, and feel the need to translate it onto paper. If you need us to tell you what to write about first, then perhaps you need more inspiration.

Personally, I haven't written anything in a long time. I do find however, that if I have a solid idea, that once I get started, the rest of the details kind of fit into place as I write, (and write, and re-write.)

Hmm. Maybe I should get back to writing...

My 2 cents. You're looking at this from the wrong angle. You're trying to find a hook, and run with it from there. Try a little world building, tailoring a world to yours desires, and see what plots naturally pop up from it.

There is only one story left that needs to be told: Dogs and the People Who Made Them Hot.

I'm looking to start a personal project, specifically, writing a full-length story. But I am having trouble deciding what to write about. I've narrowed down the plots:

- The discovery of an ancient doomsday device and the race to claim it

- A worldwide resurgance of Nazism leading to a WWIII

- An aircraft carrier is hijacked by madmen who are planning to attack major economic, political and religious sites.

- A human spacecraft is found in the near-future with its crew dead and its AI gone mad

Campy...yeah that is exactly what I thought while writing this. Believe me, it's all far more complex in my own mind and in my notes. If you do think that none are truly suficient, leave a suggestion of your own: I like stories about the supernatural and conspiracies.

I'm heading off to work so I will not be able to answer questions. Any and all advice would be appriciated.

The poll is forthcoming.

EDIT: And yes, I will absolutely post chapters here as they are written!

Write a story about Neo-Nazis who hijack an aircraft carrier and steal a near-future spacecraft as diversions to distract attention from their search for a doomsday device.

There is only one story left that needs to be told: Dogs and the People Who Made Them Hot.

Uhm...

(backs from the room slowly)

Write a story about Neo-Nazis who hijack an aircraft carrier and steal a near-future spacecraft as diversions to distract attention from their search for a doomsday device.

That would be all radical and gnarly and such.

I like the WWIII plot...

What really makes a story are characters, the world and the style...

The doomsday device one. I have a similar idea for a story of my own, but I doubt I'll write it.

A space craft with a mad Nazi AI carrying a doomsday device gets hijacked by madmen.

I have the best idea!!!!

Why dont you write this story about this bloke, who writes books and then creates a computor game. It starts small but gets really big and lots of people join this online sensation. Then they create a forum where another bloke asks about what he can write a story about.

Brilliant

No offence, but... I don't know, the ideas seem rather overdone... Except the Aircraft carrier thingy, so I'd go with that one I guess.

No offence, but... I don't know, the ideas seem rather overdone... Except the Aircraft carrier thingy, so I'd go with that one I guess.

Yeah, they are all overdone. Here is an interesting plot line: Make a story where the hero doesn't win, or the world isn't saved, or something like that. Its a lot more interesting I think.

I personally would go for the doomsday one, if only because I have a slight fetish for that sort of thing... :eek:

The AI spacecraft thing's been done (Sphere, Michael Crighton)

For some reason the aircraft carrier thing doesn't seem plausible to me. Plus there's already Under Siege. You don't want to attract Steven Seagal cooties.

Write about the resurgence of feminist Nazi eco-terrorism and the plot to overthrow the Andorran government and seize control of the world's oil supply.

Write about the resurgence of feminist Nazi eco-terrorism and the plot to overthrow the Andorran government and seize control of the world's oil supply.

Isn't that the plot of the next James Bond Movie?

What lame movie title should it have? Tommorrow is Yesterday Forever? In Her Majesty's Secret Oil Rig?

Well I quite like the doomsday artifact. Classic device. Would generate a fairly interesting cast of characters with differing motives for finding it.
How well you manage to pull it off depends on two main factors:
1: How real your story and your characters are to you;
2. How natural your writing style is.
The first is either there or it isn't. The second has to be worked on. It took me over a year to even get near. I spent ages writing horrible, stilted nonsense that I simply couldn't put my faith in because I knew it was rubbish. Eventually I stopped attempting to do fiction and wrote a journal for a while - this, however, became fictionalised after about five entries, naturally developing its own plotline. That was a real breakthrough: I'd found a style. If you don't have that, I would follow other posters in suggesting that you try something less complex first. It has to come from you naturally, or you simply won't be bothered to write that many words.
Having said that, I haven't written anything since Wednesday - damn my laziness! Right, writing day tomorrow... and the day after.

I was thinking of writing a story about people fearing something so much that their fear became worse than the thing that inspired it(allegory). I as think of either some sort of infectious plague or a looming economic disaster.

Mad AI spaceship or doomsday artifact, or both.

I say the aircraft carrier. To be honest with you, it was the only plot I found particularly interesting and not too campy. However, as a little note, I actually do think that the aircraf carrier plot is quite interesting, and, to be honest with you, I've already started to daydream about what might occur in the scenario. It's actually quite good.

According to the great contemporary British satarist, Terry Pratchett:


"Writing is the most fun you can have by yourself."



-I did say he is British, didn't I?

I'M BACK!!!

Okay. To clarify a few things: I have been writing since I was in the second grade, and have written several short stories. I have also taken a writer's workshop in school and done some research (The Elements of Style is my new Bible). So I see this project as something of a "graduation".

And since I have more time now, I'll explain exactly what I'm thinking of each of these storylines.

Doomsday Artifact: An armored car belonging to a multinational corporation is attacked by a criminal syndicate. In addition to company technology on board, the group also steals a briefcase containing the afformentioned artifact. The company hires a private detective to find the briefcase; the authorities are more concerned with finding the killers of the two men murdered at the attack than finding the stolen property. The problem is, no one, not the criminals, the company, or the PI know what EXACTLY is in the briefcase. Thus the story unfolds.

Nazi Resurgance: Set in an alternate universe where the Soviet Union still stands, but as an ally of the Western World. A series of "terrorist attacks" strike major cities around the world, including London, Washington and Moscow. The attacks vary from shootings to bombings. One thing out of the ordinary however is that the weapons used in the strikes are all weapons that would have been used by Nazi Germany. Thus the story unfolds.

Aircraft Carrier A variation of the Nimitz-Class Supercarrier has been hijacked by an overwhelming unknown force. Their nationality is unknown, but it is known that they plan (read: NOT threaten) to use the stealth aircraft on board to deliver tactical nuclear weapons on major population, political, economic and religious centers around the world. They claim that their only desire is chaos. The carriers defenses rule out a direct assault, so the military calls in an "expert". Thus the story unfolds.

Mad AI: Set a century in the future. A spaceborne pleasure liner, supposedly lost fourty years in the past, returns. A rescue craft is dispatched, but finds the ship abandoned, its escape pods launched. The only thing that remains is the AI, who seems to have no memory of the past four decades. And that is not the only mystery: The rescue commander is starting to "see things". Thus the story unfolds.

Thanks for your attention!

Well I quite like the doomsday artifact. Classic device. Would generate a fairly interesting cast of characters with differing motives for finding it.
How well you manage to pull it off depends on two main factors:
1: How real your story and your characters are to you;
2. How natural your writing style is.
The first is either there or it isn't. The second has to be worked on. It took me over a year to even get near. I spent ages writing horrible, stilted nonsense that I simply couldn't put my faith in because I knew it was rubbish. Eventually I stopped attempting to do fiction and wrote a journal for a while - this, however, became fictionalised after about five entries, naturally developing its own plotline. That was a real breakthrough: I'd found a style. If you don't have that, I would follow other posters in suggesting that you try something less complex first. It has to come from you naturally, or you simply won't be bothered to write that many words.
Having said that, I haven't written anything since Wednesday - damn my laziness! Right, writing day tomorrow... and the day after.

That is the plotline that I have developed the most up to this point, but I still want to explore the other in more detail. Once I've created some outlines I should have a pretty good idea.

I hadn't taken into account the idea of writing in journal style. I may need to experiment with that tactic as I go along (along with the other dozen some-odd suggestions I've accumulated through my research :D )

Beyond that, do you write regularly? Is it for pleasure or for work?

ALSO: ...All hail the timewarp! We salute thee!