Thread: Do I have a good idea here?

It sounds like an interesting read. What you'd have to be careful about doing is taking on too much in sub-plots...they are nice additions, but if you have too many or if they are too distantly related, you lose the main plot. In-depth analysis of the characters' lives only really works for the main character and maybe his or her lackey. For example, you don't need to know that the bloke in room B7 of the ship is a womanizing alcoholic with daddy issues. If something seems totally unnecessary, it probably is. As for the tone, go with what you know and let your voice shine through, but keep in mind that this IS a book about aliens and human colonization, etc etc which has been done before (though not necessarily to the point of cliche) and you're going to want to mix it up a bit. Keep it interesting. Maybe have some form of humor (dark, light, satire, whatever), or maybe just sort of a positive feel. In short, don't take yourself too seriously.

Just my two cents. Do whatever makes you happy. I would go with the "write first, think later" approach, in which you write down your main story first and then clean it up later. Getting the actual story down on paper quickly makes it more enjoyable and lets you know if you have enough to work with before you invest a crazy amount of time revising the first few chapters and concluding that it isn't fun anymore. Toil later...there is writing to be done! And good luck, mate.

Originally Posted by Mario92

It sounds like an interesting read. What you'd have to be careful about doing is taking on too much in sub-plots...they are nice additions, but if you have too many or if they are too distantly related, you lose the main plot. In-depth analysis of the characters' lives only really works for the main character and maybe his or her lackey. For example, you don't need to know that the bloke in room B7 of the ship is a womanizing alcoholic with daddy issues. If something seems totally unnecessary, it probably is. As for the tone, go with what you know and let your voice shine through, but keep in mind that this IS a book about aliens and human colonization, etc etc which has been done before (though not necessarily to the point of cliche) and you're going to want to mix it up a bit. Keep it interesting. Maybe have some form of humor (dark, light, satire, whatever), or maybe just sort of a positive feel. In short, don't take yourself too seriously.

Just my two cents. Do whatever makes you happy. I would go with the "write first, think later" approach, in which you write down your main story first and then clean it up later. Getting the actual story down on paper quickly makes it more enjoyable and lets you know if you have enough to work with before you invest a crazy amount of time revising the first few chapters and concluding that it isn't fun anymore. Toil later...there is writing to be done! And good luck, mate.

Sounds good. Dark humor is my style . I'll start writing!

I like the idea. I think it would be cool to have the whole story be separate subplots that eventually come together at the climax. Kind of like "Jitterbug Perfume" by Tom Robbins. sounds lik a very ambitious project. Let us know when it is published!

Originally Posted by Dannon Oneironaut

I like the idea. I think it would be cool to have the whole story be separate subplots that eventually come together at the climax. Kind of like "Jitterbug Perfume" by Tom Robbins. sounds lik a very ambitious project. Let us know when it is published!

Oooh. I like that! I'm writing up character profiles now

Sounds badass. Reminds me of the story in Halo 3: ODST. If you did it something like that it would be pretty cool.

Your enthusiasm just inspired me to work on my book, thank you. I too would like to read this after you finish.

Originally Posted by MementoMori

Your enthusiasm just inspired me to work on my book, thank you. I too would like to read this after you finish.

I may serialize this as I go. (Which means you guys may get to read a part 1 in a couple of weeks, rather than a novella or even a novel in half a year.)

EDIT: Also, when I post part one, criticize me please. Especially if the logic goes away, or thesaurus rape creeps in.

Thesaurus rape... Don't worry too much about it. Write it as you usually would. The built-in synonym thingy in Word should be all you need to resolve most conflicts. And as long as this:
"They are warm people with big hearts"
Doesn't become this:
"They are humid homo sapiens with full-sized aortic pumps,"
Urdoinitrite.

I probably couldn't fairly judge the story idea because the subject doesn't interest me in the least. for example I never got into star wars or star trek or anything space travel related, or any of the movies you mentioned. and I probably couldn't offer critique (as much as I love critiquing writing), as it's difficult to critique something I'm not really into. blah blah blah, HOWEVER.

I learned something from joining a writing forum...apparently once you post writing somewhere, it is considered published, even if you go back and remove it later. which makes it much harder to actually get it published as a book. I don't know all the details, I've been meaning to look into it, but I thought I'd let you know in case you are thinking about publishing the finished story :x

basically be careful what material you post :c

also coi'd @ "thesaurus rape"

Originally Posted by nerve

I probably couldn't fairly judge the story idea because the subject doesn't interest me in the least. for example I never got into star wars or star trek or anything space travel related, or any of the movies you mentioned. and I probably couldn't offer critique (as much as I love critiquing writing), as it's difficult to critique something I'm not really into. blah blah blah, HOWEVER.

I learned something from joining a writing forum...apparently once you post writing somewhere, it is considered published, even if you go back and remove it later. which makes it much harder to actually get it published as a book. I don't know all the details, I've been meaning to look into it, but I thought I'd let you know in case you are thinking about publishing the finished story :x

basically be careful what material you post :c

also coi'd @ "thesaurus rape"

Eh, I don't think I'd try to get this published. I'm only 16, I don't want people to read my writing because I am young. (Like that christopher paloni guy. He is godawfull) I just want to write and practice. Thanks!

Thesaurus rape is better than Brontosaurus rape!

This sounds pretty amazing. I remember about 4 years ago, I was 11 years old and I attempted to write a book. I got through 3 full pages on MS word, and I was like.. DA FUCK? But I am really interested in creative writing, so maybe after all, I may even be able to fuse lucid adventures into a book. Good luck on the book nonetheless! Sounds like a catchy back-of-the-book intro that would catch my attention.

=CV

UPDATE: Well, I finnished drafting characters, and I have the general plot in my head. Oh and, the ship, and probably the title of the work is Aether after the greek Protogenoi. (Pretty much the pre-titans ((which were the pre-gods)) Aether was the god of the upper heavens. Fitting for a space craft )

omg badass... 10 points my friend

AHHH.. I can't get started. I can get about a paragraph in before saying "NO. This is a stupid opening!"

The only bright side is i'll get bored with writing the opening, and plan out the plot. (Its extremely intricate involving several different plot threads that come together for short periods of time, part, and come back together at the end. A good example of this would be the brothers, and the older brothers girlfriend. The older brother has Romeo and Juliet plot (Yeah.. I know... It doesn't last long though :J ) with this girl, but he and his brother have a cain and abel rivalry, and after a while his brother ends up murdering him, turning his girlfriend into a psycho out to seek revenge on the younger brother.)
EDIT: Oh hell, I'll start in the middle.

Don't fret over the beginning. Just remember that if people don't like it, they won't read the book. No pressure. ^_^

"The ship hurtled through the inky blackness of space. It had reached a particularly stark region of the galaxy, and stars were few and far between. A red giant star came into view, and orbiting it, a small planet consisting mostly of rocky terrain, though an ice cap was visible at one of the poles.
The ship landed, kicking up a cloud of red-orange dust, which hung there in the thin atmosphere."

Etc. Have fun with it. ^_^

Well, for the moment, I'm writing the actual story, and rethinking the framing device. So far I have a journal entry. Just one:
5.8.2189
1:02 P.M

Its been a long time since I kept a journal. A very long time. But in recognition of this most momentous of occasion, I decided. Why? You might ask. Because I, Marvin Rice, will soon be boarding the largest space craft built in the history of man kind. Aether. Its going to be a two year journey, to an upstart colony in the alpha centari system, but I think I'm ready.

Its funny... I never would have imagined myself riding a shuttle-ship up to a space ship that will take me a couple of light years away from home. I did imagine myself in Zero-G from time to time. Although not like this. Theres nothing worse than the shock of thinking “Wait.. Which way was up again? Or down for that matter?” I'm not sure I can handle 2 years of that. Well, not a whole 2 years. I hear Aether has some sort of artificial gravity system. But its extremely expensive, and only present in some parts of the ship (i.e. The dining hall, so conventional foods can be consumed), and only present when necessary. (I guess I will be getting to use one of those Velcro toilets that you always hear about the astronauts using.) Oh well... At least its an adventure.

(This is un-edited or revised. And I wrote it when I should really be sleeping.)

Sounds like a good start. Journal entries are a very convenient way of writing, and if used properly, make a really nifty story. Establishing a point of view is essential. It sounds as if your story will be told primarily from the first-person perspective. If this is the case, you must establish whether this person will be addressing the audience directly (you, our, us, etc) or if he will be jotting down thoughts, feelings, and whatnot for the sake of keeping a log not really intended for anyone else. I can say that getting the reader involved in the story is kinda tricky to do, and doesn't always go over so well. Eh, do what you want.

Originally Posted by Mario92

Sounds like a good start. Journal entries are a very convenient way of writing, and if used properly, make a really nifty story. Establishing a point of view is essential. It sounds as if your story will be told primarily from the first-person perspective. If this is the case, you must establish whether this person will be addressing the audience directly (you, our, us, etc) or if he will be jotting down thoughts, feelings, and whatnot for the sake of keeping a log not really intended for anyone else. I can say that getting the reader involved in the story is kinda tricky to do, and doesn't always go over so well. Eh, do what you want.

Well, this is only 1 of six perspectives. About 3 will be first person in some way, and the other 3 will be 3rd person.

I like it. Just make sure that when you start a subplot, it...you know, actually goes somewhere. There's little that confuses a reader more than plot points that go absolutely nowhere after being introduced. Which is one of the reasons I refuse to read any of the Twilight books...

Originally Posted by Lëzen

I like it. Just make sure that when you start a subplot, it...you know, actually goes somewhere. There's little that confuses a reader more than plot points that go absolutely nowhere after being introduced. Which is one of the reasons I refuse to read any of the Twilight books...

Well, my plan is with the sub plots, is to establish who the characters are, and they're relationships with other characters, so they can work together to fight the Big Bad. (Yeah theres a big bad... but its unconventional!!) Of course, its no dream team. Especially when one of the characters is seeking revenge upon another, one character is a schizo, and a couple of the other characters have completely opposite personalities.

I'd worry less about whether similar stories have been done before and more on whether or not the characters are engaging. What's that thing they say? There are only seven basic story conventions? The story sounds like it could be interesting with alot of twists, though. If you haven't done so I'd also recommend reading plenty of science fiction detective novels. Caves of Steel is good.

The one palce I would try and be as unique as possible is how the technology works, or at least what clever applications there are for the advances in tech. People love that in science fiction stories.

Hmm...with stories, you usually do want to pick a point of view and stick with it. I like the idea of telling it from multiple perspectives, but it may be tricky going from first-person via journal logs to third-person omnipotent. It can be easy to lose readers if you start out with a journal entry, then rapidly shift to "meanwhile, elsewhere in the galaxy..." The problem is that they expect it to follow journal logs and other first-person encounters, but suddenly the narrator isn't the guy writing in the journal, but some omnipotent voice. If you do a lot of this sort of switching, it can get very confusing very fast. Just keep it in mind.

Originally Posted by Mario92

Hmm...with stories, you usually do want to pick a point of view and stick with it. I like the idea of telling it from multiple perspectives, but it may be tricky going from first-person via journal logs to third-person omnipotent. It can be easy to lose readers if you start out with a journal entry, then rapidly shift to "meanwhile, elsewhere in the galaxy..." The problem is that they expect it to follow journal logs and other first-person encounters, but suddenly the narrator isn't the guy writing in the journal, but some omnipotent voice. If you do a lot of this sort of switching, it can get very confusing very fast. Just keep it in mind.

I've seen books do it where the each chapter has a page long or so preface as a journal entry. In italics or something, so no transition is even required when you switch back. That is one way to make it easy to follow. Another way I've seen it done is just to make an entire chapter a journal entry and just do it every so often.