Things you'd like to write...

...but won't, anytime soon, for various reasons. Do any of you have concepts that you've come up with and that you like but that you aren't actually using? And why not?

Personally, for the last couple of years I've had the concept floating around in my head for a book I'd love to write someday: something very meta, very trope-aware and very Fourth Wall-y. Essentially, all of the characters are convinced that they're in a play, but it's actually a book. They'd happily converse the plotline, character development, etc, and there'd be lots of things like 'stop making jokes, this is a serious drama!' and arguing over which of the four walls that they can see is the actual fourth one ('Look, it's obviously that one, it's the only one that doesn't have pictures on it!'). Breaking the Fourth Wall would be a last resort, an appeal to the audience when they're in a real emergency.

I haven't started writing it and do not intend to at all soon, if ever, purely because I know I'm not a good enough writer to pull it off. In all fairness, I'm fifteen years old and I write as a hobby; maybe one day I'll actually have the skill level to write something like that well. In the meantime, I spend my free time writing reasonably generic Urban Fantasy with no historical research whatsoever. Hurrah.

edited 3rd Mar '11 9:19:53 AM by cityofmist

You are only fifteen? Trust me, you have A LOT OF TIME. I'm eighteen and...I'm getting off topic here.

I'd like to write an High Fantasy, but I'm too intimidated due to saturation of such stories in the market, my lack of experience in the genre and writing in general.

Also an Urban Fantasy that features The Beautiful People with Superpowered Evil Sides. Can't write it because it's too much of a plagarized Cliché Storm. I cannot move outside the influence of Nasuverse....

I want to write a Reconstruction of the Magical Girl genre that pretty much involves me throwing in everything I think is awesome and turning it up to eleven. Basically, there's been so many things that've been called "The Evangelion of Magical Girls" that I want to make a "Gurren Lagann of Magical Girls".

However... Firstly, I'd need to figure out how to sort this out into some kind of cohesive form. I've been building my own 'verse in my head for as long as I can remember, and it's... Kinda complicated and confusing by now. >.>

And also... I'm not exactly in the right mind frame to do such a thing, at least not as I am now. If seriously I want to do this, I need to get my act together first. >.< Which may be somewhat difficult, ahah.

But... It's something I really, really want to write. I keep thinking of this idea as my Magnum Opus in the making, and I want to do my darnedest to actually get it written down someday. Someday, I guess... Whenever that comes, ahah~

Oooooh, me likes that idea!

I have this great idea for a MMORPG, but I don't have the time or patience to write the code, or the money to set it up, or the skillz to publicize it. I have this idea for a symphony, but no time. Every day I have ideas for scenes, characters, settings, and most of them go into the bit bucket or onto a scrap of paper that gets shuffled around, filed, lost, stuck in a pile, and ignored for years. It's quite frustrating.

Boobunzel, for various reasons including possible hostilities from everyone imaginable.

I always wanted to write towards the superhero genre, but writing period would be a close second. XD

I've got lots of ideas, even tons of characters, but I can't figure out how to put them into story form.

edited 23rd Feb '11 1:00:00 PM by Anaheyla

The thing I'm working on now sort of qualifies, as I've been taking more time "planning" than "writing" it...

But that's a different matter.

I'd love to dust off Jacob's Mind at some point, but considering that I'm working on two other projects requiring just as much brainspace (the other being Hello!, which is finally getting off the ground) and far less subtle tweaking and reconfiguration.

For those of you who want a quick summary, Jacob's Mind is what happens when you brutally deconstruct Funny Schizophrenia and Only Sane Man with the same character - naturally, the Designated Hero - while still playing the whole thing for every variety of Black Comedy.

P.S. As you know, markup's been nutty lately, so my links to the Unpublished Works pages on Jacob's Mind and Hello! aren't working. You can find them on that list, if you're interested in anything in-depth...

edited 23rd Feb '11 1:14:29 PM by JHM

A fourth wall breaking story that's about people living in a book-a book that's being devoured by quite literal plot holes that get worse as the story goes on. The source, of course, is the ending.

Among other things, he meets his future self, tries to "win his happy ending" before the pages run out (he has a rather high opinion of himself and is sure he's to be a successful hero), beats The Dragon and rescues the girl by cheating, realizes he can't be happy knowing he's fictional, and, eventually, jumps into the plot hole with his future self, thereby causing the original plot hole. He goes back in time to help a new version of himself, while the future version of him jumps out of the story and writes it.

I know it's way beyond me though, and I'm trying to stay focused on one thing at a time.

Oh there was another one, about a one dimensional being, and then a two, then three, then 4, then 5, and finally 6 & 7. I swear I came up with this idea before I read Flatland-but it's pretty different anyways. Basically most of them are unhappy with their current positions, and someone from the dimension above reaches out a hand to assist-but it doesn't quite work out the way they intend.

Weirdest thing, that idea came from literally one strange sentence. 5th dimensional politics. It just popped into my head and wouldn't leave.

I want to do a story about snipers at some point, but I don't think I write well enough to hold the tension through a guy sitting in a hidey-hole for a few hours for the perfect shot. That and I might do it as a comic and it seems kind of silly to render snipers whose goal is to blend into the landscape in a style with thick and obvious outlines...

I have all sorts of ideas on what I want to write,but the problem is I am not very good at communicating what is going on in my head to readers. The more technical aspects of writing are also weighing me down.

I don't know where to find a good beta reader,I'm a slow worker,and I have no clue how to get published. I really think taking a few writing classes would help,but I can't find any.

If I could connect stories better,find a beta reader,and learn more in detail about writing,I think I could be really good.

A lot of community colleges will have writing courses; nothing close?

I may look into that. What I need more than anything is a beta reader. If I had a beta reader I think I could figure out the rest through trial and error.

I'd like to write something where the foil is Sharing a Body with the protagonist. I've been knocking around the interaction between two characters where one does not exist outside the other's perception and knows more about what's going on than the first, and how that would interfere with daily life.

Unfortunately, I don't have a conflict for such a scenario. I haven't even decided if the body-share should/could be reversible.

I remember seeing this done interestingly before. Here, if you'd be interested.

You’re not crazy. We’re not crazy. Listen to the voice in your head, Myra, it knows what it’s—okay, shit, yeah, that does sound crazy. Scratch that. We’re still not crazy.

edited 28th Feb '11 3:26:40 AM by LoniJay

pretty much everything I think of is like that, but one story (technically two) especially. It has a confusing concept and changing narratives, a fuckton of implied info, the main character's backstory is basically that of 5 people, and two stories being told at the same time- the narrator's story, and the main character's story. despite technically being the same people, and the two stories taking place 200 years apart. And just to top it off, the main characters story is an Amnesia plot, so she cant actually give a whole lot of information, especially since she keeps her amnesia to herself, and no one around her for most of the story know anything about her.

Even if I did somehow manage to write anything down ever, and actually became a Writer, I would stay away from this story, since i have absolutely no confidence I would ever be able to actually do it even half decently. I'd much rather just tell friends the idea and hope that the ensuing conversation would allow us to make it somewhat coherant enough that we could fully understand what's going on, and put in the actual scenes and dialogue later on in our heads.

edited 2nd Mar '11 4:14:46 AM by Tarsen

Besides the work I'm already working on (of which I have enough material for three arcs) I have several Ideas.

The biggest of theese would be my hard SF war story. It's sort of Battlestar Galactica inspired, with a new race of humans that are allied with robots start a war with the normal humans. Unlike Battlestar Galactica, however, I would follow both sides an equal amount (and it would have a lot of grey and grey morality, if not black and black). This is mostly on hold until my writing skill has improved and I've learned enough about space to do it right.

Some other, less developed, projects include a story about a former special forces soldier that becomes a serial killer that targets the police. And because this is set in Norway, the police are utterly incapable to respond properly. I also have plans for a black comedy about a group of incompetent mercenaries in Africa.

Out of this I'll probably do the latter first. They would be good practice and are not as large in scope as the SF story. I also suspect that I might be able to publish the serial killer story, at least in Norway. There is a huge market for crime stories here (ahh... the dreams of youth).

Using old ballads, folklore, legends, and songs to create a setting for a story based on The Twa Sisters, and making into a long adventure comic series. The main reason I'm not doing it is because my own drawing abilities aren't up to snuff with the Art Nouveau style I imagine it in, and because I haven't done nearly enough research to feel comfortable starting. Seriously, if I started now, It'd be a hackneyed piece-o-crap, which I really don't want.

There's also another story I have involving ghosts and The Fair Folk, but that one got stalled right at the very beginning. I've got thousands of words committed to it already, but no idea how to work out all the kinks in it. Its pretty much gonna stay unfinished until I can think on how to fix it.

Clashing Opposition, the third book in my series. Basically, after spying on the enemy in the previous book, they fly back to the Greenwing Tree to pass the information of a MacGuffin pointing to the last magnetic thing on the planet. With this information in hand, they manage to find the MacGuffin hidden in an old ruined stone watch tower.

However, the villains also get there at the same time, and after a battle they wage war. Both sides prepare and in a few nights battles rage on all around Noctua, the land they live in. Four of the Five-Man Band are in seperate battles; they are nowhere near each other. The medic of the FMB has the job of helping the others when they are injured. The whole story would implement some ideas for weapons and have a lot of openings for Character Development. Also it sounds cool.

edited 2nd Mar '11 6:32:27 PM by Collen

Oh man, I've got tons of comics I'm itching to write:

• A sci-fi comedy set in the mid 90s about a teenager who's cursed to live with a bad luck necklace until he can reverse his bad karma.
• A woman competes in Hell's version of the Olympics in order to save the souls of humanity.
• After escaping from prison, a man and a team of rebels attempt to take back their country (done in the style of 80s action movies).
• The adventures of a Hair Metal band blessed by the Rock Goddess.
• A team of paranormal investigators (and their sumo wrestler) investigate a bizzare zombie uprising in France.
• High Fantasy about a wandering rogue and his perky sidekick.
• And lots of smaller one-shot ideas.

I also wanna film a Zombie Apocalypse-themed musical after I wrap up this Space Opera I'm working on.

edited 2nd Mar '11 10:26:17 PM by DrFurball

Other than my Digimon, Bomberman, and Sonic ideas. I've been thinking of writing a Girls' Love version of Beauty And The Beast. Of course it wouldn't look so much like Bat B as much as Beauty and the other Beauty who's clinically insane and turns into a Beast to kill and/or Devour and/or rip to shreds anyone who pisses her off and/or messes with her love intrest but is still a good (albeit somewhat psychotic) person at heart...soooo...ummm...yeah.(working title is long)

I'd really like to write a historical novel about the 1066 invasion of Britain, and another one detailing multiple generations of the same Japanese family as Japan went from the Meiji period to the end of World War II.

I'm around the OP's age.

I perfer to write all sorts of fantasy and sci-fi that is aimed for the young adult audience, although I have a couple of realistic fiction ideas under my belt.

I've had so many ideas just knocking around in my head for years.

• Copper, a steampunk dystopian future story where society is run by a single entity known as the Company. All civilization is centered in a single city around the Company's headquarters while the rest of the world is a harsh desert, dotted with shantytowns for those too poor or otherwise unconnected to the Company. The plot focuses on a rebel group made up of five people (by the names of Brass, Lock, Key, Gear and Rivet) who seek to destroy the Company from the inside out.
• The Planets Trilogy- a series of three books about a man who dreams of distant worlds. Every night since he was a child he has vivid, lucid dreams about a White Planet, Red Planet, and Green Planet, each inhabited by a strange race of alien creatures (the White planet being a frigid place inhabited by furry cat-like creatures with a utopian society, the Red being a barren, toxic landscape inhabited by barbaric, cannibalistic, nomadic reptilian creatures, and the Green planet, humid and covered in lush vegetation inhabited by tribal tentacled monkey-like things), in which he Quantum Leaps into the body of an existing creature for a short time. After nearly thirty years of this he has become an expert on the societies and has gotten famous writing books about them. In the first book, the creatures of the White planet are beginning to realize that some of their people are being possessed by something, and capture the next who exhibits the symptoms of possession. They keep him inside his victim's body, forcing his human body into a coma back on Earth.
• A supernatural murder mystery where a man is killed and his murder his framed as a suicide. Desperate to know who killed him and why, his ghost possesses the body of an occult-loving college student. However, he is picked up by the police, and is believe to be mentally unstable (he is claiming to be a dead man) and is forced on the run while trying to find the reason for his murder.
• Also a comic that never got off the ground about a trio of college buddies in a semi-successful garage band. Sit-commy.

I read somewhere that most people don't become published or popular until they are THIRTY, so you still have a lot of time. Use it...