Yet Another Story Idea

Right now, my writer's block is at a low point, so I have a burst of ideas and motivation. So here we go, a Slice-of-Life story...

High school freshman Ike (not an academics geek, as he insists) meets the New Transfer Student, Joey. But it turns out that Joey is actually a girl, and doing a good job of it. The teachers know, and let Joey have "his" way, but none of the students know. Hirilary Ensures.

That is what I have currently. It's a prototype for a larger idea for a webcomic (TAC, you can find the thread for it here), but I don't know what direction the story should go. I'm thinking of making it an urban fantasy, but...

Here my questions:

1. How do I make Ike an interesting protagonist and narrator? So far, his only strong trait is that he's good at academics. Should I take the Kyon approach?. Should I make him a Nice Guy?

2. What boyish things should Joey like? I have sports, but I barely know anything about the players, since I'm not into it (I watched the Super Bowl for the commuicals). Video games is one, but that might've been used too much.

3. Other characters. I have Jacob, a sort of a class crown, who is one of Ike's best friends. From what I've written so far, he's overshadowing him. And then Those Two Girls, Abbi and Noel (dubbed AN by Jacob). How do I make them stand out from other duos?

4. Should I take the "Urban Fantasy" route, with a Masquerade of sorts?

I will have more questions. Critque?

Oh, and I seem to have developed Author Appeal for Transsexuals lately. :blush: They're just so interesting.

1. To make a good narrator, a character has to be able to tell the story, first and foremost. How much of the plot do you want your readers to know? You said that you don't have much worked out, so you'll have to think about what you want to do. Something else you could try is switching narrators at certain points if you have a situation where using Character A as the narrator during Part II would give away the entire plot. In the case of my own story, it features political intrigue along with a character's growth from a teenager to an adult as he deals with the multiple things that have happened to him. I open the story with Character A, a major player in this intrigue, switch to Character B about 2/5 of the way through, then switch to Character C for the last fifth. Why do I do this? Using Character A during B's run would give everything away. And both A and B have died by the time of C's run.

2. Boyish things? Instead of Joey just enjoy watching sports (which is something that girls have been known to like, too), you could make her enjoy playing them, too. Football is one way to do this without giving away Joey's gender because it's traditionally male-dominated. I've seen girls play on football teams alongside a bunch of guys before. But if that's not the route you want to take, try giving her interests in other male-dominated fields, such as engineering or computer science. You do not usually see girls who want to go into those fields. And, you're right, video games are overused. Girls playing games such as Call Of Duty and The Legend Of Zelda rarely raise an eyebrow anymore.

3. The thing with Those Two Guys is that they are often opposites at a glance. Think about why these people are friends and, realistically, why they would be hanging out together. People don't necessarily become friends based on the Opposites Attract principle. If you want to create more characters, stop and think about how you came up with those four. Authors come up with characters in different ways. As for me, I've started with a single trait and kept building from there on that trait. I've come up with other characters based on a little one-liner description- "a courier girl from the moon", "a 1930s housemaid who's insecure about her infertility", etc.

4. I have no idea. That's your choice, but make sure you know how the fantasy elements would impact the plot. If they don't impact the plot much, then it's not necessary, and some readers may wonder why it's even a fantasy at all.

So far, you have a pretty good concept going. Keep going, and see where it takes you.

edited 8th Mar '11 6:47:24 PM by CrystalGlacia

Thanks for the advice.

Currently, I'm thinking of having Ike as the only narrator. Maybe I'll make him a little thoughtful, and make commentary on the events of the plot.

I was thinking of picking fencing as a sport, since I know someone who took a class in it, but I'm not sure if that's boyish enough. Engineering is actually a good idea. Maybe "he'll" take an Industrial Tech class. I also want him to be in the drama club too...

For the Those Two Girls, I want them to be the "preps" of The Libby (they could be the AN of AND). But I still can't think how to create contrast between the two. I already have an idea for a Red Oni, Blue Oni duo, but I want to reserve that for another story. Brains and brawns...Schemer and Ditzy Cheerleader?

Thinking about it, the Urban Fantasy idea isn't really good. I could think up a few plot lines for my story, and maybe create an overall arc of sorts. Maybe the Sweet Polly Oliver route.

One plot I'm thinking about is a Recursive Crossdressing scenario. Joey could take a dare to dress as a girl and trick a boy into going out with her. The problem is how to conclude it.

BUMP?

Why are you thinking of making it an urban fantasy? It seems like a very real-world-based plot you have there.

It was just I thought. At the time, I didn't know if I could construct an interesting plot, but now I'm stocking up on plots.

Would an episodic story be fine for this type of story?