Manifestation Files--Concept and Research

So my current story idea went down the drain, so now I'm at the next candidate: Manifestation Files.

I already posted this in the Marketability thread, but I'll summarize it again. An American high schooler (Bryan) has to live with a student exchange student from England (Finn). Finn turns out to be an esper that exorcists manifestations of human emotion, phobias, and anxieties. But after Bryan shows signs of being an espers too, he is slowly draw into Finn's world, both fighting Manifestations and other espers who want to recruit him at any cost. At the same time, Finn is drawn into Bryan's world...

So, first few questions:

• What do you think of this concept? Any way to streamline it?
• How are people from Oxfordshire different from people from London?
• And what are the main cultural differences between British and American people?
• How is Memphis different from the Midwest, especially in terms of linguistics?
• What is a good newbie's guide to human emotion, dreams, fears, etc?
• What are the different type of ghosts? Also, is there an existing type of ghost that requires permission from someone to carry out its devious ways?

edited 8th Jun '11 10:25:43 PM by chihuahua0

Hello?

Oh, not another (not-so) Ordinary High-School Student protagonist. Ugh.

Sorry, but this was more or less my first reaction.

Well, the trope ain't dead yet. And it isn't a trend that is going to go any time soon.

I'm still working on his personality, but although he's ordinary, he isn't normal. Think Kyon, but smarter, more popular, but colder, and more of a cynical jerk. Of course, he opens up.

In short, I'm working to avoid Designated Protagonist Syndrome.

Oh, another question:

• How can I have past tense yet have my 1st person narrator be in the moment?

edited 9th Jun '11 3:45:29 PM by chihuahua0

BUMPY. Be grateful that I'm not going to have a thread for each little question.

Oh, I decided to set Manifestation Files mostly in the Mid-town area of Memphis. Does anyone know about that district that I wouldn't find out from Google Maps?

edited 10th Jun '11 5:20:17 PM by chihuahua0

Why not set it somewhere you're more familiar with? Otherwise, you should probably do a little more research about Memphis before setting a whole story there.

I don't think the Ordinary High-School Student-who-isn't is quite so much of a cliché that it should be written off, especially if that's the kind of thing you feel most comfortable writing. Anyway, the concept has potential.

Regarding Oxfordshire and London*

, I guess the most important difference is that London is a lot more urbanised. London is entirely a city, and barring the odd park and the river, you have buildings on all sides. Oxfordshire is considerably more rural; a large part of the Cotswold Hills are there, and farming is a common trade there. The vast majority of people there are white Britons (as opposed to London, which is comparatively diverse). Many people there are pretty wealthy, though that's not a rule. The county is also very famous for Oxford University, which is an ancient and prestigious institution with a reputation similar to America's Ivy League.

For emotions and dreams, a psychology textbook seems like as good a starting point as any.

The concept of a residual haunting may be of interest. It's not the answer to your ghost question, but it ties in pretty well with your connection of ghosts to emotions.

You might also want to look into Poltergeists, which are sometimes linked to the idea of psychic powers.

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I set it in Memphis because New York, Chicago, St. Louis, and a little bit of Cardiff were getting a little crowded in my works as a whole. The south is often unappreciated, and I didn't want a completely rural setting, so Memphis was the way to go.

And I'll look into those spirits that you suggested.

By the way, how should I use shadow spirits? I was thinking of having them as reflections of one aspect of a person, but I'm not sure if that's the common deception of them.

I'm thinking the most powerful spirits would be ones created by the collective belief of a large group of people, as opposed to spawning from one person or the residue of a collection of people.

And would it be plasiable for Oxford espers to switch from the word exorcist?

Wait, let me post a list of Manifestations I have so far:

Types of Manifestations:

• Wisps: Weakest type of Manifestation, being mostly harmless. Formed by outbursts of emotion. Tend to float around before being absorb by a person (making someone feel that emotion) or fading away.
• Emotes: Formed by the strong emotions of one person, whatever it is sadness, fear, or anger. Tend to be the weakest, since they are more brutish and less sneaky. Can be just taken down by raw force easily.
• Phobias: Formed by the phobia of one person or a group of people. Tend to form around an object that haunts were it was formed. Can be defeated by either having the manifestator defeat it, or use a method that opposes the phobia.
• Shadows: Formed by the regret of someone after a traumatic event. Often looms over a person and cause depression in them, or just haunts a place. Can be defeated by having a desire connected to the regret fufilled.
• Poltergeist: Common sub-type and more impish version of emotes. Formed by a young person's hatred towards a certain place/object/job, etc.
• Tempter: Formed by raw desire by someone. It tempts its victim into giving into the desire so it can kill the victim. An example would be a hitchhiker who tries to get into the victim's car.
• Ghost: Like a shadow, but formed by a death and often is more complex.
• Demon/Prime Manifestation: The strongest form of a Manifestation. Formed by the collective belief of a large group of people. Tend to take the form of a mythical or legendary creature, and has a mind of their own. Bad ones are to be vanquished on sight.

And the special kind:

• Familiar: Any Manifestation that bonds with an esper or a Prime. They tend to exchange energy to boost each others powers, and carry out tasks.

Note that spirits can be both good and evil, if consider positive and negative alignments. However, negative Manifestations are more common.

My magic system will be figured out later.

edited 10th Jun '11 6:57:32 PM by chihuahua0

BUMPY.

It's your mythos, so I don't think it matters how shadow spirits are more commonly portrayed. But I'm not really that into the paranormal so I don't know how they're commonly portrayed, anyway.

What do you mean, "Oxford espers to switch from the word exorcist"? I'm having trouble parsing that, sorry.

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I mean, would it be realistic to switch from the word exocist to esper, espiecally if there was a switch of leadership?

Well, "esper" and "exorcist" aren't actually the same thing. Strictly speaking, an esper is one who is capable of ESP and an exorcist is one who banishes demons.

I don't see why one person wouldn't use both words, providing they were both applicable.

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The use of the term "Familiar" is a bit iffy, Chi. Considering...

The rest of it sounds good though.

edited 12th Jun '11 12:21:01 PM by BetsyandtheFiveAvengers

About Linguistics: Bryan's from Memphis, right? Is he black (most likely) or white? Lower class or middle class? Because what accent he uses is going to depend on that.

Memphis, from what I remember, sounds much more Southern than the Midwest, but not super-deep south. More of a moderate Southern type of speech; listen to Morgan Freeman, Aretha Franklin, Ginnifer Goodwin, Al Green, BB King, John Lee Hooker, Jerry Lee Lewis, Woody Paige, Otis Redding, the guys from the Kings of Leon, George Hamilton, and maybe some Elvis Presley for a good cross section of Memphis dialects.

edited 12th Jun '11 12:32:13 PM by MatthewTheRaven

Bryan's white and middle class, leaning towards upper middle.

Familiar was the best term I could use...Oh, Ashwood Landing. I'll have to fix that.

The whole exorcist and esper thing is because of the fact that language would've involved, and ESP is a relevantly new term compared with exorcist. Spirit is also an older term than Manifestation too. Maybe I should call Rule of Cool.

edited 12th Jun '11 3:22:58 PM by chihuahua0

"ESP" dates back at least as far as the 1930s, and "esper" was coined in the 1950s, so they're both pretty old terms. Is there any particular reason why Finn wouldn't use a new word?

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It's more because of the organization. I figure since it is based in Oxford, which is known for its universities, they would be more likely to keep older words due to tradition.

I forgot to mention this earlier, but the esper organization date back to medieval times, when the concept of psychic powers wasn't conceivable and people were more worried about magic and demons. Maybe I could just say the policies of the organization marched on with society and science and the term esper was slapped on by a newer generation.

To be fair, everyone knows what an exorcist is. ESP is fairly obscure, and esper is a very rarely heard word that would only come up in paranormalist/sci-fi fandoms, so it depends on how deeply immersed in paranormal investigator culture he is.

Hmm...maybe espers created the term and had an influence on the sci-fi/paranormal genre? I'll consider that.

I don't know. Since so much of this seems to involve fighting or driving out spirits, poltergeists, and demons, maybe the Oxfordians just kept with exorcist because it's a more descriptive word for what they do?

I mean, esper just means you have extrasensory perception. What tool you use rather than what you do. It's like calling firefighters truck-and-laddermen

edited 12th Jun '11 3:57:54 PM by MatthewTheRaven

The word "esper" was coined by the science fiction author Alfred Bester in the '50s, but never caught on outside Japan. In the Western world, it is consequently known primarily amongst the anime fandom.

However, "ESP" is an older term, and was in use by real-life paranormal investigators and enthusiasts long before Bester was writing.

edited 12th Jun '11 5:01:50 PM by BobbyG

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Oh, I forgot the fact that I orignally intended Finn to be covered in bandages and prosess a cast due to his job as an esper/exorcist, and the fact that he's a little clumsy. I also intended to use them symbolically to show Character Development. Should I put this trait back into my rough draft, or should I not use it?

I'm a little reluctant to the word exocrist because of the religous subtext that I don't want attached to my story, but I can live with that.

It's used in Japan? Really? I just use it because of Bester.

I have to agree, especially if this organization dates back to medieval times, that "exorcist" is a much more likely term to be used. I don't think the religious associations are too strong.

You didn't get Christian undertones from Cyrus, right?

When I think of exorcists, I think of badass warrior-types that you might find in video games more than anything even vaguely related to Christianity.

And "esper" is possibly best known from The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya, thanks to the titular character's introduction that asked if anyone in the room was an alien, time traveler, esper, or slider.

edited 12th Jun '11 6:46:38 PM by CrystalGlacia

"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."

I'll admit, I learned "esper" from Haruhi Suzumiya. It's apparently also present in a number of other Japanese works, including the Japanese version of Pokémon (and referenced in the Pokémon name "Espeon").

If you don't wanna say "exorcist", don't say "exorcist". Really, the normal word I hear used over here (I live in the UK, specifically in Gloucestershire, which isn't all that far from Oxfordshire, really) that's closest to "esper" is "psychic", which doesn't have religious connotations.

While "exorcist" has religious connotations, the religious connotations of "demon" are far stronger, I think.

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Yeah, I was about to say, if an American or Briton/Irish person sees someone with mind based superpowers, they would label them a psychic, not even considering 'esper.'

The term Mentalist also exists, but it's an insult in the UK for a crazy person, a fact which could be pretty fun to take advantage of/a reason to avoid it.

edited 12th Jun '11 7:39:16 PM by MatthewTheRaven