Two 'Verses, only enough time for one. Please vote!

So, I have two verses, but only enough time for one book. Which one should I choose? I'm busy with school right now and planning to work on it over the winter break and finish it over the summer, but there's definitely only time to work on one or the other (It's going to be my first attempt at a novel).

And before you say it, I do intend to write both. Eventually. When I have the time. But if I do manage to sell my book, I intend to finish a series in the first verse before moving on to the second, so considering the fact that it might take me a few years, maybe even a decade, picking which one to do first is a big commitment on my part. So vote wisely! And feel free to give your feedback if you think both concepts need work, or if you have some general suggestions. Without further ado, here they are:

1. An Alien Invasion of Little Green Men threatens the peace and prosperity of a kingdom of magical knights.

or

2. A nerd who is into Real-Time Strategy games finds himself Trapped in Another World, but instead of trying to get back home, he decides to Take Overthe World.

I suppose I should elaborate a bit on the two 'verses.

In the Magic Knight verse, its a bit of a sci-fi setting along with the magic. I was sort of inspired by Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha and the Time-Space Administration Bureau - they would use "magic", but in the form of Green Rocks, as a power source for their Humongous Mecha and Cool Starship. The story follows one of the knights, a For Great Justice type, as he rises through the ranks, falls for the princess, and ultimately goes on to defend the galaxy. I wanted it to be more of a tribute to old-timey science fiction, like Flash Gordon and John Carter Of Mars - the plot might be a bit shallow at times (save the princess!), but it would be entertaining, I promise! All of the most beloved of science fiction cliches would be out in force - Death Ray, Tim Taylor Technology, Tin-Can Robot, World of Ham, Brain in a Jar, Captain Space, Defender of Earth!, Recycled In Space, etc. Basically my love letter to the genre that I grew up on.

And as for the Trapped in Another World idea, the setting would be based in part on Chinese mythology. Think of it as The Twelve Kingdoms + Code Geass.

I hope that clears some things up!

So, get to the ballot box.

edited 6th Dec '11 2:01:26 PM by MyGodItsFullofStars

#2.

1

2, if you want more meta. Besides, you'll have an automatic Villain Protagonist, if you decide to go that direction.

edited 5th Dec '11 9:47:35 PM by chihuahua0

2 sounds funner. Good opportunity to subvert several of the usual tropes of that kind of genre.

Both, just not at the same time. (Or do you plan to spend the next 50 years writing just one?)

Does the setting really matter? Why don't you just try to come up with an engaging story and a message you want to give to the reader and then build a world around it? The latter setting would be fit for an introspective view on justification of war and how people in power are capable of distancing themselves from the crimes they commit to keep themselves in power. But just because a setting has a possibility of conveying a meaningful message or having an engaging story, does not mean that it will just by virtue of having that setting.

I feel you are going about writing the wrong way and instead should begin with the themes and then construct the plot and characters around that and finally have the setting created to enhance and facilitate the themes and plot. Just my two cents on the matter.

2. I know people like that, and taking over the world is pretty much exactly what they'd do in that situation.

He hasn't provided enough information for you to infer anything about his writing process. How do you know he just came up with the setting first? That's a pretty big assumption.

My vote goes for #2, sounds more interesting to me personally.

I'm currently imagining a nerd into Real-Time Strategy games finding himself Trapped in Another World - a peaceful and prosperous kingdom with magical knights - who decides to Take Over the World, unaware of the Alien Invasion of Little Green Men just about underway.

... more seriously, I'd start with #2, mainly because there's already a protagonist with which some people could relate or recognise, as well as the protagonist's goal. It easily lends itself to humour, especially of the meta kind, though it's also capable of being serious if you take the story that way. #1 doesn't really present a hook as written.

Another vote for #2. It's interersting and has good potential for humour, while I was not intrigued at all by the first.

EDIT: Elaboration didn't change anything for me.

edited 6th Dec '11 2:11:25 PM by Dealan

>>Moved detailed setting descriptions to OP<<

edited 6th Dec '11 2:03:00 PM by MyGodItsFullofStars

Both ideas sound cool and fun, but #2 jumped out and grabbed me with its originality. It's also, as mentioned by others, got a quirkily unorthodox sort of relatability... what you plan to have the nerd do is probably what I would do, and a lot of other nerds would probably at least be tempted to do the same. Power is a big temptation for people who constantly get dunked in toilets, have their lunch money stolen, are recipients of wedgies, etc.

Seeing as how the majority of folks seemed to like #2, think I'll go with that. It sounds a bit more fun for me as well.

A friend pointed out to me that my first 'verse is basically Erfworld. Should I reconsider writing the story if It's Been Done?

It's kinda similar, but doesn't have to be It's Been Done—nothing new under the sun, and so forth. It seems more likely that you'd be able to get a decent plot out of the latter than the former, since more plotting detail is included in the setting description—I often have trouble with knowing my setting and some characters, but having no idea where the work is going on a larger level.

No.

However, comments you made about 2 in a World Building thread suggest that you're approaching this from a different viewpoint then most of the other posters here - in my view and that of most of the others who have voted in favor of 2, the RTS geek sounds like a Villain Protagonist. You express concerns that he'd be seen as an Author Avatar, which implies you have a very different outlook on the concept then we do.

edited 10th Dec '11 7:42:12 PM by nrjxll

A Villain Protagonist can easily be an Author Avatar. If I was writing a really self-indulgent avatar story, heaven knows I'd be a villain.

Yes, but the implication I got from that was that while many of us saw this guy as a villain, Its Full Of Stars apparently saw him as someone to root for.

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on that - it just seems like worrying that a character is a self-insert wish fulfillment figure is not something that normally happens with villains.

Sure it does. Villain Sue.

Villain Sue is one of the worst of the Mary Sue "tropes" out there, though - in practice, it's largely used for complaining about villains you don't like. And most of the "real" examples I've seen tend to be poorly written attempts at a Magnificent Bastard or something similar, rather then a self-insert. In other words, while it does happen, the normal source of a Villain Sue is someone trying too hard to make a challenging bad guy then it is a Villain Protagonist.

Well, it depends on how you define "villainy" .

Some see Napoleon Bonaparte as evil, others admire him. The rts guy would think nothing of, say, flooding an entire town to cut off an advancing army, but he'd be somewhat justified because all of his enemies are even worse bastards than he is. I'd also be sure to include a few My God, What Have I Done? moments, just because I like having some melodrama. I'm already picturing a scene where he is surveying the town after the waters recede, finds a dead little street urchin girl that he had befriended the day before (his army had recently liberated the city, and while inspecting its defenses he gave her some candy) in the wreckage, and hugs her cold corpse to his chest while sobbing until one of his men convinces him to bury her.

Ah hell, that sounds kind of perfect to me. Think I'll just let these misgivings go and write, write, write.

Go ahead and write, write, write! Picture the downfall of this Genre Savvy nerd, as he succumbs to power.