Help me write- SOMETHING!

I love to write stories. Have been doing it all my life, even though only a few have ever been published (online.)

But lately, I seem to have a problem. It's not the writing itself; it's deciding WHAT to write about. And even when I pick something, I can't seem to stay focused for very long. It might be for a variety of reasons, from the lack of stuff I used to enjoy (bookstores closing, comics suck, etc.) to possible ADD symptoms.

Whatever the cause, I KNOW I can still write, because I can still participate in RPGs right here in the TV Trope forums OK. So I thought, "Hey! Why don't I try something like that, but on the Writer's Forum?"

So here's what I want to do: I invite ANYONE to post something they'd like me to write about in this thread. It can be anything (though I decide what to use.) Then I combine all those choices and post them in the form of (part of a) story. Then I take the next few suggestions and add them to the story, and so on and so on for as long as it will go. Think of it as a combination suggestion thread/ forum game. Hopefully this will be fun and useful to all of us.

Ready? Go! :)

edited 12th Feb '13 9:51:52 PM by Sijo

I know your problem. Believe it or not I've actually been working on the story I was making for Let's create a superhero setting, though it's kinda diverged from "superhero" and gone more into "putting practically everything I think is cool together into one setting"

A pirate girl that travels via shooting herself out of a cannon.

That's kind of exactly what I'm trying to do here.

Hey, neat idea! But I'm going to wait for a few more suggestions before I start.

Also, I forgot to mention, but one thing I really need help with is NAMES, I suck at coming up with those.

edited 13th Feb '13 5:35:00 AM by Sijo

The story of a noble knight dragon saving a helpless princess knight from a ferocious dragon princess.

edited 23rd Feb '13 6:13:55 PM by Matues

About time, some of those princesses can get downright nasty... you'd need a pretty big dragon to take 'em on, though.

Hmm. OK, let's see what I can do with what we have so far...

THE STORY, PART I

-A sea, sometime, somewhere-

"Ship ahoooy!" a pirate shouted from his ship's crow's nest.

From inside the ship ran out the captain, decked in the full classic pirate regalia: the high boots, the floppy shirt and pants, the tricorn hat, and the sable at the waist. The only unusual thing was that this pirate was a young female!

She took one look at the other ship nearby, smiled gleefully and shouted: "Avast, ye scurvy dogs! This be time for pillaging! Prepare the canon!!"

"Aye-aye, captain!" her crew responded, and hurried to obey. They brought out an unusually large cannon, but, rather than point it at the other ship right away, they placed it near a staircase, which the captain ran up on and then quickly got inside the cannon's barrel!

It was *then* that the pirates aimed the cannon at the other sailship. Then, they lit the fuse and, seconds later, with a thundering BOOOM!! the young woman was fired like a living projectile, screaming yaaahooo! at the top of her lungs!

She struck the other ship's sail, and, in classic swashbuckler style, used it to lower herself to the deck. Without even bothering to land first, she started screaming:

"Avast, ye salty dogs! Yer having the privilege of being robbed by the Queen of the Seven Seas! Prepare to be boarded by-"

(lands on her feet )

-"CAPTAIN BULLET!!" she finished, beaming with pride!

...Only to fall in silent shock at the sight of the HUGE DRAGON that was laying on the deck, lazily eying her!

.*Gasp!* she gasped, "Tis' a literal sea dragon!!"

"Don't be afraid, I won't kill you" the colossal reptile said.

"By my beard!!" the clean-faced girl said, even more astonished. "It talks!"

"Yes, 'it' talks" the dragon said, annoyed. " 'It' also has a name. I'm Benedict."

"What in the name of Neptune be ye doing aboard a ship?"

"I'm on my way to a far away land, to rescue my friend, the Knight Sir Alphonse, from a fate worse than death: marriage to the wicked Princess Stephanie."

edited 13th Feb '13 11:38:21 AM by Sijo

A circus that's in space.

edited 13th Feb '13 3:41:04 PM by BiggerBen

• An awkward failed high-five or similar hand-based gesture.
• The invention of a working flying machine.
• Polyandrous polygamy.

PART TWO

"That sounds like a... interesting story" Captain Bullet said to Benedict. "But I really... must go now" and she turned around, intending on diving off the ship.

"Wait!" the dragon said. "You look like a clever, daring person... just the kind I might need on this quest. It's kind of tricky getting around human lands when you're, well, a dragon."

"What!? Ye want ME to help you? Why would I do that?"

"...For treasure?" The dragon answered, with a wink.

Bullet stopped to consider. It was true that dragons often had quite some treasure hoards. It might be worth hanging around this one to obtain it...

"Let's say, fer a minute, that I agree to help ye. What'd it entail?"

"Well, for starters, the wedding is taking place in the Skyward Brothers' Flying Circus, a carnival that actually travels *above the clouds*. Even after we arrive at Stephanie's kingdom, getting all the way up there is going to be tricky."

"Why don't ye just fly- oh, I see" Bullet said, only now noticing that Benedict had no wings.

"Hmm... this gonna be a challenge, indeed... but I think I may know somebody who can help, and as the fates have it, he lives in these waters."

"Really? Who?"

"Professor Cornudo, a talented- if quirky- inventor" the pirate girl explained. "He be the one who made me special cannon, in fact."

"Well then, let's sail there right away!"

"Not so fast! First, lemme see that booty ye spoke about."

Benedict snorted, but then nodded to one of the sailors on the ship, who hurried below deck, then came back out and brought Bullet a diamond the size of golf ball.

"Oooh" she said, enticed by the gem. "Ye got yerself a deal, lad- I mean Drake! Just follow my ship, OK?" And with that, she dove over the side of the ship.

- ********

A while later, the ships arrive at what looked like a small, deserted island, and Benedict and Bullet met on the beach.

"Follow me!" the energetic pirate girl says. The dragon does so.

After a while, they arrive at a hut. "Halt! Who goes there?" a masculine voice suddenly said.

"Tis' I , Captain Bullet."

A young man came into view "Oh, nice to see y- EGADS!" he gasped, upon seeing the dragon.

"Easy there, matey, the beastie's harmless."

"Indeed, the 'beastie' is" Benedict snorted. "Pleasure to meet you, Professor. I-"

"Nay, nay, he be not Cornudo, he be Cornudo's boyfriend, Pedro."

"His... boyfriend?"

"Aye, they have unusual customs' round these parts, you notice" she said with a wink.

"Why are you people here?" Pedro asked.

.*a short explanation later*

"I see. Okay, let me call the Professor" Pedro said, and went into the hut and said, "Dear, some people are here to see you."

A wrinkly old man came out.

"Oh, hi, Bullet, how's the cannon doing? And what's with the overgrown lizard?"

.*Again the short, boring explanation*

"Aha! You're right on time! I have just the thing to help in your quest! Follow me!!"

He passed by another young man "Watch the hut while I'm gone" the Professor said to him. Then he ran into a nearby jungle.

"That's Luis, Pedro's boyfriend" Bullet explained to Benedict.

"His...? But didn't you just say-?"

She just gave him a naughty smile and shrugged.

Benedict, Bullet and Pedro then followed the Professor into the jungle.

Eventually they came upon a clearing... where a bizarre machine, made up of all sort of spare parts, laid.

"Behold, the world's first flying machine: the ornithopter!!"

Benedict and Bullet looked at it a little dubiously.

"What, you don't believe me? Why don't you take it for a spin?"

"Can it support my weight?" Benedict asked.

"Only one way to find out!" Cornudo said, a little too eagerly.

"Alright, alright" the dragon said. "But how do I even get on it?"

"You don't, you're cargo. You go below, tied up" the old man explained. "I sit on top. Bullet, you ride by my side."

After everyone positioned themselves, Cornudo turned on the contraption, and it began to shake and sputter, as if it were going to explode. But instead, it extruded a pair of massive bat-like wings, started flapping them, and took off like a bird!

"YEEEHAH! It works!!" the pirate girl screamed in joy.

On the ground, Luis was now standing by Pedro. They high-fived each other in victory.

"Alright, Professor. Lend us the ornithopter and you'll get a share of the reward."

"Nice! I can use to for more inventions!"

Bullet had the P.rofessor land the machine on the deck of her ship.

"So, what do you think of me plan, O Benedicted one?"

"...So far, so good."

"High-Five!!" she screamed, and held up her hand.

The dragon looked hesitantly at her. Was she serious?

"Tis' to seal the deal, ya ignorant wyrm!"

The dragon raised its front right paw, and slapped Bullet's hand with it-

-which caused her to be sent flying backwards, landing in a barrel full of pickles!

"Oops! Sorry!"the dragon gasped.

Bullet's reaction was- a hearty laugh!

edited 14th Feb '13 7:21:14 PM by Sijo

• A man-eating plant with wings.
• A large collection of bombs exploding

edited 14th Feb '13 2:37:05 PM by BiggerBen

Oooooh. How about what the inside of your mind looks like and what happens when your characters are fetched for their debut in your stories?

Comments post:

So far so good, more story soon but for now: visual aids!!

Captain Bullet: [1]

Benedict: [2]

Professor Cornudo [3]◊

The Ornithopter: [4]◊

Keep the suggestions coming! :)

edited 15th Feb '13 9:38:00 PM by Sijo

PART THREE

Somewhere, a man in his 40s man sat in front of a computer. His brow was furrowed; he was trying to type something, but the ideas would not come.

Frustrated, he fell asleep on the desk.

As he began to dream, he remained oddly aware that he was, in fact, dreaming. All around him, he could only see darkness. I wish I could see better, he thought.

Suddenly, lit torches appeared around him, illuminating the place. Hey, neat! Can I control the dream? What do they call that- lucid dreaming?

He saw that he was inside a cave. He wondered why, and he seemed to recall an allegory invented by Plato, or Socrates or some other ancient philosopher, something about how if a man were raised inside a cave where he could see only shadows, he would mistake the shadows for the real things. Or something like that, philosophy wasn't his strong suit.

He looked at the shadows in the wall. They began taking specific forms.

One was a pirate girl, who shot herself out of a canon. Another was a dragon, rescuing a knight from a princess. Another was a kooky scientist inventing a strange flying machine. There were several more.

Suddenly, he awoke, and he was back at his desk. He smiled, as he had realized that his creativity was still intact; he just needed a little prodding to write again. He started typing...

In another reality, Captain Bullet awoke in her bed, having had *the exact same dream*. It was meaningless to her, however, and all it did was make her wonder what it could mean, before shrugging; dreams are not supposed to mean anything after all.

The next day:

"Laaand ahoy!" shouted the pirate on the crow's nest.

Bullet came up out of her ship, to find Benedict and Cornudo already waiting for her.

"We must be careful" the dragon said. "We are in Stephanie's lands now. If we are spotted, her armies will take us down."

"So, what is the plan?" Cornudo asked.

"Easy enough" Bullet said, in her usual optimism. "We'll fly up there to the Flying Circus in the machine, present ourselves as a roving act looking fer a place to show our talents. Surely, they'll take us in! Then when they be performing during the royal wedding, we'll rescue Sir Alphonse!"

"...That actually sounds like it would work" the dragon admitted.

"Of course it will!" Bullet retorted. "Now, get yer butts into the Ornithopter, so we can go put me plan into action already!"

Moments later, all three of them were airborne.

As they climbed up into the air, they passed right through the clouds. Coming out of a particularly thick one, they spotted something ahead- something that looked like- a flying plant?

"What in tarnation be that??" Bullet exclaimed.

"Oh my! Cornudo said, "I suspect it may a rare flying specimen of Anthropophagus Mandragora!"

"Say what?"

"...A man-eating plant."

Suddenly, the flying mass of leaves and vines sprouted long tendrils and opened a huge mouth, lunging towards out heroes!

"Egads! Evade it!!" Bullet screamed.

"I'm trying! This thing wasn't made for complex maneuvering, you know!" Cornudo responded.

The flying plant managed to grab onto the ornithopter, but Benedict severed the tendrils with his fiery breath. However, the mass was too big and too green to catch fire.

Suddenly, Cornudo took the flying machine into a dive. "What be ye doing??" Bullet angrily asked.

"Mandragoras are territorial" Cornudo explained. "It should stop following us if we get out of its airspace."

And indeed, once they had flown back down below the cloud level, the plant stopped and flew back to where it had been.

"Curses!" Benedict roared. "How are we supposed to get past that?"

"I'll be fish bait 'efore I let some overgrown potted plant stop me from obtaining me booty! Let's go back to me ship- I got just the right thing fer it!"

-a short while later-

Once again, the ornithopter flew above the clouds. And once again, the flying plant monster lunged at it.

This time, however, the machine flew right above it, apparently leaving itself exposed to attack!

The green thing reached at it with its tendrils, but before it could entangle it again, Bullet's voice could be heard screaming, "NOW!!"

-and several round, metallic objects started falling from the machine, released by Benedict. The Mandragora just swallowed them as if they were just another bird flock, but before its jaws closed, a last one- this one with a lit fuse- also got in.

"NOW PROFESSOR! DIVE!!" Bullet shouted.

The ornithopter dove below the clouds again- and just in time, as a series of explosions tore the vegetable monster apart! BOBOBOBOOOOM!!!

Below the clouds, the machine's crew smiled as they saw its smoking fragments rain down around them.

As soon as the 'rain' stopped, they began to climb again, back up above the clouds...

A dramatic countdown.

I think I'm the same way. My stories also pretty much have all the things I like.

Oooohhh, I like this story. What about:

• A wizard with Sillymancy, err... Sillyurgy, the "power" to use "silly" spells, as for example giving life to people's underwear. Because nobody would expect someone to seriously have that power, nor successfully use it.
• A sickness that slowly turn a person into a statue. Said statue, however is not a statue: it's actually a city of a miniature civilization, which, in turn, turns the person into a giant city "carved" into a "mountain" (that means, they have no idea what they are doing, even though they are sentient)
• A cattle of miniature sheep with golden wool. Said wool isn't really made of gold, because gold isn't a good protective material. It is at least as resistant as copper, but softer and lighter than wool. The wool is more or less magical, and you can see thunderbolts are attracted to the sheeps, with no negatives consequences to them whatsoever.

Am I doing it right?

Thank you and also everyone else who has made suggestions, this has been both helpful and a lot of fun to write!

And yeah, pretty much anything goes here. Now give me a day or so and I'll figure out how to integrate the latest suggestions into the story.

Meanwhile: More visuals!

The Flying Carnivorous Plant: [1]◊

edited 17th Feb '13 3:48:22 PM by Sijo

Iceland. Just work it in however you see fit. Setting, background, anthropomorphic personification, whatever.

edited 17th Feb '13 10:04:56 PM by Specialist290

PART FOUR

The Land Of Ice:

Sir Alphonse wondered why the land was called that way, when it was so green. Well, a bit chilly right now, but it might just be the season. He could see a wide swath of it from the balcony of Princess Stephanie's castle.

The princess herself entered a moment later. "Not thinking of trying to escape, are you?" she said wickedly.

"I know perfectly well that I would not survive fighting your troops" he responded bitterly.

"You are mine now, Alphonse. The sooner you accept it, the better."

"I'll never be yours" he said calmly. "Even if you force me to marry you, you'll own my body, but not my heart."

The princess became angry. "I DON'T CARE! You'll be MINE, and that's all that matters to me!!" She then pointed at a clock in the wall. "See that? Our wedding is only 12 hours away. 12 hours! Prepare yourself, you hapless knight. In 12 hours, you and I will be bound, forever!!" and then she stormed out of the room, leaving the handsome knight glancing sadly at the grandfather clock...

Meanwhile, way above the clouds, the crew of the ornithopter finally spotted a large circular platform, moored to the top of a mountain; above it, several tents could be seen.

"That be the Flying Circus, I'll bet!" Bullet said.

"How does it stay up in the air like that?" Benedict asked.

"Magic, most likely" Cornudo snorted. "How unscientific."

Cornudo piloted his flying machine to land right on an open area at the center of the circus. The staff scurried around in fear at the sight of the odd, noisy machine, especially when they noticed it had a dragon dangling under it. But after it landed, they came back, more curious than scared.

"Well, I'll be. What the heck is that thing??" one of two identical obese, bearded men said.

"And who are you people?" the other one asked.

"The world's first true flying machine" Cornudo explained. "And we are, uh..."

"Magnolia the Magnificent's Traveling Performing Crew!" Bullet said, all cheers. "I be Magnolia, in case ye can't tell!" (wink)"We heard 'bout this circus of yers and decided to give ye the privilege of adding our acts to yers! For a good pay, o'course!"

"Well, well, spunky, isn't she?" the first man said. "I'm Frank, and this is my brother, Oz. We're the Skyward Brothers, owners of the Flying Circus."

"We only accept the best acts" Oz interrupted. "So, besides this admittedly interesting contraption, what else you got?"

"What else? How 'bout the world's only talking dragon?"

"My name is Benedict. A pleasure to meet you" he said to the Skywards.

"Hmm, talking dragons aren't THAT unique, but, yeah, I'll accept it" Oz said. "How about you, do you do anything?"

"Do ye have anyone who shoots 'erself out of a cannon?"

"Umm, no."

"Well, now ye do!" and she laughed.

Frank laughed as well. "OK, I think you're hired. Come over to my office so we can discuss the details."

"My pleasure!" 'Magnolia' said, and followed them into a tent.

Her two companions stayed by the ornithopter.

Slowly, the other circus folk came closer to them. One was a young man dressed in a raggedy cloak. "Umm, Mister Dragon, sir, if I may speak to you..."

"You may" Benedict said, reassuringly.

"I'm Bob the Sillyurge, and I was asked to-"

"Pardon, but, the what?" the dragon interrupted.

Bob sighed. "Sillyurge. It's not a real magic term, it's something my bosses came up for my act, since I'm basically, well, a magical clown" he said with a sad tone. It sounded like he did not enjoy the appellation. "You see, I specialize in Chaos Magic. But, most people don't get what that is about. They think it's all about causing random things to happen. And, well, it is, except a powerful chaos magician can bend the chaos to his will, and make it do what he wants" he explained. "...I'm far from good at it right now, though, so, you never know what's going to happen when I cast a spell. Most of the time it's fairly simple, harmless things, because I'm still so weak. The result are often- silly."

"I see" the dragon said, thoughtfully. "That is actually very interesting. I'm sure that with enough training, you will be able to do much better conjurations."

"You think so?" Bob reacted, cheered up. Then he remembered, "Oh right, I had something to tell you. The shepherd of our golden sheep flock asked me to beg of you, not to eat them, please."

"Golden sheep?" the dragon said, lifting an eyebrow. Now that he thought of it, there was the smell of sheep in the air. He looked around, and spotted the flock, at the feet of an old shepherd. But they were tiny sheep, the size of lap dogs. Their wool however shone like gold in the sunlight.

"Ah, I see" Benedict exclaimed. "It is Okay, I will not devour them"(though he secretly admitted, they looked delicious.) "Is their wool actually made of gold?"

"Oh no. We would have sheared it off by now if it were!" Bob assured him. "It's more like copper, in fact. It does some amazing things, especially during thunderstorms."

Meanwhile, Cornudo had wandered out on his own, looking at all the exhibits in the carnival. One in particular interested him: a statue of a middle-aged woman. Very well carved, almost lifelike. He couldn't help but reach out to touch it, to feel its makings by hand.

But just as he was about to, it suddenly moved out of the way!

"Hhhheeey!" it said.

"It's alive!!" Cornudo gasped.

"Yyyess. III'm nnot a ssstatuuue. Mmmy nnname isss Roca."

It was then that Cornudo noticed that the 'statue' had been standing next to an exhibit labeled "Roca, the amazing Petrified Woman!"

"Oh my" he old scientist said, still amazed. "How did this happen to you? Were you born this way?"

"Nnnno. Iiiit sstarted aaa few yyyyears ago. Iiiit's a ssssicknnness off ssome kkkkkind. III hhave nno idddea werrre I ccccaught it."

"Ohh" Cornudo said, both sorry for the woman yet intrigued by the situation. "Could I take a closer look at you? I might be able to help, I'm a scientist."

At first, Roca seemed doubtful, but then nodded; really, she had nothing to lose.

From somewhere in his messy outfit, Cornudo produced a combination of lenses of his own invention, that could be rearranged to be used as a telescope or, in this case, a microscope. He used it to look at the skin in Roca's arms.

After several minutes, he suddenly gasped. "Newton's Apple!! This- THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE!!"

Roca just stared at him.

"There's- people! Tiny- no, microscopic people- living on your body!!!"

She stared at him like he was mad.

"Look by yourself!"the scientist insisted, and lent her the glasess.

With some difficulty -and very slowly- the living statue was able to do so. And what she saw amazed her.

There were indeed human-like beings, tinier than ants, scurring around the folds of her skin. They seemed to be picking at it, building roads and caves, as if her body was a mountain they were bent on inhabiting.

"Aaarre thhhey-"

"Responsible for your transformation?" Cornudo finished for her. "I'm not sure yet, but it seems likely."

"Gggget ttthem oooff me!!

"I'll work on it!" he said enthusiastically.

This is great! I like it Meanwhile, I have more suggestions! I have tons of them, so how many of them are too many? If I keep going I can end up suggesting 10 How many are too much for you?

• A cake with dynamite instead of candles
• A volcano metaphor/simle

give me all the suggestions you want, I like challenges! (though, I still reserve final choice on what I use and how, of course. I'll try to include everything I can, however.)

edited 19th Feb '13 7:18:51 PM by Sijo

Have the prince find a magic book in the study that should make him appear dead but actually binds his soul to his armor.

Maybe have a Kraken, sea nymphs, and people in a hot air balloon attack the dragon's ship.

Just to be clear: by prince, do you mean Alphonse? Because he's a knight, not a prince.