Nareed
Nareed
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April 16th, 2011 at 8:30:34 AM permalink
...or how I get my crazy ideas.

I was talking to a friend about the twists and turns of a story idea. I told him if I were to describe how one particular story came bout, we'd get either an insight into the creative process or one into the disturbing nature of a disorganized mind. On a related note, every writer, would-be writer or person who's ever thought up a story eventually gets asked "How do you get your crazy ideas." I thought I'd kill two birds with one (big) stone:

Long post to follow.

You've been warned.

A few years ago I wanted to write a story set in a "happy" universe. many writers, especially in science fiction, develop, ether in detail or for just one story, a world they like to live in. That's my "happy" universe. I thought I'd write about a husband and wife who own a business. But what kind and how to get a story out of it?

Well, while I was thinking about it, I saw a special on the Discovery Channel about a transatlantic tunnel. This would be a floating tunnel stretching from NYC to London, under the ocean, inside which you'd create a vacuum and run a hypersonic maglev train. Great, far-out idea, yes? So I had a setting: my characters would own an underwater construction company, and one of their jobs would involve a transpacific tunnel (always play a far-out idea a bit more).

Near the same time I found a song I like very much by The Bangles called "Lost at Sea." A phrase in it caught me: "Could it be that we're lost at sea and we're drowning under the stars?" The phrase set me thinking of a man drowning while diving off-world (under the stars, see?) And then I thought, "how great would it be if he drowned himself on purpose, in order to avoid a worse injury?" There are documented cases of people drowning in cold water who are later warmed up and revived without any major long term damage. So in a future with even better medical techniques, this would even make sense.

The song also gave me a title. it begins "Can we try to salvage what we can from this weight of water and sand?" I'd call my story "Water and Sand," because 1) I liked it and 2) it evokes some of the scenery of underwater construction.

But what's the story? Well, building up on the title I imagined a world that's mostly ocean, except for a small, barren island. there's nothing very useful in that world, so it hasn't been colonized, but plenty of scientists study it because it's s atypical. For such research they often hire underwater construction firms because they have the vehicles, machinery and divers to set up research gear all over the ocean.

One such research mission will find something very valuable: the remains of the first known alien civilization deep under the ocean. I figured that was good enough, and I could then pull out a sequel someday.

So quick first look at the story: the husband and wife team (remember them? <g>) are performing maintenance to the transpacific tunnel when they get a call from a much larger competitor for a hush-hush job off planet. Gradually the secret would be revealed and by the end the husband will drown himself when an air lock in a deep ocean platform malfunctions (he figures he's better off letting water in and drowning rather than letting the airlock fail and the water rush in violently; water pressures at depth are very serious). On the way there would be flashbacks about how the husband met his wife, how their relationship progressed and how they built their business.

I had a gimmick, too. The wife and husband would take turns narrating the story in first person. This way the husband gets to say "And then I deliberately drowned, under the stars." which strikes me as a good line.

Overall the idea wasn't bad. But it wasn't good, either. It lacked any conflict. It would be, perhaps, an ok half love story and half adventure story, but nothing memorable. I thought of setting up a conflict on whether they should take the off world job, but that didn't thrill me, either. So the story languished.

A few months back I got the idea and wrote an outline for a novel I'm working on. One thing I wrote at the end of the outline is "NO SEQUELS!!!" (yes, just like that). There's a simple reason for that: one of the central characters simply gets unbelievable, even for fiction, if looked at too deeply. But I really like two of the other central characters, Michelle and Alyssa, and wanted to write more about them.

It occurred to me the best way to do that would be too simply develop similar characters in another setting. The "happy" universe seemed a good place for them, too. Now, Michelle is a transgender artist and Alyssa is a young, up and coming detective in my novel, "Keeping Secrets." They're also contemporary. Reworking them into a science fiction story would take some doing. Besides crime isn't much of an issue in the happy universe, so what would and up and coming detective do? This reminded me of a bit of Rita Rudner's act, but I digress.

So I focused first on Michelle. I thought she'd be a good fit as the wife in "Water and Sand," especially if I started with how she met her husband. Of course she'd change from an artist to a robotics engineer, but that was a minor matter. I then started to develop the husband, now called Nathan. For Michelle I also needed a new name, so I picked one of my favorites, Althea (which was actually going to be her name in "Keeping Secrets," but I had to change it)

First problem with Althea was whether I could keep her as a transsexual woman. Right now in order to have a TS character, her condition must be relevant to the story. This may change, but that's my criteria for now. Fortunately there was a third story.

Well, enough for now. I'll continue with part two of this exciting (or tedious) story behind the story later.
Donald Trump is a fucking criminal
MrV
MrV
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April 16th, 2011 at 10:11:11 AM permalink
Speaking of crazy ideas, there is a song getting lots of airplay now that seems cute, catchy, bubbly and innocent, but really isn't.

Check the link: listen to the song, then read the lyrics.

http://lybio.net/foster-the-people-pumped-up-kicks/indie/

wicked world
"What, me worry?"
Nareed
Nareed
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May 24th, 2011 at 5:03:10 PM permalink
I misspoke. I shoudla hve said "Fortunately there is a third story." But I wont' get into it, except to say I cut out a scene while doing th eoutline for it, which I could easily transfer to "Water and Sand."

The secene involves a transsexual woman, Althea, meeting a man, Nathan, at a bar in a weekday, likely a Monday. They meet and Nathan promptly finds out althea's a tranny. He does what you'd epect most men to do: he runs out as fast as he can, adding a mild insult to boot. By Friday morning (and in this universe the work week is four days long, so Friday's the new Saturday) Nathan's knocking on Althea's door to apologize and ask her out.

I'll wait while all objections are said.... ok, moving on.

From there a relationship develops rather quickly, and the two get married within six months. In bewteen we learn of their jobs. anthan's a specialist diver in underwater construction, very much wought after. He's quit a steady job and set himself up as a consultant, garnering higher fees for his work. Althea handles specialty cosntruction robots, but has ideas for designing better ones. When we meet her she's between jobs, and Nathan will wind up hiring her for some jobs.

Their relationship will build quickly. There will be some complications from Althea's family, except her borther.

By now you can see I've forgotten the other character I wanted to out in, Alyssa. She's Althea's roomate and her name is Sela. They're very close, having met in college and lived together more or less constantly since. She's a cop, but I ahven't figured out what a cop does in this happy palce. In fact she's kind of a background character thus far. I really should ahve some criminal activity affecting Nathan's or Althea's business, but that woudl be a very different story.

So Sela fades into the background, providing emotional support for Althea when her brother isn't available. Nathan has some scenes on his own, mostly with colleagues and an old boss he feels affection for.

The story follows their relationship, marriage, and ultimately conflict erupts when Althea gets an important on-Earth offer and Nathan gets a major off-Earth job. This leads to a ansty fight, which gets resolved by the fact that Althea notices she gets really ansty when she's angry, yet Natahn, while also angry, is very careful not to hurl a particular insult at her. then we have a lower intensity conflict, then resolution.

So the story behind the story is like that. I still don't have a story for the two characters I wanted... But I revived a languishing story.

And I'm still looking for a good Michelle and Alyssa story....
Donald Trump is a fucking criminal
Nareed
Nareed
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May 24th, 2011 at 5:39:20 PM permalink
I've no idea what insight you got, I got the germ of a twist on another story. All I need to do is remove some SF elements, change a character quite a bit, tweak a scond character, and I've got my Michelle and Alyssa story (provisionally Alice and Sandy). It will be a turnabout on "Keeping Secrets," up to a point, with some of the same theme.

I have the opening:

Sandy looked into the eyes of the murderer and said "I will see you die. Soon."

I'm thinking of setting it in Las Vegas, too. We'll see. I wonder if I could work in a gambling angle (of coruse I can!)

Nevada has the death penalty, right?
Donald Trump is a fucking criminal
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