So I have all these idea's all this meaning a philosophy, character's, religious insight, all this thought but one thing gets me. Where do I place these? I thought about the past, the future, the preset and even alternate realities where the timeline that we know has no meaning at all. So what to do, the future has been used many times, and what happens in the future? Robots? MEchs? Earth abandoned? WWIII? What, war is boring and overdone even thought I intend to use it as a catalyst for many thing's. The earth has been abandoned so much that it's cliche even thought I do love the idea. I was thinking about a space colony setting, but where do you fit that in with sword's and magic? The present bores me, just like the world around me, so thats 99% out of the question And there's the past, which lacks that feel im looking for, that excuse for philosophy, that human error and evolution that I want to use. And then there's an alternative universe, where I control all, but how do you create such a thing without over cliche-ing it or bringing it into the reader's eye's without a collective "What is this guy on about???". So anyone wanna help me here? How do I place my story in a timeline, I have so much bursting in my mind screaming to come out, but I need to place it first.(In case you're wondering, the story revolves around the concept of one's soul, immortality, and living despite hopelessness, I loved the Idea that my character relates more to a gynoid and feeds emotions for it so future is very appealing to me, but I could really use some help. Ill try to get some of the story basic's up later when I have some time, but for now which time do you prefer and why?
Hi Drydon, Just thought I'd point out that you incorrectly use an apostrophe when you pluralise. They're used for the possessive case. A lot of people have problems with apostrophes, but with a little practice it's not to hard to overcome. Sorry to nit-pick your post. Good luck with your writing. Cheers, Rob
It seems like the story you are wanting to tell, is one that has been explored before, but like all writing that is a given. Why not try a world where you have created the majority of it's components, with subtle relations to the standard present. Or you could even do a story like, Fahrenheit 451, 1984, or any number of other completely exclusive worlds that all changed do to something. From reading your post this, to e, seems like the best way to go, that way you get your story out, and it's point across. Oh, and keep in mind this is your world, so it doesn't need to be chaotic to happen, it could be a cultural, peaceful, governmental revolution, none of this is set in stone. If you have philosophical ideas, why not make it a religious, or philosophical revolution? Maybe the end result where your people have lived in this Utopianesque society, or you could make a more catalyst view point from the beginning of the revolution. A real cast the first stone type tale.
Stories work when they are based on people and not the period, duration, location and level of conflict. Those are the four cornerstones of setting and they come afterwards during the creation phase. What you're doing is trying to run before walk. Concentrate on developing a basic idea first, then build upon it. When you idea is developing through the stages of character, plot, genre, setting, etc, etc, etc those elements will work their way in naturally. I promise. Try and work out a few rough blurbs by brainstorming ideas. It's never healthy to fix something to a mould and usually can lead you to writer's block...or worse.
One way to address your concern, Drydon, is to consier that the genre (horror, fantasy, SF, action-adventure, historical, etc) is simply the backdrop for the story itself. The characters, the action, the theme, is what moves the real story--where it takes place. Terry
Hmm, I don't know if the story I want to write has been explored as much as all setting's that I like have been used, I don't think anyone has character's like mine(since their based a lot of my view over thing's and my take on life). For most part, I'm writing this because the urge to write has consumed by focus for everything else, including my guitar playing and academic performance, so I need to write. However I don't want a reader to pick up my work and disregard it because it has a cliche element such as the setting. I'm very touchy on the story, because it plays a major part in the romantic aspect of the story(no, the main character doesn't fall in love). Also, the story is being based on a lot of question's that haven't been asked and no one can answer for me, because they simply have no answer. To give an example, if I write a futuristic setting, I want to put in this enigma about one's soul. If a human transfer's all his thought's, his memory's his emotions etc, into a mechanical brain, is it the same person? Does the person die and a new entity with the delusion that it is that person appear? Is it a clone, or the real thing? Therefor I don't think the topic's I want to write about have been explored, although I admit that there are some that will be familiar, because I enjoy them, and they fit in with the story. I'm trying to run before I walk because how I run is going to affect how I walk, so to speak. Like in the example above, I don't know/want to fit it in my writings in another way, so without the futuristic setting, I lose one idea. And the story is highly fictional since reality bores me. The people the story is built on are already developed with alternate personalities based on the timeline, that's why it's frustrating me, having to pick the time. My original idea for the story was that it revolves around on man understanding that humanity needs a jump start. So what does he do? End earth. That way we are forced to branch out and seek new horizon's instead of lounge in luxury and wait for our resources to run out and our air to run thin. I'm leaning away from that Idea because well, it strikes me as a bit too "yeah right" kind of idea. However I'd like to see what everyone thinks about it. My grammar and spelling are usually really bad when I type(for a big part, because I spell European, no excuse for my grammar except my lack of thought ). Amazingly my actually handwriting despite being sloppy, has much better grammar, probably because I'm too lazy to put apostrophes so my mind realizes when I don't need to. Thanks for you feedback so far, I'm leaning to a futuristic world with some twinking right now, seems the easiest to control and create the setting I want.
If you have a question you want to express or try to answer you should write your story with that question as the central meaning. If you do the transfering the human mind into a machine I sugest to make it so he tries to become more powerful and immortal. Maybe even some alien tech that allows for it but that could turn into halo's plot line then. But then make a massive drawback like being insane or being trapped inside the machine for eternity.
sorry to have to play 'mother' here and be painfully realistic, but knowing where/when to 'place' a story is one of the basics in a writer's arsenal of talents... if you really need help to figure out such things, you may have to consider that you may not be cut out to be a writer...
I had a similar problem a few years back. I solved my problem by realizing that I didn't have just one world, I had many. Different pieces had to be divided up into all the worlds. Even now, I'm not exactly sure where all the ideas go, but I have a basic idea of the three main worlds so that I can usually figure where something fits in when I come up with something new.
