Okay. So Im Trying To Write A Story. And All the Plot Ideas I Come Up With Are Lame. Too Complicated Or Just Very Tedious. So I Need You Clevers People To Help Me ^.^ My Story Is Set In The Future On Earth In A Post-Apocaliptic WasteLand. The Permenent Features Of The Plot I Have Are: -Two Best Friends Who Are In There Late Teens. One Has A Really Tough Life And Falls In Love With The Other. -The One Who Has It Tough Is Cursed Or Is A Half Breed Or Something [[Havnt Quiet Developed That Yet]]:redface: -And I Somehow Want To Include An Older Guy [[in his late 20s/30s]] Who Seems Really Nice And Turns Out To Be The Enemy Or Something Like That. Im Not Quiet Sure What Genré It Is Because It Keeps Changing. But If You Have any Ideas What I Could Use To tie This All Together Or Anything Please Tell Me Cause I Am Complety Stuck =( So Id Appresiate All Your Help
Define your characters, decide on who will be the point of view (POV) character(s). Define internal and external conflicts, those will driveboth plot and character development. Lesser conflicts will become subplots. Write, revise, revise more. All this needs to come from you, if it is to be your story. People can help you later on, but you're asking people to provide you with the framework for your story.
Cog, is of course correct. Post Apocalypse is the back ground. Your characters are the foreground. That being said..... You are may get many who will tell you that the theme is cliché, but the post apocalyptic story is one of the 10 basic stories of science fiction. I pulled that number out of my kiester, so no one go buggy over it, ok? First, you must decide what kind of apocalypse took place. This will determine who survived and where. That’s key. The major centers of industry today are north of the equator. Is your apocalypse regional? Does industry survive? How long after said apocalypse is your story taking place. This will determine what you can allow from today’s life within the story. You mention that one person is cursed. A post apocalyptic life would be a curse in and of itself. How much more cursed is this character?
Stop Writing With Everything Captialized. It Doesn't Add Emphasis, It Just Looks Silly. Ahem. Sorry about that. Basically, if you have an idea, but don't even have a general plot, it's just a matter of time. Give it a couple weeks of decidedly not thinking about it. Go watch movies, read books, et cetera. Let it germinate on its own. Try, try, try to forget it. If it's good enough, it will come back when it's good and ready; if it isn't, it'll go away. And, believe me, every idea is probably good enough. Every plot idea I've EVER had has come back to me, YEARS later, in completely different forms that I would never ever have thought up at the time. Writing is purely a function of time, time and effort. Three things.
Itachi, As was said, you'll need to further develop your characters just a bit before beginning, and nail down the backdrop (the post apocolyptic environment that now exists). That would include not only the physical conditions/environment, but also what society has evolved. This will set the struggle that the one character has overcome in his life (thus far) and also may clue you in as to the ultimate conflict with the older individual posing as a friend. Also, as was indicated, the ideas posed for the conflict and setting are not anything new/unheard of/unique. Don't let that frustrate you. It's what you do with the story, how you draw the reader in and make it interesting that will count the most. But it sounds as if you've got a way to go before you start. I am not saying you have to have everything figured out. But you should have an idea. Some, such as the characters and your voice, will develop as you begin writing. Really, others will not be able to help you that much, giving you ideas and motivations for the characters that will all fit together. Draw them (or most of them) from your own experiences and imagination. There is nothing limiting you. Good luck. Terry
I'm going to break a rule here, a personal rule. The world's nations have all fallen and ruination prevails (typical). The environment of the post-modern civilizations are fading away and the modern Stone Age has begun. Small communities exists (groups of twenty to forty people). Why is the world in ruination? There was a virus that altered the genetic material of its male host. The purpose of this virus was to genetically castrate the male population of a country and kill it within fifty-seventy years. Most of the human population was affected by this virus and the world's population plummeted. The critical mass needed to maintain western culture did not existence. National security, the infrastructure, the economy, etc all fail. Cities begin to decay and history lost. Other factors, like rapid climate change, also contributed. If that climate change was manmade or naturally occurring by nature is up to you. The short-lived virus disappears from the world, and human populations trickle back up. In the meanwhile, the hosts of the virus that can reproduce have children that are human like beings called “___”. One of your main characters is one of these beings. The “____” of course are outcast of the communities that they once belonged to (appearance, abilities, nature, mentality, etc). The other main character is a human who belongs to a small band of thieves. The human character has a role model who has grandiose visions of creating the first nation one hundred some years. This role model ends up being the villain who would prefers another to be his apprentice, who happens to be a “____” to create his new nation. There are nuances that human have myths about the “____” that gender prejudice and fear, especially in the harsh environment and difficult life where people need to blame something for the trails of their lives. So because of the human main character’s past experiences and inherited prejudices, he/she have tension from the start with the “____”main character. That moves along to friendship and then… The way you tell the story may make the story less cliche. It's a start.
Shizai Ko: If I'm being picky, shouldn't it be "ruin" rather than "ruination" But then i would be breaking my own personal rule about correcting grammar... Generally: I think post apocalyptic future is a good place to start when writing a story. But I think you need an original idea of the nature of the "apocalypse", or something original about what happens to the characters after the apolcalypse, or both, to make it successful.
