I haven't had a story idea for a little while, but a student showed me a recent fantasy draft and that made me think about what kinds of fantasy stories that I would still like to see. Unbidden, I thought about my first true Dungeons and Dragons character who found a magical, talking sword--a hand-and-a-half or "bastard" sword. I loved the idea of playing a character with a magical and (considering the dungeon master running the game) sarcastic weapon with a long history. Brandon Sanderson has a similar idea with his blood-thirsty black blade named Nightblood that has appeared in a few of his books.

My idea is to follow the intelligent blade from its original awakening through the span of its "life" as it is handed from owner to owner. Perhaps the sword is an unreliable narrator as it tells the story of its life to its newest handler. Maybe the sword has a temperamental ego (like the one that my D&D character's sword had) which makes it think that it is meant for great things but keeps being picked up by (in its "mind") absolute idiots.

I don't know that this is a story that I'm up for writing any time soon. Perhaps the idea can be part of a different fantastical tale. Still, I like the idea. It was also pleasant to have that wave of inspiration gently wash over me again today ... it's been a little while. 

As much as I would like to identify with the heroes in action movies, the sad truth is that I would likely be one of the extras in the background who is watching in stunned disbelief or running in terror as the events unfold. On occasion, movies give us glimpses of the perspective of the bystanders--in some cases that bystander even becomes a central part of the plot (and even action) of the movie. However, I would like to see an entire action movie done from the perspective of one of that story's "extras."

Better yet, like the extras in movies, this focal side character would not have a single line in the enter production. It will be clear that the character can talk, and may even be seen in the background talking at some point, but any actual lines of dialogue will not be heard by the audience. I envision at least one scene (like was done with Morn on Deep Space Nine) where the scene opens to a group of people responding to a joke that the protagonist had clearly just told. In fact, the movie should end with him just about to say something.

Like at least one other story idea of mine, I envision that the protagonist's story is one of a normal week where he has some major event (like an anniversary) that he trying to set up. An early shot will show his schedule for the week and the various locations that he will have to go--locations that will just happen to coincide with the action movie plot that will be taking place in the background. Various events could include things like him driving to work as a Michael Bay style car chase erupts around him, him being taken with a group of other hostages, him being on a subway (because his car is being repaired after the earlier chase) as a martial arts battle erupts, etc. In at least one scene, he's trying to take a picture with his phone when the action hero says, "I'm going to need that," and takes it.

To be clear, it would be nice if the action story also made sense and developed as the extra's everyday story is going on rather than just existing as disjointed action set-pieces (although, that IS the plot of many action movies). To work best, the audience would have to feel connected to both stories for, while there is a definite comic aspect to this set up, this idea would work best if it was taking itself seriously too. If it was done right, I would love to watch this movie.

A little of over eight years ago, I came up with a story idea that was set on a lunar station the far side of the moon. In it, a younger scientist comes across alien messages that have been beamed in our direction from decades or even centuries ago. There are many different directions that the story could take, but I have not been able to generate an interesting (at least, to me) plot. Still, the concept bounces around in my brain from time to time, taunting me.

Recently, one of my Facebook groups posted a notice from a publication that is looking for short stories that put a positive spin on the US Space Force. While Dark Side Station is not a military story, the notice got me thinking about how that aspect might be included. It also gives a set deadline and specific requirements to follow.

I don't know if I will actually work on this idea or not, but it has been a part of my thought process for the past couple of weeks. As of yet, I have not had a clear scene that I could put down as a starting point (for my writing, not necessarily for the story itself). Perhaps inspiration will still strike. 

I've been having extremely vivid dreams for quite a few nights in a row. When I say vivid, I mean full-color, surround sound, 3D touch sorts of dreams. Now, most of them have fallen down the normal and predictable paths of being tied to teaching in a new school, moving into a new home, or traveling to a new location. However, the one on Saturday night-Sunday morning was quite a bit different. No doubt inspired by my recent D&D adventure, the rewatching of season one of the Witcher, and my rereading of the two books in the Kingkiller Chronicles, I found myself in a fantasy setting.

I was with a group of friends, hunting down a demon-creature. I was using naming-magic in an attempt bind the monster. We barely had it under control when a dark haired woman (likely inspired by Yennifer) portalled into the area we were in (I think it was a Stonehenge sort of place, but underground). At first I was relieved to see her (must have been an ally), but then she did something to release the creature from our mystical binding, causing the entire group to cry out.

However, when the beast moved to escape, the woman said an incantation and power seemed to flow from the creature and settle into a ring on her finger in the form of bluish script. Somehow, I knew that she had tied the creature's magical ability to fly to her ring, giving her or anyone used the ring the power of magical flight. I realized what she was doing and called out that it was too dangerous, but she continued anyway (a total Yennifer move), binding more of the creature's powers to different rings, each power appearing as a separate script in a different color. Somehow, I knew that the writing that formed was the name of the power trapped.

Finally, she tied the monster's life-essence to herself. However, instead of binding the power to a ring, the script appeared across her arm and chest as a tattoo. It was clear that this was a particularly dangerous method of gaining power. Although it had the benefit of not being able to be removed like the rings, it directly tied her life force to the creature in some way. I don't know what happened from there as I woke up just as the tattoo was being "written" like someone was signing their name.

Since Sunday morning, I have been trying to figure out where this idea came from as it seems really familiar to me. My attempts to look it up haven't produced any results. It seems like an interesting magic system to use in a future story. 

I don’t know why this story idea popped into my head this morning, but it did and drove me to write some of its scenes down. I can’t write music, and any lyrics I create feel forced, but I still am surprisingly interested in this concept.

Waking up one morning, a teenage girl seems to be trapped in a broadway musical. People around her sing the thoughts and feelings that they don’t express verbally. Perhaps each person sings a different style of music depending on personality. In her delusions, she sees them get up and dance around, but they stay in the same place whenever they actually talk, causing her to have difficulty knowing where the person actually is. Sometimes, a second version of the person (like a ghost) does the singing and dancing. Large groups are overwhelming until she learns how to focus on just one song. Fainting spells lead to her a hospital where it is discovered that she has terminal brain cancer. She tries to use her new insight to patch the problems around her before she dies. 

Scene: her parents sing a duet about how estranged they have become, both still loving the other but feeling alone

Scene: while confiding in her friend, she learns that her friend isn’t really listening and keeps singing how much she is attracted to a boy they both claim to hate

Scene: tough kid sings a song in a classical style while a “nerd” sings in gangsta rap

Scene: an ADHD kid sings an eclectic song of trying to hold a train of thought

Scene: in the cafeteria, a ensemble piece of the difficulties of being a teenager that overwhelms her, bringing on one of her fainting spells

Scene: amidst a larger piece, she hears the song of a teenager contemplating suicide (one of the people she saves)

Scene(s): a girl she knows periodically sings portions of her main concerns throughout the musical. She meets a boy she likes, thinks he’s wonderful, has sex with him, gets ignored, discovers she’s pregnant, has an abortion, tries to fit back in, has named her lost child

Scene: the main character doesn’t sing until the end where she expresses those things she wants to do but will not get the chance to do. Those around her join in. The song seems to end with her death. A chorus of angels then picks up the song and she joins in singing with them.

Today is set aside by the Catholic Church to celebrate the angels who watch over us every day.  These guardian angels protect us from the unseen forces that work against us in our daily activities.  They are the spot of luck that has saved us so many times throughout our lives.  They guard us from demons and spirits that bear us ill will, but more often they rescue us from our own mistakes and errors, keeping them from being more costly than they would otherwise be.

As a high school student, I loved Frank E. Peretti's This Present Darkness and its sequel Piercing the Darkness which gave us a look into the roles of angels and demons in their spiritual warfare that surrounds our daily lives.  I have always wanted to write a similar sort of fiction, but found all of my attempts to be too derivative of Peretti's work.

While this statement might make some people decide that it's time take my measurements for a straitjacket, I have felt the presence of angels and demons in my life.  Sometimes they are the inner voices (like the cartoon representations) that give me conflicting statements in regards to my actions; sometimes there is a more physical aspect, a reflex I didn't know I had, a movement caught out of the corner of my eye.

I believe that a guardian angel would be the perfect video game character to play.  While the protected person goes about his or her normal life, we would take the role of the guardian that keeps the forces of darkness away.  It would not need to be an earth-shattering plot, but just the daily dangers that our protectors keep from causing lasting harm. 

 

I don't have a plot for this story so much as just a character: a living house.  This house cares for its inhabitants, providing for their needs and protecting them from dangers.  It's the opposite of a haunted house, although I suppose that it might be mistaken for one.  

There are three elements that led me to developing this idea.  1.When I was young, one of my favorite picture books was about a small house, whose windows were eyes, that watched as the area around him changed from rural, to suburban, to urban, to a downtown city, at which point he is moved back to the country again.  2. I often dream of houses with endless rooms, odd settings, and unique features.  3. I recently read some issues of Justice League Dark whose headquarters is the "House of Mystery"--a magical house that can summon rooms that its occupants need.

I don't have much more on this idea.  While a story could focus on a new couple who have settled in a house whose neighbors believe it is haunted, I also like the idea of it housing an older couple.  In the latter story, a young person visits the home to help the couple and begins witnessing odd occurrences that lead him (or her) to take a closer look.

I suppose that this story is a type of wish-fulfillment.  I would like a house like this. 

I'll keep this simple.  This is Cast-Away on a distant planet.  Explorers in our future come across the long-lost wreck of one of our first deep-space missions.  As the main historian pieces together what happened to the stranded astronaut, the readers get to see through the eyes of the stranded person as the explorer left behind "letters" written to some future rescuer.  The two stories intertwine as the physical isolation of the ship-wrecked person reflects the historian's own social isolation.

I've always been fascinated by the science fiction stories where a person from our time is somehow frozen and then brought back to life in the future.  Buck Rogers is based on this idea.  Star Trek has several story-lines that deal with this concept.

I often wonder what happens to the side-characters who are found and then dumped in their future.  Do they connect with their descendants?  If so, how does that turn out?  What sort of jobs do they take?  How do they go about their day-to-day lives?

There have been a few stories where we see this idea in the present, where someone in the past (or in a coma) comes to consciousness in our time period.  This concept also is used to show dystopian sci-fi societies.

I think it would be interesting to explore the life of a "normal" person who somehow wakes up in a "normal" future.  What would that person do?  How would others react?

The story changes quite a bit depending on how far this time-traveler goes.  There are plenty of stories that could come from this seed.

This is another idea which came to me from a random drawing in the margins of some of my notes for school.  In this case, I drew what appears to be a dead tree growing out of a pile of stones.  Perhaps due to my reading of Tolkien's Return of the King, I felt that the tree was still alive despite its appearances.  

A story came to mind of the tree being the source of magic in the world.  Due the drilling of oil and the depletion of natural resources, the energy that flowed into the tree has cut off.  A group of adventurous teenagers (this was an idea from high school) come across a cave that holds the tree.  Somehow they realize that they need to nourish the tree to bring magic back into the world.

As these teens are the first to nourish the tree, they are also the first to gain the benefits from the tree's healing.  They become masters of magic in a world where magic, true magic, has largely been forgotten.  This brings the attention of powerful people from around the world, many of whom with the worst of intentions.

The teens find themselves fighting for their lives and to protect the secret of the source itself.  As with many of my ideas, this one never got much further than this most preliminary stage.

Normally, I have been reserving Saturday posts for short descriptions of various story ideas that I have been chewing on.  While I have not yet come close to exhausting the current store of ideas that I have, I am a little concerned about eventually running out or putting up just whatever came off the top of my head (although that might actually be pretty entertaining).  The idea came to me that, as long as I was going to start writing a larger creative story, that I could use Saturday's as a weekly update for how I've been progressing.  Then, my mind decided to up the ante even a little more.

What if I gave people access to my document as I was writing it?  Now, I am a little concerned that this might not work out, and I've nearly ran screaming from the idea, but I thought that it might be worth a try.  The background for the story, and the link to the Google Doc where I will be writing the main story can be found here.

While you can read the details there, I wanted to just let you know a little bit about my schedule.  I will try to avoid writing this story on Sundays.  I will have very little time to write the story on Saturdays and will have almost no time on Fridays.  I plan on writing during the morning hours on Monday and Wednesday, but other plans might get in the way.  I currently plan to write more in the afternoons on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  I set Wednesdays as the main deadline for the summer because they are currently the most open of my days, and I might end up writing up until midnight to complete my self-imposed deadline.

I am setting this up as a motivation to keep writing a larger project.  However, I have several other irons in the fire that I also want to accomplish, so we will see how this goes.  I pray that it will be a positive experience for both me and anyone who wants to follow it.

There are scientists who would like to set up radio telescopes on the far side of the moon, often mistakenly referred to as the "dark side" of the moon.  Because the far side of the moon always faces away from the Earth, it effectively uses the rest of the moon's mass to block the numerous radio signals that otherwise bombard space from our surface communications.  These signals confound and distort information to an enormous degree.  Being free of that chaos would, like taking a visual telescope beyond the distortions of our atmosphere, allow these radio telescopes a much clearer view of our universe.

In my story, humanity has done exactly that.  In fact, Dark-Side Station is one of a couple of human colonies that have been established on the moon.  While most people prefer to be on the Earth side of the moon with its magnificent sights of our home planet, there are some who prefer the purity of space.  One character (whom I have not yet fleshed-out) has specifically started using the radio-telescopes to search for broadcasts from alien civilizations.  

Despite high hopes for the project, he (or she) is still quiet surprised to pick something up.  The signals are garbled and confused, but she (or he) is eventually able to figure out a way to clean up and translate the information, discovering that they are (basically) radio and television signals.  The aliens are similar to us in many ways, but clearly alien.  Linguistic experts pore over the data and eventually figure out the languages used.  People on Earth start listening to and watching the translated broadcasts not just on a scholarly level, but for pure entertainment.

Here is where I can branch in several directions:
1. We manage to establish communication with the aliens and start a long distance dialogue despite the massive time-lag (we're talking decades) between communications.
2. Wars erupt on Earth over the alien contact with many people claiming that the signals are governmental forgeries designed to disrupt world religions (I've already seen sites that claim this idea, by the way).
3. We watch, helplessly, as the alien civilization destroys itself.
4. We realize that the transmission is from centuries, if not eons ago.
5. We watch as the alien civilization comes into contact with our media and decides that we are a hostile species.  They then create a space fleet in order to gain a first-strike advantage.

The first one was my original thought, but there's no reason that aspects of all five might not be mixed together.

Whatever direction I decide to go, I certainly hope that our government (or someone) decides to build Dark-Side Station in reality.  Someone else out there is bound to have started shooting messages into the stars.