Weekly Plot Help - Week of October 27th

[alison-sky.livejournal.com]

Wow, by Saturday NaNo will have begun and we will be heading into the craziness. Are you ready?

... come on, that was weak. ARE YOU READY?!

*grins* Ok, that was better.

Anyway, here's your plot help post for the week. Simple as always.


Add a comment with the help you need. Don't be shy. We're all writers here, and you never know, someone might give you a new plot bunny to add to your NaNo.

Reply to others and help them. You might be the one holding that bunny.


And just be awesome :)

Comments

[lacrimaeveneris.livejournal.com]

I have a character who seems to be on an ambiguous quest (she's off making wishes at a far-off lake for true love... don't ask)... and I can't figure out why she's coming home (the quest doesn't have an endpoint, really).

[rowanthunder.livejournal.com]

The main problem that I am having is that until very recently I had two plots.

One of them is the plot of the girl who is drawn into the weirdworld paganoid stuff, not knowing what it is, and finds a Family and enemies that she didn't think she had (examples can be read at http://amtobesacred.vox.com actually). I'm drawing heavily from the various Craft practise mythos as well as from paganoid areas, although I'm trying to avoid using Greco-Roman anything because I feel that the Greco-Roman gods don't lend themselves to trickery the same way.

The other plot isn't being done and therefore is unimportant.

I can't link the two, before that is even suggested. But for the first one, I'm just having the damned hardest time remembering all the animals that are also People and the characteristics thereof. So, help help help?

[twirly.livejournal.com]

i just need a buddy for accountability.. i have a rough draft in list form of my first two paragraphs, but i feel like i'm gonna get stuck after that, ugh.

[zxora.livejournal.com]

Whoo hoo! I began naming my characters last night and I bought some notebooks and pens at our college's bookstore today...:-D. I'm pumped!

~*Kelsey*~

[artofange.livejournal.com]

I have a hard time figuring out which POV and tense to use. I tend to favour the more awkward ones (first person present, for example) but it gets tiresome to read. Do any experienced people have any "If your story is like this then you should think about writing in this POV/tense" type of advice?

[i-speak-tongue.livejournal.com]

I need my protagonist to find a horse in the city. If you needed a horse, and you lived in a pseudo-post-apocalyptic urban area, where would you look?

....And there aren't any mounted police around, if that's what you were thinking. No? It wasn't?

[morigale.livejournal.com]

I need more dares! Specifically, I want to find a website with an archive of dares from past years' forums. I saw it last year or the year before, and now I can't find it anywhere. I've googled various combinations of nanowrimo dares and archive, or database, or list. All I'm getting is posts by people who are talking about the dares they've taken.

[irishkitten441.livejournal.com]

I need a name for an eccentric bookstore where my MC works. I'm thinking something cutesy yet random that rhymes. Any ideas?

[feigned-living.livejournal.com]

Okay, so my novel plot is all sorted out. Princess saving her kingdom from her brother's boyfriend (who is a vampire). She falls in love with her vampire fiance's fledgling. And she's working on saving herself from her own emotions, her brother from a power-hungry vampire, and her kingdom from everything. Oh and did I forget to mention that her mother is trying to kill her and her father is dead?

The problem is that I have a side-plot and I don't know how much of it to include. Right now all that's included is that her father was murdered and at the end of the novel (the big climax battle) it's revealed that her brother did it because he thought he was protecting her. Over the course of the novel she realizes her brother is a selfish bastard, but this is the big point where she realizes he's not as selfish as she thought, just stupid and easily deceived.

The reasoning behind this, which I didn't really plan on including, is that her twin was tricked into thinking their father was raping the princess since she was a child. He poisoned their father to protect her. The truth is that the big bad of the plot, a vampire who wants to control the human kingdom, was creating those illusions. The father was a really great guy and never did anything wrong. I don't know how much I should include in the story.

The novel is really about the princess' personal struggles. She's trying to save her kingdom, but she's kind of coming of age throughout the whole thing. So I don't know how important it is to keep that bit in. It doesn't lend to the main plot and it doesn't exactly slide in gracefully because the story starts after the father is dead. Any suggestions?

[shinysparkly.livejournal.com]

Vampire 1 kidnaps Vampire 2, in part to get revenge on Vampire 3.

V2 is the oldest and the 'sire' and lover of V3. V3 & V1 used to be lovers but V3 thought V1 was dead & has no idea he's still 'alive' and a vamp. Ideally V3 discovers the plot, kills V1, reunites with V2.

Why wouldn't V1 just kill V2 instead of just keeping him prisoner??

Also, if V2 is older you'd think he'd be stronger and would be able to fight off V1 & not allow himself to be kidnapped so how does it happen that he does get kidnapped?

[shadowpoet89.livejournal.com]

So, my main character is on a quest of sorts. During most of it she is being shadowed by someone. And the thing is I have no idea who's chasing her or why. xD

[stringingwords.livejournal.com]

I have something of an odd problem, which came about during a brainstorming session to name my WIP. The result is that my story has gone from a one-shot to a three book series. Aitch.

I've been able to expand the plot enough for the second and third books, it's just the first I'm having trouble with.

This covers a quest for a book of legends, which is needed to translate an ancient map. The map shows different things in different light, but that's besides the point.

What kind of things can happen at sea other than a whirlpool (planned) or a sea monster (focus of the second book)? Should I mention that the ship in question is a pirate ship? *g*

[incandescence.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to figure out a more elegant way of dragging someone through to a parallel universe. Or not elegant. Just a way.

Earth setting - modern day.
Theotherplace setting - ... Historical! There is "magic", but it's more of a "blessings bestowed by the gods" type of magic, or where they borrow the god's power. But that magic is what gets her there. But how? I really want to fiddle with a local god deciding he wanted to bring her over (or someone begging a god to do so), but what are the actual mechanics of it?

I could just go for the "she was transported while she was sleeping and oh no what will her cat do for breakfast!", but I don't know. Hmm.

[crazy-onna.livejournal.com]

My MC comes from a remote island which he left to find his father. He's spent a short time in slavery (from a couple of months to a year) and escapes with the unintentional help of another MC.

This 2nd MC's dealing with a curse and has caused him to be shunned and forced into the life of a wandering hermit. He's looking for revenge against those who razed his village to the ground and the wizards who promised to send him and his friend back in time to stop it but instead tried taking their souls for his demon master and ended up killing his friend. That happened about 10 years ago.

So, now they're travelling together and I don't know what they should do next.

[allez-cuisine.livejournal.com]

Okay, I've got a rough plot here. Further character development to come. :)

My MC, and her estranged brother, were raised by their grandmother, who is basically their only living relative (besides each other, of course). Grandma dies at the ripe old age of 90-something; estranged brother turns into more of a dickhead, and comes sniffing around for inheritance money.

In the meantime, MC, while cleaning out grandma's house, finds a bunch of her journals from the 1920s. In reading them, she learns about a whole other side of grandma she never knew. Maybe even a whole other life...family/relatives MC never knew about?

Anyway, this is where I'm stuck - I want the MC to somehow "relive" grandma's life. But I don't know if I want to do this via time travel - which, though it would totally work, might be hokey; or, do I want the MC to stay rooted in present day, and simply revisit some of the people and places as detailed in grandma's journals?

[thepheenixeyri.livejournal.com]

Heeeelp!

I have three characters: C, K, and A. I have the city: Chicago. (perhaps Seattle later, but it'll start in Chicago.

... but I have nothing else. No plot, no where to go... *nothing-nada!*

Um, help? Please?

the Phoenix

[loki-scribe.livejournal.com]

I need an epiphany trigger.

At the end of the third act, one of my MCs (a monastic knight) remains behind to protect a temple (it's very decidedly not his sect, but they haven't got a hope without knights) rather than go on with the group to delve into one of the triggers of the holy war they're fighting. The other MC, who up until this point has been temperamental and stubborn, convinced the priest character hasn't got his priorities straight, and has had a major problem with this sect (they are directly responsible for the death of her father), accepts that when there's someone else to keep going, he's not going to abandon this job.

I've got several possibilities for why she might come accept this:
—An argument between her and another, slightly younger character earlier in the act, including a somewhat convoluted explanation for why he hasn't abandoned the people who have rejected him, one that draws uncomfortable parallels between it and her previous devotion to her dad. The priest isn’t the only one who will hang onto his duty.
—A scene at a village where the priest nearly loses his temper with her. He stops the party to help but she wants to go on, thinking that they can end the war sooner if they succeed (he’s not so sure). Basically, he snaps at the point of “people are dying here too and they didn’t sign up for it.”
—The temple itself. These aren’t the priests back home, most of them are about her age (she’s nineteen, for the record), and they really are that desperate.

I know that none of these is enough on it’s own and I’m shaky on whether, as a group, it’s an acceptable reason for her to let it go without a prolonged fight of the “we need you too!” stripe— something which, for plot-tension reasons, I don’t have time to give them. And I’m lacking any kind of trigger for that moment of recognition.

Any help would be wonderful, thanks.

[xfirefly9x.livejournal.com]

My idea is simply put, spy-fi. Spy fic crossed with science fiction.

A guy (the spy) is chasing someone (unsure of who yet) across the galaxy. He travels through holes to parallel universes in his search, so there'll be various planets and such seen to. As a fan of Firefly and Stargate SG-1, I'm relatively comfortable with what to do regarding the planet visitations. What I'm not sure of however is this characters' motivation and as mentioned the someone who he is chasing. Ideas?

Also, I imagine having only one character to play with will limit what I can do in some scenes. A side kick type may be the way to go, I'm thinking. Then again, maybe not. Thoughts on that?

[hireadd.livejournal.com]

My plot is mostly sorted out now, but there are a few bothersome details that I wouldn't mind some help with. :)

1) My mainest of main characters is a inspirational figurehead type, with enough charisma that he- at on point- manages to persuade a very, very minor villain-type to join his cause (a revolution against said villain's evil overlord master). I want to do this without it being too hokey, which is why I chose a super low-ranking, probably not very loyal villain who's vaguely predisposed to swap sides anyway. My question is... how and where? I think it's going to have to take place in a city or out in the wilderness. What is the mindset of this person, and why are they so willing to change sides? What arguments does the MC use to persuade them? How do they meet in such an environment that they can even have this conversation? (If it helps, said MC is a very "you must do what's right! justice and goodness compel you! <3" sort.)

2) I have four characters who are musicians with the ability to fight by channel power through their musical instruments. One plays the bass, another the violin, another the shamisen, and the last one sings. I have vague ideas for how the bass and the shamisen might cause damage, but I can't figure out what I want vocals/violin to do.

3) I need a situation/place in a big city for two of my MCs to meet and start a conversation.

Thanks in advance! ♥

[elialys.livejournal.com]

I need motivation :(

I was so excited and crazy about the idea of doing NaNoWriMo for the first time this year. I'm an Au Pair, so I have plenty of free time and all.

But there was a death in my host family three days ago, and it totally killed the muse. And the funerals are tomorrow, and that's totally not helping -__- I can't concentrate on my plot more than 30 seconds without starting to think 'What's the point, seriously -__-'

I know there's no real solution, but I just needed to whine about it somewhere, because I WILL start writing on November 1st, but now I'm scared it's going to be a chore -___- Any idea how to boost me and my muse? ('cause I really need to do some brainstorming :-/)

[hookavah.livejournal.com]

Though not at this part of the story, it will come soon. My 3 MC's join an 'Alliance', the leader is a laid back and takes threats in general as light as one could take it. Well, the leader is to venture out in the 'Main' downtown city, but rivaling alliances become extremely hostile that day towards the leader only, and as he alone ventures into the city, he sparks a multi-alliance skirmish. I'm looking for reasons as to why the leader and other alliances become hostile towards each other, any ideals?

[meretia]

I have a sort of soft science fiction thing I'm working on. It's set in an alternate modern America that figured out genetic engineering four or five generations before we did. The plot involves a geneticist who's holed himself up in rural Pennsylvania with some other genetically engineered folk and they're talking all kinds of apocalypse and New World Order for the "improved" people. They're probably behind some attempted biological attacks on cities along the East Coast. My main characters in this story are a relatively new field agent in the federal bureau that regulates genetic engineering (Kate), and a genetically engineered man (Daniel).

At the end of the first act, Daniel, who was pretty much threatened into helping them with an investigation, has been stalling and screwing around most of the time he was supposed to be helping. He knows what's at stake here but doesn't care. He's pretty sure that he's going to end up hurt or killed if the geneticist finds out he was cooperating with the feds. I think that he may even be playing both sides, deliberately trying to keep the Genetic Regulation Agency from digging out the compound in Pennsylvania.

Just at the end, he deliberately turned the attention of the GRA office he'd been working with to a false lead and then skedaddled. While they were paying attention to that, the crazy separatist geneticist and his hangers-on send a mail bomb that went off the way it was supposed to, and has caused a lot of trouble in whatever city that was (I haven't quite worked it out yet). A few days later, Daniel comes slinking back claiming that he's really sorry, he hadn't realized how serious this really was. To prove his sincerity, he comes bearing some information he was holding out on sharing with them earlier. He's a self-centered, underhanded thing. He was ready to book just from being asked to get involved in this.

Does something happening to people he doesn't know way far away from him sound like it would be enough to make him decide that getting this mess shut down is worth risking his life?

In the second act, Kate's team of investigators has gone out to Pennsylvania to help with the effort to root out the stragglers who escaped when the compound was raided and are hiding out in the woods someplace. They bring Daniel along with them. He was designed as something like a human computer--can store lots of data and calculate quickly, but human enough to fill in the gaps where artificial AI traditionally fails--and worked with Dr. Albrecht at one point. The government agencies who are already there are content to treat him like a piece of equipment instead of like a human informant like Kate's office had been doing. This leaves him in pretty rough shape. Kate is really bothered by this, but is it believable enough that she'd be willing to say "look, if you want to leave, I'll look the other way"?

And in the third act, Daniel has already decided from the cumulation of events that he's probably going to die, but he still has to see this through. Is that enough for him to turn down the offer to escape? He even, when told that whoever's planning the strategy here intends to offer him to Dr. Albrecht and see if that brings the fugitives out, volunteers to pretend that he's returning to the fold (oops, he forgot to tell him that he was briefly part of this organization in its early days). I have no idea what could make him willing to do that. There's a vague scene in my head where he's talking to an agent who lost family in that attack in Act I and Daniel feels guilty about that, but I don't think that would do it. What would believably motivate someone to do that suicidally dumb?

[iyanaari.livejournal.com]

I have a character who makes a living as a thief along with her twin brother. She has never known her father but she loves her mother, even if they don't agree on everything. Her mother lives alone in a small cottage-like home. I can not figure out why my character doesn't live with her mother, and why she chooses to steal instead. So far I'm linking it as she and her mother not seeing eye to eye on some issues as her mother is overly religious and my character is repelled by religion due to her absent father. Is that a strong enough reason or does it seem flimsy?

Overused name or reference?

[agdhani.livejournal.com]

My story has three races. The youngest, and most prevelent race I have dubbed Teran (or possibly Teren, haven't decided on the spelling yet). The second race is Elyri. The third is an ancient race, possibly mythical (there are ruins and writing left from a previous race. No one can realistically claim to have seen them, so it is unknown if they still exist or not).

The Elyri have a name for this race, the phae k'kaira, which means something akin to 'those who came before'. At the moment, the Teren's simply call them the Others.

My question is, is calling them Other's too cliched and over used? Should I come up with another name for them? Any suggestions or thoughts or opinions? Maybe the fact that I'm questioning it means it is too common...or maybe it is just my own paranoia, lol!

Thanks in advance.

Vampire Poll

[claudia6913.livejournal.com]

So, I'm curious, and being the curious sort, I've made a poll. Vampires have been written a lot, I know, but what's once more?

This poll is about what type of vampire you prefer reading about.

http://claudia6913.livejournal.com/17066.html