What to write, a poll
Sep. 17th, 2005 05:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tarigwaemirLowell House, on the Feast of St. Robert Bellarmine
Tin's reviving Four Cats, the online serial fiction magazine that she started a few years ago. It's been on hiatus for a while, but I've always, always wanted to submit something to it, and now that I realize that deadlines are conducive to writing, I thought maybe I'll give it a try. First issue is scheduled to be out by November 1, in case you're interested.
I know, I know, you're wondering why the heck I'm considering another project when I already promised to work on the sequel to Balance (which I am working on, believe it or not, just really slowly because I haven't really finished outlining the plot yet) and I have commitments to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
52_flavours, but hey, one chapter a month with the occasional leeway for hiatus should be manageable, right? Or so I hope anyway.
The only problem though is deciding what to write. I'm taking a page from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
memlu's book and making a poll.
[Poll #572441]
1. This idea had occurred to me sometime around the end of last year, and I've always wanted to write a novel of manners, complete with arch understated commentary. PROS: can try making up an amusing plotline about scholarly intrigues and backstabbing. CONS: requires considerable background research as well as a large cast of characters.
2. I think I mentioned the Hwarang before, when I was reading Samguk Yusa. PROS: while some research might be necessary, writing about a bunch of teenaged boys training to be ideal warrior-courtiers isn't too difficult (relatively speaking); can use basic plot structure of typical Jump series; yay, physics-defying action. CONS: if my mother ever reads it, she'll castigate me for all the inevitable inaccuracies; I'll have to make up convincing (and easily romanized) names.
3. As much as I enjoy watching Korean melodramas, they always leave me wanting to cut off my hair, join a Buddhist monastery and repeat "All desire is suffering" for the rest of my life. Hence, this jaded premise, which will probably turn out to be sarcastic and reactionary. PROS: I can channel my inner misanthrope; setting will most likely be realistic so no research necessary. CONS: will probably end up being based on my parents' relationship or inept poking fun at K-drama conventions; prone to becoming tiresome.
4. I've actually tried to write this story about a hundred times in high school. The premise being that a new line of computers with a neural interface had this sort of strategy game built in where you would essentially end up trying to invade other players' minds. Not that the players know this; it's just an addictive game where you gain as much territory as possible. The top player in the game gains so much "territory" that he sinks into a coma; they manage to get him out of the game but when he wakes up, he's a mix of all the minds that he's occupied. PROS: I know what to write. CONS: a premise that's been explored ad nauseum; prone to thinly disguised allegory; not ideal setup for serial installments.
5. Another story that I tried to write before (I posted an old excerpt here, although the names make me want to spork my 17-year-old self's eyes out). PROS: ready-made plot, just fill in details, which I enjoy doing; minimum number of characters. CONS: probably has been done before by better writers; prone to dense, static, descriptive style of writing.
6. A story I have written before, but I wouldn't mind writing it again. It's basically just an excuse to write about all the weird people I observed on the subway for six years during high school. PROS: when writing original fiction, my mind often reverts to a default setting of "incredibly bizarre and creepy" so this premise would be perfect. CONS: no overall story structure; might end up too strange for words
7. In senior year, we had an assignment to write a story with as many Faulknerian quirks as possible, and I wrote this vaguely awkward little mystery. I rather liked the setting: the old manor of Lord Basil, famous for his many, many collections, now turned into a boarding-house staffed by a rather neurotic butler. It might be nice to write a proper mystery, sans Faulknerian pretensions, set in the place. PROS: I know the setting; I've read sufficient mysteries to make a not-too-horrible approximation of the proper narrative voice; Lord Basil's collections are fun. CONS: I need to come up with inventive crime(s) and inventive methods of uncovering the culprit(s).
All right, going back to staring blankly into space as I attempt to figure out this outline. ^_^
Yours &c.
Tin's reviving Four Cats, the online serial fiction magazine that she started a few years ago. It's been on hiatus for a while, but I've always, always wanted to submit something to it, and now that I realize that deadlines are conducive to writing, I thought maybe I'll give it a try. First issue is scheduled to be out by November 1, in case you're interested.
I know, I know, you're wondering why the heck I'm considering another project when I already promised to work on the sequel to Balance (which I am working on, believe it or not, just really slowly because I haven't really finished outlining the plot yet) and I have commitments to
52_flavours, but hey, one chapter a month with the occasional leeway for hiatus should be manageable, right? Or so I hope anyway.The only problem though is deciding what to write. I'm taking a page from
memlu's book and making a poll.[Poll #572441]
1. This idea had occurred to me sometime around the end of last year, and I've always wanted to write a novel of manners, complete with arch understated commentary. PROS: can try making up an amusing plotline about scholarly intrigues and backstabbing. CONS: requires considerable background research as well as a large cast of characters.
2. I think I mentioned the Hwarang before, when I was reading Samguk Yusa. PROS: while some research might be necessary, writing about a bunch of teenaged boys training to be ideal warrior-courtiers isn't too difficult (relatively speaking); can use basic plot structure of typical Jump series; yay, physics-defying action. CONS: if my mother ever reads it, she'll castigate me for all the inevitable inaccuracies; I'll have to make up convincing (and easily romanized) names.
3. As much as I enjoy watching Korean melodramas, they always leave me wanting to cut off my hair, join a Buddhist monastery and repeat "All desire is suffering" for the rest of my life. Hence, this jaded premise, which will probably turn out to be sarcastic and reactionary. PROS: I can channel my inner misanthrope; setting will most likely be realistic so no research necessary. CONS: will probably end up being based on my parents' relationship or inept poking fun at K-drama conventions; prone to becoming tiresome.
4. I've actually tried to write this story about a hundred times in high school. The premise being that a new line of computers with a neural interface had this sort of strategy game built in where you would essentially end up trying to invade other players' minds. Not that the players know this; it's just an addictive game where you gain as much territory as possible. The top player in the game gains so much "territory" that he sinks into a coma; they manage to get him out of the game but when he wakes up, he's a mix of all the minds that he's occupied. PROS: I know what to write. CONS: a premise that's been explored ad nauseum; prone to thinly disguised allegory; not ideal setup for serial installments.
5. Another story that I tried to write before (I posted an old excerpt here, although the names make me want to spork my 17-year-old self's eyes out). PROS: ready-made plot, just fill in details, which I enjoy doing; minimum number of characters. CONS: probably has been done before by better writers; prone to dense, static, descriptive style of writing.
6. A story I have written before, but I wouldn't mind writing it again. It's basically just an excuse to write about all the weird people I observed on the subway for six years during high school. PROS: when writing original fiction, my mind often reverts to a default setting of "incredibly bizarre and creepy" so this premise would be perfect. CONS: no overall story structure; might end up too strange for words
7. In senior year, we had an assignment to write a story with as many Faulknerian quirks as possible, and I wrote this vaguely awkward little mystery. I rather liked the setting: the old manor of Lord Basil, famous for his many, many collections, now turned into a boarding-house staffed by a rather neurotic butler. It might be nice to write a proper mystery, sans Faulknerian pretensions, set in the place. PROS: I know the setting; I've read sufficient mysteries to make a not-too-horrible approximation of the proper narrative voice; Lord Basil's collections are fun. CONS: I need to come up with inventive crime(s) and inventive methods of uncovering the culprit(s).
All right, going back to staring blankly into space as I attempt to figure out this outline. ^_^
Yours &c.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-17 10:17 pm (UTC)That line makes me laugh hysterically, hee.
Actually, #3 makes me want to work on the one Ender's Game fanfiction I've given serious thought to, which is a little alarming, because it is one of those Epic Sagas that will be ridiculously long and require pages and pages of character notes. *_*
But I vote for #6, just because I like too-weird-for-words.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-17 11:10 pm (UTC)1. Hwarang
I really want to see this from you. It's close enough to Balance that we all have PROOF you'd be awesome at writing it. And you're close enough to the source to agonize over innaccuracies -- okay, not agonize, but to grieve and hem and apologize in advance -- and that's an excellent sign. Mostly I want to see all the SJ archtype characters you'll come up with. Just remember to include at least one less-ernest character for contrast, okay? XD although I think it's awesome that your favorite type of character, the idealist, is so perfectly suited to this format.
2. Mystery at Basil House
If you could find some way to trap the participants inside the house, this could very easily become as Gothic and twisted as the subway story collection. The focus on strange objects reminds me a little of Petshop of Horrors XD. And if you split a larger mystery into one-or-two-part-long mini-mysteries, it would be perfect for monthly serialization. A month is a long time -- too long, sometimes, for rembering intricate plot twists or large casts of characters. But if you started each section with a list of names with a short description, it would be very, very easy to get into the spirit of things. Most importantly, I LOVE MYSTERIES. If you ever want someone to brainstorm plot twists or something with, just email or IM me and I will be MORE THAN HAPPY to help out.
3. Science fiction
Although you claim the concept is over-done -- and it is, to the extent that virtual reality screwing with the mental state of the user is overdone and MMORPG fiction is overdone -- I've never seen that exact combination of characteristics. Your protagonist, the super-gamer/kwisatz-haderach, sounds VERY COOL. I personally never get tired of reading stories about people with extrodinary mental abilities. I really think you could pull it off.
4. Gothic subway ride.
Another one that's perfectly suited to monthly serialization. I've never read your "strange and twisted" original fiction, but I believe you when you say it's default setting. It also has the advantages of being 1) set in NYC and 2) based on real experience. THe disadvantage is that I've never been a gigantic horror fan -- I always like the first few episodes, but in the end I hate knowing that EVERYTHING the protagonist does will always and forever be futile. If you do do this I reccomend changing it up after a while, maybe by killing or otherwise disabling the main character and allowing a secondary to pick up the role of the narrator.
5. The library at Alexandria.
It's an interesting setting and an interesting literary genre, but I fear for the plot. You'll probably end up with epic struggles over differences in interpretation, or something equally ridiculous; and the most I've ever gotten out of those is a few laughs at the absurdity of the situation and the narrow-minded peevishness of academics. On the other hand if it was all academic papers with snide notes in the margins refuting rivals...that might be pretty good. It'd be hard to sustain over month-long gaps, though, because the humor of each section would rely the reader's knowledge of all the sections that came before..
6. Fairytale
Fairyetale adaptions are nice but anyone can do them, whereas a lot of your other ideas are things that only YOU, Tari, are qualified to write.
7. "Romance"
Cynicism really doesn't seem to be your thing. I wouldn't attempt an anti-romance unless I was prepared to be snarky, nasty, pessimistic, etc.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-17 11:30 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-18 12:04 am (UTC)*runs off to read*
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-18 12:20 am (UTC)1. a novel of manners about a fictional group of scholars at the Library of Alexandria
--your explanation reminded me, overwhelmingly, of Possession, and that can never be a bad thing.
3. an anti-romance between two clearly incompatible personalities that don't so much clash as constantly misunderstand each other
--Is this not the source of practically all slash? ;)
6. a vaguely Gothic series of connected short stories about a neverending subway ride
--Terrific idea.
7. a mystery set at Basil House
--I have never read Faulkner, but this sounds fascinating.
Write 'em all! XD
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-18 01:43 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-18 03:17 am (UTC)Not sure about the style, but definitely most interesting. Reminds me of Good Omens for some reason...
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-19 11:40 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-20 03:02 am (UTC)2. a wuxia-type fantasy based on an unabashedly historically inaccurate version of the Hwarang--what the hell, why not??? Sounds like fun. Wuxia fun, yay!
3. an anti-romance between two clearly incompatible personalities that don't so much clash as constantly misunderstand each other--combine it with #1 for more fun and commentary from the onlookers. ^_^
4. a science-fiction cliché about emerging from a coma after playing a game and the aftermath--no comment
5. a retelling of the Weaver and the Cowherd fairy tale--Bridge of Birds style or Juuni Kokki style?
6. a vaguely Gothic series of connected short stories about a neverending subway ride--OMG Korean horror movie!
7. a mystery set at Basil House--again, combine it with #1 (I know it's the wrong time period, but...) and #3
Huh... I like combining stuff too much. Whatever you write, hope you enjoy the process!