Hatrack River Forum: trouble with a story(updated about a different story)

This is topic trouble with a story(updated about a different story) in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.

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Posted by Tinros (Member # 8328) on :

I had an idea for a story about a large tower that houses a giant bird. I know I want two characters, one male, one female, that are both very young(teenagers), and I want it in a time without cars or anything(like the Middle Ages)... but I have no idea where to go from there. I want one of the two characters to be the only one who can tame the bird... but I don't know what to do. Can someone help me? [Confused]

[ January 18, 2006, 09:52 PM: Message edited by: Tinros ]

Posted by monteverdi (Member # 2896) on :

I would say that you might try focussing on only one of your elements: the tower, the bird, the girl, the boy (although they may be thought of as one--their relation). Myself, I would go for the bird. The giant bird. Is there only one? Where are the others? Is it unusal that there be a giant bird in a tower (in THIS tower). I think this opens out into something...

So there you go, my suggestion, at least when considered from tonight's point of view.

Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :

You could check out the snowflake method. I find it's really helpful. It can be time consuming, especially when you're learning it, but it's worth it. It brings much clarity to the story I'm working on.

Posted by unicornwhisperer (Member # 294) on :

[Hail]

That snowflake method is sweet! I'm only on the 1st step... but it is already getting my creative juices flowing.

Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :

I love Randy's snowflake and his other advice. I recommend subscribing to his Advanced Fiction Writing e-zine. You dont' get any spam and there's no traffic on the list other than his newsletter, and it's got great tips not only for writing your novel but also how to market it.

Posted by quidscribis (Member # 5124) on :

Yep, unicornwhisperer, I know what you're saying! It's really helped me become unblocked in the hugest way!

It's really time consuming for me, but then, I'm still learning it, and I'm creating worlds, aliens, and all that jazz, plus when he talks about a beginning, three disasters, and an end, I actually do better if I expand that to a modified 8-point plot arc. I need the structure the modified 8-point plot arc gives me, and the detail, too.

So yes, it's a fantastic method. But I still modify it for my own purposes so it works even better for me. [Smile]

And yep, I second Belle's assessment of his newsletter. I haven't read all of them, but those I have read are valuable.

Posted by antihero (Member # 8156) on :

Two teenagers in a tower, with a giant bird imprisoned at the top.

This bird is significant. Why? Why is it being imprisoned? What if this world is filled with these giant birds? And what if this Tower is a prison, for this one? The leader of some form of rebellious movement that failed, and now it is imprisoned for life within this tower. In this world, what is the place of man? Caretakers to the birds? Refugees? Jailers?

Here's the image I have right now. A barren, desolate planet, with a strange sky. Kind of like a Krazy Kat landscape. And the only object for hundreds of miles is this Tower, composed of strange multicolored stones, reaching a hundred stories into the heavens. At night, you can hear horrible avian screams wrenching their way into the darkness from it. The planet is a similar size to Earth, but is filled with these warring, massive birds. How does the bird look? Noble-ish, but I'm no expert on avian features.

Anyway, two teenagers, a boy and a girl. they are... refugees. From Earth. Which was destroyed a million years ago. They've come, somehow, in an escape pod, to this tower, on this bizarre, bizarre world. And somehow, they have to get out. There are no other thinking beings within the tower except for the giant rebellious bird at the top. The rest of the tower works by itself, almost magically, but you can invent some weird scientific explanation for it. Thus, the boy and girl realize their only hope of escape is to free the giant bird, which becomes their goal. And to do so, they must brave a series of challenges, all the while tormented by the fact that for hundreds of thousands of miles there is not a single living being aside from them and this strange, unpredictable beast in the Tower.

Hope that helps. I just came up with it on a whim, so see what you like.

Posted by Tinros (Member # 8328) on :

I actually thought that the bird might be the last of its kind, and the boy is the only one who can tame it... but he has to choose whether to use its power for the good guys or the bad guys, in a nutshell. What do you think?

Posted by Lupus (Member # 6516) on :

*shrugs*

Without detail a story is nothing. You have to give motivations, feelings, and so forth. What the heck are they doing in the tower, why is it the last bird of its kind, why would the boy choose good, why would he choose bad? What is the girl doing there?

You should try reading some short stories to get an idea of how they are structured. I'm a fan of the magazine of fantasy and science fiction. You can pick them up in the magazine section of many bookstores.

Posted by antihero (Member # 8156) on :

That's cool too, Tinros. But who is the good and the evil? You need to flesh out a. The conflict b. the motivations of all the characters c. the setting and d. the main idea you want to bring across.

Posted by Puppy (Member # 6721) on :

Well, don't think TOO hard about the "main idea" ... the clearer YOU are about it, the preachier and more annoying it will be to the reader. It's better just to write it the way that you find most powerful, and then surprise yourself [Smile]

Posted by unicornwhisperer (Member # 294) on :

*bump*
(cause I felt like it [Razz]

)

Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :

quote:
Well, don't think TOO hard about the "main idea" ... the clearer YOU are about it, the preachier and more annoying it will be to the reader. It's better just to write it the way that you find most powerful, and then surprise yourself [Smile]

Thanks, Puppy, that suddenly, (ironically), made everything clear about something that's been bothering me. [Smile]

Posted by Tinros (Member # 8328) on :

Actually, I started another story with the ideas that I got from this thread, and it's quite far along now. I'm quite pleased with it.

Also, I sent a story I wrote called "Hammer and Nails" in to a CHristian publishing contest. It's only five or six pages typed, but it was well written(in the opinion of my English teacher and all of my friends who've read it). THe top prize is $100 plus publication. This is my firt attempt at publication-- wish me luck!

Posted by Tinros (Member # 8328) on :

Oh, and I feel so special! I got bumped! [Big Grin]