Hatrack River Writers Workshop: Story Idea: Immortal Guy/Gal with brains...

This is topic Story Idea: Immortal Guy/Gal with brains... in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
http://www.hatrack.com/ubb/writers/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=000243

Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :

Okay, we've all seen variations on the story of the immortal person from long ago who has seen it all and is on some kind of quest (to be the last immortal A la Highlander, to find another immortal of the opposite sex, to find their long lost [and also immortal] child/parent/buddy).

Okay, simple concept twist here. Said person is not on a quest, but is as smart as, say, Archimedes. Our hero discovered the underlying mathmatics of bouyancy, leverage, simple reflective optics, etc. during his or her first hundred years, putting themselves way ahead of the pack back in 5000 B.C. and incidentally discovering the fact of his or her immortality long before anyone else (and perhaps taking advantage of it--say by setting up as "THE IMMORTAL[insert archaic name here]").

Our immortal friend continues to make discoveries, but keeps most of them secret, only letting a select few benefit from the everincreasing store of wisdom and knowledge he or she has accumulated over the centuries, and eventually millenia.

Now, in the (insert favorite century here) century, our hero has discovered something astonishing. For the first time in the long centuries of life, he or she finds true love/another immortal/milk of human kindness/religion (aside from being worshiped)/all of the above.

It would be a great story...or several, if you had him or her discover them at different times...in whatever contexts.

Posted by chad_parish (Member # 1155) on :

Poul Anderson, The Boat of a Million Years, 1993.

Posted by JP Carney (Member # 894) on :

Never read the book Chad mentions, so no idea of the similarities, but the fact that someone came up with ONE (hell, even if you get 10) book that might be similar shouldn't mean you should give up on the idea. Chances are yours won't be anything like Anderson's, it'll have to be different and good in some way unlike his. My one suggestion would be NOT to read the book suggested, if you're going to write the story you idea you threw out there. You might be inclined to read it first and make sure yours is different, but if you do, one of two things will likely happen: a) you'll be so caught up in trying to make your story different, you won't tell your story b) inadvertantly you'll end up incorporating MORE ideas from the story and making it more similar rather than less. Just write it, it's bound to be different.

Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :

Actually, my whole point is that the idea of an immortal person living alongside the human race is pretty commen.

But you have to take the premise and make it your own. All science fiction (all fiction, for that matter) begins with the question "What if [insert premise here]?" But each of us has our own unique answer to that question. "What if my wife was plotting to kill me?" It's a pulp thriller cliche, until you supply your own answer, the one that no one else gives.

And that is what I'm asking...What if you were immortal, and possessed of advanced technological capabilities?

Would you play the Djinn, giving wishes to mortals and then playing cruel tricks on them in return? Would you play god, demanding the worship of those in your power? Would you turn your back on humanity altogether, and explore the darkness between the stars? Would you live a thousand lives, loving and caring, giving and taking, playing out each life until the time came to step offstage, and thence to a new role?

Each of us has a different answer to that question. And the question is no more than a premise. It is our answers that can beome stories, each one unique and our own.