Whnever you are thinking about ideas for a story do you ever worry that your made up world (or what have you) is going to be too weird. How had people dealt with this in the past? I know it can be done, but I'm wondering how. Say I want to have a made up world and this made up world is nothing more than a large collection of archipelagos (the biggest of which is around the size of New Zealand), and it was populated by refugees from earth (yeah, generic I know, bear with me), and their technology has reverted to previous levels in different places (firearms in some, steel in other, and still stone in others, possibly even a modern or post-modern technology), and I want to have magic. On top of all that I want to have a variety cultures (several of which I have the mental outline for), and several 'main' characters.
That sounds like a lot, but I'm afraid that it's the only way I'll ever be interested in anything because it encompasses most of my interests (so far at least). I also have four ideas that I want to weave together. I know that you are supposed to combine ideas to make it interesting, but is four too many?
Jon
Posted by Goodrich (Member # 2857) on :
Try picking up George R.R. Martin's Windhaven. It has many of the ideas you were talking about including refugees from earth on a world of small islands who have reverted to previous technology. There's no magic in it, but it could help in giving some idea of how to get started. I think you've got a great idea. I love a wealth of different cultures and ideas in a single story.
Posted by mikemunsil (Member # 2109) on :
I would worry less about the milieu in general than about the mechanics of the specific scenes that will make up my story(ies). Go for it!!!!
Posted by Spaceman (Member # 9240) on :
It doesn't sound weird in the least compared to some of mine.
Posted by wbriggs (Member # 2267) on :
To me it doesn't sound too weird; it sounds conventional.
Several main characters: how many? Not enough to confuse, I hope.
Posted by Jon Roberts (Member # 2804) on :
probably three or four at the most (and a bunch of minor characters). It just feels like I'm breaking some sort of contract with the reader. For instance, they'll start reading it and think, oh this is just straight story, then they decide that it's a western, fifty pages later they realize that maybe it's sci-fi, and somewhere in there (maybe another 50 or 100 pages later) they realize that it is a fantasy, or maybe that it isn't any of those things.
Does anybody have this feeling of making a deal with the reader to stick to a certain genre?
I think part of problem is that while it's a very strong milieu, at the core it's a character story, so I feel like I shouldn't focus as much on the setting. However, so much of the character is built by the circumstances that they come from (which is why it's so complex, they are very varied characters)
Posted by SimonMRhees (Member # 2777) on :
I think it's important to explore all the wierd, strange ideas you can come up with! Especially in regards to what the world is like. Part of the pleasure I get out of reading science fiction/fantasy is watching the worlds unfold and become real. I've been reading OSC How To Write Sci-Fi/Fantasy, and one of the best parts (for me) is about defining your world. The more you define WHY things are the way they are, the moer believable it becomes (and the more possibilities are opened up). And I think that's critical. They sky's the limit to what you can put in a story, as long as it has some plausibility to it. And a good back story.
Posted by wbriggs (Member # 2267) on :
I think you need to tell them up front that it's all these things---and I think it's doable.
In my WIP, there's modern physics and Indian stuff. I started the book this way:
opening quote, from a physicist. An Indian myth Opening scene, in a physics lab.
I'm not sure it was the best way, for other reasons, but I do think it's important to make the right promises.
Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :
Okay, this specific difficulty is going to be mostly solved for you, because readers generally know what market genre a book is in when they buy it. Similar information tends to find its way into the cover art and the blurb.
If you're story is going to involve more than one of these islands, then the blurb will mention that somehow. Even if it didn't, having your book sold as SF or Fantasy will ensure that readers expect something unusual. Obviously, if you try and sell it as contemporary you'll have some problems, but I don't think you were planning on anything like that.
Posted by rickfisher (Member # 1214) on :
On the other hand, if it's sold as fantasy, and the reader has to get through 150 pages before they get to anything that they think is fantasy, they may never get that far. My question is: Are all these stories interrelated? I don't mean, do they come together at the end, I mean all the way through. If not, you have a potential problem, and would even if they were all the same genre. Lots of people get really annoyed if the read 50-100 pages, and then the whole story shifts to other characters that they've never heard of, and doesn't come back to those original characters for a long time.
If, in fact, the stories are interrelated, you're not going to want to spend so long getting from one island to another, and you won't seem to be promising one thing and then breaking that promise 200 pages later.
Posted by thexmedic (Member # 2844) on :
I don't think you can be too weird. Weird doesn't have to be confusing, and, in fact, I think a lot of people reading Spec Fic are reading it for a certain amount of weird.
As for jumping about, I would try and establish that there are these differences early on. There has to be trade between the islands - maybe that's a good way to establish the different technology levels. If you could start weaving in part of the story on another island early on - something like that. But I feel you should establish what you're going to be doing throughout the book early on.
Posted by Jon Roberts (Member # 2804) on :
Well what about Stephen King, particulary the Stand? A lot of those characters don't get together until at least a third of the way through the book. What makes this different? Is it just that Stephen King can pretty much do whatever he wants because he's a literary superstar?
Jon
[This message has been edited by Jon Roberts (edited September 09, 2005).]
Posted by wbriggs (Member # 2267) on :
Interesting you shoudl mention that book. OSC just mentioned that to me as a prototype for a multi-character disaster-type novel. I just bought a copy. I think the idea is not that this is wrong and King can get by with it (it's c 1985; when did he become a name? don't know), but that it's right.
I'll soon be looking into how he pulled it off.
Posted by thexmedic (Member # 2844) on :
As far as I remember it's because he establishes the pattern early on. Plus he makes each individual story interesting (I am a King fan, for my sins). So, when the groups do all finally merge, then they're familiar with all the characters and are still caring about them.
Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :
In The Stand, the characters don't come to the same physical location till later, but they are already clearly grouping towards two distinct metaphysical locations very early in the book. Since they all started at the same thematic position (the initial plague), there is no problem whatsoever with narrative unity. At all times, all the characters are clearly all part of the same story, even as the story evolves away from our initial perceptions of what it's about.
It isn't a matter of location. It's a matter of interrelative causality.
Posted by franc li (Member # 3850) on :
There's this movie called "Playing by heart" where you don't find out what all the characters really share until very near the end. I can't figure out how anyone managed to get it made, unless they said "let's put Dennis Quaid, Sean Connery, Gillian Anderson, and Madeline Stowe all in one movie. Oh, and also that guy from ER."
P.S. I guess there is also a relative unknown at the time, Angelina Jolie.
[This message has been edited by franc li (edited September 09, 2005).]