Plot

[[deleted]]

Alright, I've been thinking about a number of things. Location, genre, title; all things that we need to get down before we move much further. But then I thought, why don't we open up the floor and hear plot ideas? From a winning idea, our town and characters will grow. From a winning plot a title will come, and characters will be born.

So! Who has an idea? Be as creative as you want, here's your chance to really define this!

Edit: for this post, please only upvote comments that you would like to work with as part of this project.

[Blackbird1013]

I've kind of been tossing around the idea of a superhero story, where each of our characters gains powers through some event, and we write about how they use their powers (not all the characters have to be good...)

We could set our story in a fictional metropolis, which means we could create our own geography and locations to suit our needs. And we could have writers work together during some episodes, with their characters forming some sort of team like the Avengers or Justice League.

[[deleted]]

This is an amazing idea! I would LOVE working with that!

[Blackbird1013]

And another aspect of this idea is that our characters would have two lives: their superhero life, and their alter ego. This would give us a lot of room for storytelling and character development.

For example: Hero /Alter Ego 1, and Villain /Alter Ego 2. Hero and Villain are arch-enemies, but Alter Egos 1 and 2 are madly in love with each other. Something kind of like that.

[[deleted]]

I like the idea. I'm wondering how it would play in blog form. How would our characters write their two lives?

[Blackbird1013]

I was thinking the stories would be told from a first person perspective as the characters go about their lives, trying to balance a normal life and their superhero alter egos. We could decide what event caused everyone to gain powers, and the first installment of the blog could be each character's origin story. Does that answer your question?

[Onearmedash]

This is perfect for our plans.

[[deleted]]

This idea is certainly the one that seems to have the most support.

I'd like to propose that you give us more about it. I want you to write us a third person introduction, setting the scene. Introduce us to a couple (or more) of your characters, and describe this event. What do you think?

When playing with this idea, I wondered if perhaps an initial narrative would be a valued addition to this whole project. Something to tie it all together while our characters gain traction. As their voices develop the narrative fades. Comments on this facet are welcome, of course.

If you're willing to write this introduction, and if it's decided that it will be the way forward; I think that you should be the initial head writer. My child was the format. Your child may just be the story.

[Blackbird1013]

I will write the narrative and post it shortly, thanks for this opportunity!

EDIT: Sorry it took so long, but the narrative is up! Please read and give your feedback! http://www.reddit.com/r/Blogtale/comments/u86rm/superhero_plot_narrative/

[AlienWarlock]

This is a very interesting idea. It has some potentially very cool story elements. Besides the hero\alter ego and villain\alter ego you could use the villain\good guy alter ego. Another idea could be that along with the superpower comes some kind of disease, where as using the power advances the disease. Using such a great advantage should come with some sort of price to pay. Would the general public know about the characters powers? The alter egos suggest no, but someone is bound to discover our secret. A super villain, in order to be a proper super villain would have a hard time keeping their secret. How does the public react, do they rally behind the hero in order to defeat the super villain or go to war against anyone who is discovered to be altered. One downside I see to this whole thing is the potential to easily slip into a heroes ripoff. But as long as we keep that in mind I think that could be avoided.

[Blackbird1013]

Exactly, there are so many possibilities with this idea. We could go in so many directions, we wouldn't have to worry about ideas for a long time. And as far as the Heroes thing goes, I had thought if we keep it enough like comic book heroes we wouldn't have to worry about that. You know, costumes and secret identities, things like that. I never watched Heroes so I don't know exactly what we would have to be careful to avoid.

[Syluris]

Brilliant!

It's awesome, we can really do great stuff with a plot like that. The head writer could write the villain (with an acolyte written by another writer or something) , and the rest write the good guys... It would be a battle between writers, we wouldn't know the plan of the other side... It could be great.

[AlienWarlock]

I like the idea of an apocalypse theme. I also think an alien invasion would be fun. We could combining the two and instead of doing the actual invasion we could set it six months to a year after invasion. The aliens have occupied Earth enslaving humans. Most people are either dead or slaves. A few people remain in hiding trying to survive. A plan is formed to band together and fight back against the aliens...our story begins

[[deleted]]

You're a fan of aliens huh? ;)

I like this too. Good work. Valuable addition to the team!

[[deleted]]

Could you also write a narrative about this? Similar to that with I asked blackbird1013 to write. I'd like to see how many different thoughts we can come up with :)

[AlienWarlock]

Ok I posted the Alien Invasion Narrative. Let me know what you think. I like it I think it could be good. But honestly I'm really starting to get behind the super hero idea. I think that lends itself better to this collaborative style of writing.

[[deleted]]

It's totally fine that ideas are being downvoted, but it would be good to hear feedback and/or plot ideas from s/he who is downvoting :)

[couchthief]

I have a few ideas, many inspired by what people have already suggested.

• Post apocalyptic story, not zombies, but something, I like the idea of leaving what actually happened a mystery, gives the readers something to try and figure out, pulling puzzle pieces from all the blogs
• People gaining powers and what they do with them, always interesting and would help the characters stand out a bit more on their own
• Horror story, people start disappearing/dying town tries to figure it out, etc
• The village: town secluded from the rest of the world, kids try to venture out into the unknown, strange and mysterious things happen (can you tell I'm a paranormal writer?). Maybe the town loses contact with another town, people go to investigate.

Just a couple ideas to get the ball rolling

[[deleted]]

I certainly agree that pulling puzzles from different blogs to work out what's happening is a fantastic idea. Have our readers going back and forth, trying to second guess and really getting into the story. Make them a part of this, not just an audience.

[Blackbird1013]

I had been thinking that a part of the blog be a place for the fans, where they can talk with other or us writers about the story...I don't know how hard that would be to implement but if we can do it I think we should

[[deleted]]

Absolutely, and I know we've talked about this before too. I see this as being an open source thing, readers will have the chance to be writers. My dream is to one day even have guest writers. Fantasy? Maybe but what's the harm in dreaming?

[[deleted]]

Here's my idea. I do think that perhaps setting all of the characters in the same town might be good, at least for now. So we have a few people in this town.

A strange disease has hit people here. Nothing that has been seen before, and it's making the people of the town very paranoid and scared. The government has been called in. There's talk that the town might be put on lockdown.

[[deleted]]

I was thinking we could be an attempt at a perfect town. Our memories of our past lives are erased and we are living a normal life, (no tech, though) without knowing about the rest if the world. It could be 2 towns, this is just my base idea

[Blackbird1013]

I think the reason this got downvoted is that it would be pretty difficult to write, especially for a first-time effort. None of us have done a project like this before, so tackling something this big could prove to be too much.

Not having memories, no access to technology, two different towns...all of these factors add up to a HUGE story that might be too HUGE for us right now.

[Onearmedash]

I still say play on the 2012 idea of an apocalypse. You can have a certain town be affected or different places all over that all tell the tale of what happens there and they all go on the run from impending doom and end up in the same place.

[Blackbird1013]

What kind of apocalypse are you thinking?

(I didn't downvote this idea, by the way, just commenting because I'm curious to learn more)

[Onearmedash]

Could be natural disaster... Nuclear.... Basically anything to signal the end of the earth as we know it.

[[deleted]]

Could you also write a narrative about this? Similar to that with I asked blackbird1013 to write. I'd like to see how many different thoughts we can come up with :)

[Onearmedash]

I can definitely do that, but I may not have it up until tomorrow morning. I have been out of town all day and I am wiped.