Plot-In 2014

Sage · Oct 28, 2014

Do you need help with your NaNo novel? Looking for plot coupons your characters could collect? Need some character names? Looking for a variety of magical powers/planets/creatures, fantastical or mundane/methods of death/movies your character could be obsessed with/district names/whatever? Don't know what should happen after Plot Point B?

Here's the place to request help. It's the last-minute rush before you start writing (but, hey, no reason you couldn't get plot-in-type advice in November too), and you have all these wonderful NaNoers ready to create. Maybe we can help you create too

Will it be helpful suggestions? Maybe. Will they be silly suggestions? I'm sure some plot ninjas of doom or traveling shovels of death might stop by. But we'll try our best to spark some inspiration for you, solve your problems, or at least make you laugh.

meowzbark · Oct 28, 2014

Okay, I'll bite.

I have a general idea of a plot, but my characters are still blobs. I'd like some help fleshing out these two characters. Somewhere between 16 and 18 years old. Personality + appearances please!

This is a fantasy/sci-fi book. These girls have been selected from a very poor village to do something...IDK yet. They will be interacting with my MC for the first 1/3rd of the book.

Hannah – shy, factual, easily distracted/bullied, hates when things aren’t fair

Cora -- calculating...no idea where else to go with this

Sage · Oct 29, 2014

Cora - average height and build, dull brown hair. She doesn't make an impression until she opens her mouth. That suits her fine because it allows her to make her plans without having to deal with other's interruptions. But when she does speak, she commands attention, and she's always right (or at least she thinks she is).

Hannah - She has long blond hair, blue eyes, and petite features. She's actually very pretty, but she lets her hair fall in her face to hide it. She's very short for her age, and it makes her feel extra intimidated because *everyone* is bigger than her.

meowzbark · Oct 29, 2014

Sage said:
Cora - average height and build, dull brown hair. She doesn't make an impression until she opens her mouth. That suits her fine because it allows her to make her plans without having to deal with other's interruptions. But when she does speak, she commands attention, and she's always right (or at least she thinks she is).

Hannah - She has long blond hair, blue eyes, and petite features. She's actually very pretty, but she lets her hair fall in her face to hide it. She's very short for her age, and it makes her feel extra intimidated because *everyone* is bigger than her.

Awesome, thank you!

Gringa · Oct 29, 2014

Okie dokie, just deleted and decided to work on this some more until I have more info- so-
hopefully I can help someone else!

Maggie Maxwell · Oct 29, 2014

Gringa said:
Okie dokie, just deleted and decided to work on this some more until I have more info- so-
hopefully I can help someone else!

Well, I see you deleted it, but I was going to say you've got two possible options that I can see: 1) There IS a killer loose and they're drawn to MC's house or 2) MC becomes a killer in their paranoia, accidentally killing someone else, like a thief who broke in, a friend who wanted to surprise them, an city inspector who came to check the place out for the mess, anything like that.

Alli B. · Oct 29, 2014

I'm looking for a refreshing character-flaw/inner demon setup for a character that doesn't remember who he is. I'm not fond of the drama behind who he once was, and I'm looking for genuine character flaws. Right now, he's just kinda a do-gooder that looks up and follows orders of his do-gooder brother.

Eventually he's on his own, but even when he does branch out, he isn't struggling with anything internal.

If it helps, its a medieval setting. Any suggestions?

Maggie Maxwell · Oct 30, 2014

Alli B. said:
I'm looking for a refreshing character-flaw/inner demon setup for a character that doesn't remember who he is. I'm not fond of the drama behind who he once was, and I'm looking for genuine character flaws. Right now, he's just kinda a do-gooder that looks up and follows orders of his do-gooder brother.

Eventually he's on his own, but even when he does branch out, he isn't struggling with anything internal.

If it helps, its a medieval setting. Any suggestions?

If he's accustomed to looking up to and following the order of his brother, would he struggle with making his own decisions once on his own? What if he has reason to start questioning whether his brother was as good as he saw him? Do-gooder strikes me as someone who sees the world as black and white, good and evil, but the realization that there are shades of grey can shake someone's mental foundation.

CoffeeBeans · Oct 30, 2014

TAMaxwell said:
What if he has reason to start questioning whether his brother was as good as he saw him? Do-gooder strikes me as someone who sees the world as black and white, good and evil, but the realization that there are shades of grey can shake someone's mental foundation.

Seconded! His brother made the calls, and he followed them, but now without his brother, he's begun to question some of those decisions (maybe some he'd followed without question before). Maybe the lack of leadership/someone else to follow causes a bad decision/paralysis in a spot where he should have acted, and now there's fallout.

Gringa · Oct 30, 2014

TAMaxwell said:
Well, I see you deleted it, but I was going to say you've got two possible options that I can see: 1) There IS a killer loose and they're drawn to MC's house or 2) MC becomes a killer in their paranoia, accidentally killing someone else, like a thief who broke in, a friend who wanted to surprise them, an city inspector who came to check the place out for the mess, anything like that.

Thanks so much TAMaxwell. I've been thinking about your ideas a lot. Especially the city inspector. Perfect.

Gringa

Alli B. · Oct 30, 2014

TAMaxwell said:
If he's accustomed to looking up to and following the order of his brother, would he struggle with making his own decisions once on his own? What if he has reason to start questioning whether his brother was as good as he saw him? Do-gooder strikes me as someone who sees the world as black and white, good and evil, but the realization that there are shades of grey can shake someone's mental foundation.

CoffeeBeans said:
Seconded! His brother made the calls, and he followed them, but now without his brother, he's begun to question some of those decisions (maybe some he'd followed without question before). Maybe the lack of leadership/someone else to follow causes a bad decision/paralysis in a spot where he should have acted, and now there's fallout.

Perfect! Thank you guys. I was really struggling with it.

Forbidden Snowflake · Oct 31, 2014

So...

I have a young girl about 12 and she's nothing special and not the chosen one, she however by accident at a Comic Con buys a t-shirt that was supposed to be for the chosen one.

Now she ends up in this magical world (how? does the t-shirt transport her there?)

and wants to go back home.

On her way she learns that she has to be neither special nor the chosen one to save the magical world (from what though??)

You see, I'm stuck on some things and essentially have nothing

Tomorrow will be fun. Help?

Carrie in PA · Oct 31, 2014

Forbidden Snowflake said:
So...

I have a young girl about 12 and she's nothing special and not the chosen one, she however by accident at a Comic Con buys a t-shirt that was supposed to be for the chosen one.

Now she ends up in this magical world (how? does the t-shirt transport her there?)

and wants to go back home.

On her way she learns that she has to be neither special nor the chosen one to save the magical world (from what though??)

You see, I'm stuck on some things and essentially have nothing Tomorrow will be fun. Help?

What if the Chosen One was supposed to buy a t-shirt but give them a sort of passphrase to be given an amulet or other portal or something (or the shirt has something sewn into it??), and the passphrase is a cheesy quote that she just happens to say?? So the person gives her the t-shirt, slips the amulet into the bag, and responds to her with the another weird random quote, which she thinks is really weird, but it IS ComicCon, right? LOL

Alli B. · Oct 31, 2014

Forbidden Snowflake said:
So...

I have a young girl about 12 and she's nothing special and not the chosen one, she however by accident at a Comic Con buys a t-shirt that was supposed to be for the chosen one.

Now she ends up in this magical world (how? does the t-shirt transport her there?)

First off, I love it.

As for your question, what if someone transported her from old world to new because he/she knew that the chosen one was marked by that shirt? Of course, I can't help but think about Hagrid, so maybe not such a good idea.

Or, for a more urban fantasy feel, what if wearing the shirt allowed her to see the world for what it truly is? At first things seem a bit strange, but the more she wears it the more of this world she's able to see.

Forbidden Snowflake said:
and wants to go back home.

On her way she learns that she has to be neither special nor the chosen one to save the magical world (from what though??)

I'm not sure how I feel about the person deemed not worthy actually being "the chosen one" when it's all said and done. Perhaps her purpose is to get the chosen one to that world, with conflicts rotating around her wanting to stay home once she figures how to get back and the chosen one being a pain in the ass. She only returns because she feels like she needs to babysit him/her (or it could be someone close to her that she's always been protective of like a little brother or best friend).

As for saving the world, that's going to be up to you. I don't know enough about the other world to think of what it would need saving from.

Forbidden Snowflake said:
You see, I'm stuck on some things and essentially have nothing Tomorrow will be fun. Help?

One way or another, tomorrow will be fun. You've got the right attitude to make it that way.

Forbidden Snowflake · Oct 31, 2014

Carrie in PA said:
What if the Chosen One was supposed to buy a t-shirt but give them a sort of passphrase to be given an amulet or other portal or something (or the shirt has something sewn into it??), and the passphrase is a cheesy quote that she just happens to say?? So the person gives her the t-shirt, slips the amulet into the bag, and responds to her with the another weird random quote, which she thinks is really weird, but it IS ComicCon, right? LOL

I like the cheesy quote thing.

Alli B. said:
First off, I love it.

As for your question, what if someone transported her from old world to new because he/she knew that the chosen one was marked by that shirt? Of course, I can't help but think about Hagrid, so maybe not such a good idea.

Or, for a more urban fantasy feel, what if wearing the shirt allowed her to see the world for what it truly is? At first things seem a bit strange, but the more she wears it the more of this world she's able to see.

I'm not sure how I feel about the person deemed not worthy actually being "the chosen one" when it's all said and done. Perhaps her purpose is to get the chosen one to that world, with conflicts rotating around her wanting to stay home once she figures how to get back and the chosen one being a pain in the ass. She only returns because she feels like she needs to babysit him/her (or it could be someone close to her that she's always been protective of like a little brother or best friend).

As for saving the world, that's going to be up to you. I don't know enough about the other world to think of what it would need saving from.

One way or another, tomorrow will be fun. You've got the right attitude to make it that way.

Oh, wow, I really, really like the seeing the world as it is idea instead of having to come up with my own Narnia or Middle Earth, or whatever it is. However that's a bit Potter-ish as well, isn't it

But I *really* like it.

I was thinking that the message could be along the lines of, you don't need to chosen, special, magical, don't need a destiny, straight A's or a scar left by the Dark Lord, no, just by deciding you care and you want to help, you can change and save the world.

Or is that cheesy?

Which is why I didn't want her to be the Chosen One, more the sidekick to the Chosen One, who is crucial to the salvation...

Thank you very much, helpful input, my mind is rotating, always a good sign.

Plot-In 2014

Sage

Supreme Guessinator

meowzbark

Sage

Supreme Guessinator

meowzbark

Gringa

Maggie Maxwell

Making Einstein cry since 1994

Alli B.

Maggie Maxwell

Making Einstein cry since 1994

CoffeeBeans

Gringa

Alli B.

Forbidden Snowflake

I'm quite put out.

Carrie in PA

Write All The Words!

Alli B.

Forbidden Snowflake

I'm quite put out.