Ideas from the Last Few Months - Part 3 of ?
When I reached the top of Mt. Rainier it was odd. It was odd for a few reasons. First of all, I felt like I was drunk, never underestimate the power of elevation. But then there was this other thing, I wasn't sure what it was at first, it was kind of a letdown. I had been working at achieving this goal for around 6 months, now I was there, and it was a letdown. That confused me for awhile, and I realized that you always need to have a next step. I had nothing planned after that, nothing. That was a mistake.
Today, I have a political meeting that I've been working towards for a couple of weeks. It could go well or it could not. It's important that I make sure I have other things going, other things in motion, always another thing. Thus, story ideas.
Objective third person point of view is when you describe what people are doing, but you cannot know what anyone is thinking. What if I did that from the perspective of actual implements, like cameras? What if these were marked with the date and time? What if it was evidence in a case? Or surveillance for something? Maybe it's about vigilantes, or a robbery, it could be a mystery.
What if I presented a true monster? Not a dragon or alien or any other archetypal monster that gives us some distance and perspective on the subject. No, a true monster, like the Unabomber. A wielder of chaos, a destroyer of order and civilization. The Unabomber was trying to get society to collapse so that people would have to rebuild it. His ideas are insane, and he wasn't very effective. What if someone just as insane was more effective? You would need to get society to turn on itself, to eat itself. What if instead of killing people that were advancing technology the Unabomber had framed societal authorities? People would ask if it's true, there would probably be coverups, then you truly have corrupted them. If stories like that are being revealed for the highest judges on a monthly basis, maybe the foundations of society start getting questioned, and out of fear people start throwing away the keys to civilization, like innocent until proven guilty and due process. If you destroy the trust, faith, and respect then maybe the rest of society will destroy the laws, culture, and individual rights. Then, the descent into chaos is assured. I'm not sure I'm intelligent enough to really tackle that writing project, that might be up there with Nietzsche and Dostoevsky, but it's a good idea.
In the ancient Greek underworld of Hades there is a river, the River Styxx. You get ferried across this river after you're dead. That's why some cultures place coins on the eyes of the dead, to pay the ferryman. What if this was a thing? Maybe there are a group of ferrymen, I mean, a lot of people die, it might take more than one. They probably have their whole own town, own world. What do they do after work? Do they have a union? Maybe they all belong to the Styxx Ferryman Society. Maybe they are recruited from the fields of Asphodel. It reminds of something Neil Gaiman would explore.
What if there was a legal system based entirely on trial by combat? This would become corrupted like anything else. What would that look like? Cheating in the fights? Paying people to fight for you? The same thing could be explored in a society based on trial by ordeal.
The movie "The Man Who Invented Christmas" is about Charles Dickens writing "A Christmas Carol". It's a great movie. That same quality of writing applied to the stories behind Robert Louis Stevenson writing "Treasure Island" and "Jekyll and Hyde" would be at least as good. It's amazing how those stories were created.
What if aliens came to earth to save humanity, and maybe the animals? Plants? Something like Noah's Ark. Maybe there is an impending sun event that will wipe out all of earth life, but humanity doesn't have the technology to know this. So, many humans won't believe them, some will. There will be a lot of turmoil, especially in governments around the world. The aliens might become tyrannical for humanities own good, etc.
Jeremiah Johnson is an amazing story. There's a movie with Robert Redford about it. The true story is even crazier. Basically, an Indian tribe killed his Indian wife and his child because he guided a military unit through a sacred valley. He then declared a one man war on the tribe. I think a novel and another take on the script would be a good idea.
"There's No Such Thing as a Dragon" by Jack Kent is the greatest children's book ever written. It seems like it should have a short movie script to go with it.
Heroes fight against evil. That's fine, but wouldn't it be better if heroes built the good too? I think a hero story where there is a minor injustice that the hero stands against would show that standing against evil is just a step on the way to building the good. Maybe like a court scene about a traffic violation, or something, to reveal character.
What if life after death was an opportunity to pay restitution and enact restorative justice?
Those are just a few ideas, but I'm glad that I wrote them down today.
Today, I have a political meeting that I've been working towards for a couple of weeks. It could go well or it could not. It's important that I make sure I have other things going, other things in motion, always another thing. Thus, story ideas.
Objective third person point of view is when you describe what people are doing, but you cannot know what anyone is thinking. What if I did that from the perspective of actual implements, like cameras? What if these were marked with the date and time? What if it was evidence in a case? Or surveillance for something? Maybe it's about vigilantes, or a robbery, it could be a mystery.
What if I presented a true monster? Not a dragon or alien or any other archetypal monster that gives us some distance and perspective on the subject. No, a true monster, like the Unabomber. A wielder of chaos, a destroyer of order and civilization. The Unabomber was trying to get society to collapse so that people would have to rebuild it. His ideas are insane, and he wasn't very effective. What if someone just as insane was more effective? You would need to get society to turn on itself, to eat itself. What if instead of killing people that were advancing technology the Unabomber had framed societal authorities? People would ask if it's true, there would probably be coverups, then you truly have corrupted them. If stories like that are being revealed for the highest judges on a monthly basis, maybe the foundations of society start getting questioned, and out of fear people start throwing away the keys to civilization, like innocent until proven guilty and due process. If you destroy the trust, faith, and respect then maybe the rest of society will destroy the laws, culture, and individual rights. Then, the descent into chaos is assured. I'm not sure I'm intelligent enough to really tackle that writing project, that might be up there with Nietzsche and Dostoevsky, but it's a good idea.
In the ancient Greek underworld of Hades there is a river, the River Styxx. You get ferried across this river after you're dead. That's why some cultures place coins on the eyes of the dead, to pay the ferryman. What if this was a thing? Maybe there are a group of ferrymen, I mean, a lot of people die, it might take more than one. They probably have their whole own town, own world. What do they do after work? Do they have a union? Maybe they all belong to the Styxx Ferryman Society. Maybe they are recruited from the fields of Asphodel. It reminds of something Neil Gaiman would explore.
What if there was a legal system based entirely on trial by combat? This would become corrupted like anything else. What would that look like? Cheating in the fights? Paying people to fight for you? The same thing could be explored in a society based on trial by ordeal.
The movie "The Man Who Invented Christmas" is about Charles Dickens writing "A Christmas Carol". It's a great movie. That same quality of writing applied to the stories behind Robert Louis Stevenson writing "Treasure Island" and "Jekyll and Hyde" would be at least as good. It's amazing how those stories were created.
What if aliens came to earth to save humanity, and maybe the animals? Plants? Something like Noah's Ark. Maybe there is an impending sun event that will wipe out all of earth life, but humanity doesn't have the technology to know this. So, many humans won't believe them, some will. There will be a lot of turmoil, especially in governments around the world. The aliens might become tyrannical for humanities own good, etc.
Jeremiah Johnson is an amazing story. There's a movie with Robert Redford about it. The true story is even crazier. Basically, an Indian tribe killed his Indian wife and his child because he guided a military unit through a sacred valley. He then declared a one man war on the tribe. I think a novel and another take on the script would be a good idea.
"There's No Such Thing as a Dragon" by Jack Kent is the greatest children's book ever written. It seems like it should have a short movie script to go with it.
Heroes fight against evil. That's fine, but wouldn't it be better if heroes built the good too? I think a hero story where there is a minor injustice that the hero stands against would show that standing against evil is just a step on the way to building the good. Maybe like a court scene about a traffic violation, or something, to reveal character.
What if life after death was an opportunity to pay restitution and enact restorative justice?
Those are just a few ideas, but I'm glad that I wrote them down today.
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You can find more of what I'm doing at http://www.JeffreyAlexanderMartin.com
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