Interesting ideas/topics to base writing on?

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ForestRose
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23 Jul 2011, 1:34 pm

Does anybody have any interesting ideas or topics somebody could base writing on? If anybody could list a few of the top of their head that would be great ;) I finally have time to do things now but just need a little inspiration.



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23 Jul 2011, 1:45 pm

Three ideas. First is heavy, second is middling, third is potentially light.

Well there's the downward spiral and death of someone like Amy Winehouse. I've been fixated on this the last hour. Maybe about a point where someone enters the out-of-control person's life and has a chance to save them, whether either they or the sufferer realizes it, and whether they save them or not, or whethe they save them "for a while" even if eventually they die cause all things eventually do come to an end

What it is like to live as a pet dog, the fear, confusion, happiness, different perspective entirely

What if someone grew up with a best friend they had a strong connection to. Then the best friend disappears, runs away from home and is never recovered. When the person grows up they have a child who remind them of someone. The friend. The child grows up and it becomes clear the child looks and acts exactly like the friend. The child is the friend. At a certain point the mom realizes the child will eventually and soon have to time travel back into the past to become the best friend she was to her as a child. Actually this one is potentially pretty heavy huh.



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23 Jul 2011, 1:59 pm

Consider a person who can't communicate, what do they think about? What insights do you think they would want to share with the world?

I've always wanted to write about someone like that, someone who has some profound insights about how our world operates, yet he is completely unable to communicate it to us.



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23 Jul 2011, 2:08 pm

There was this premise I wrote, and frustratingly I have been unable to continue it. It's about this town where everyone wakes up one day with some kind of super power - that is everyone except for this one person - Phil McDonald.

I just came up with this one where the world forgets about this kid. No one can remember him ever existing, his things are gone and he wakes up in his house, his parents don't know who he is or how he got there. When they take his DNA test it turns up inconclusive. He has memories of other people, so he can describe things about their life that didn't directly involve him, like what eachother got for Christmas, of course this only makes him look like some kind of stalker.

I have this premise I have been wanting to write about the idea of the evolution of tactics in warfare. For instance one side invents the gun, the otherside invents a bullet proof vest. the other side invents armour piercing weapons, the other side develops camoflauge so they can't be seen at far distances etc. etc.

The idea of that one though, is suppose some defense contractor tries to do this in a closed environment, so they develop all the responses to their own technologies like 20 steps in advance, so when the war breaks out they can make tons of money selling the weapon on one side and the response to it on the other.



cornelius6
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24 Jul 2011, 12:34 am

Quote:
I have this premise I have been wanting to write about the idea of the evolution of tactics in warfare. For instance one side invents the gun, the otherside invents a bullet proof vest. the other side invents armour piercing weapons, the other side develops camoflauge so they can't be seen at far distances etc. etc.

The idea of that one though, is suppose some defense contractor tries to do this in a closed environment, so they develop all the responses to their own technologies like 20 steps in advance, so when the war breaks out they can make tons of money selling the weapon on one side and the response to it on the other.


That's a great idea! I would love to read that story/book. I have a great interest in game theory and this sort of story could have so many layers. The money makers, the guys selling the weapons, would have to keep a steady equilibrium to maximize their profits. You can't have both sides mutually destroy each other off the bat. It's a game with 3 players, 2 trying to destroy each other and 1 trying to make money. Thing is, the 2 warring players cannot find out the true motive of player 3, indeed that 3 is a player at all, or else the game would change. Player 3 would become a possible target and/or ally to the remaining 2. If player 3 was smart, he would be prepared for such an outcome, he would have a wild card up his sleeve.

I also like the mystery of your other scenario.


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wcoltd
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24 Jul 2011, 5:23 am

cornelius6 wrote:
Quote:
I have this premise I have been wanting to write about the idea of the evolution of tactics in warfare. For instance one side invents the gun, the otherside invents a bullet proof vest. the other side invents armour piercing weapons, the other side develops camoflauge so they can't be seen at far distances etc. etc.

The idea of that one though, is suppose some defense contractor tries to do this in a closed environment, so they develop all the responses to their own technologies like 20 steps in advance, so when the war breaks out they can make tons of money selling the weapon on one side and the response to it on the other.


That's a great idea! I would love to read that story/book. I have a great interest in game theory and this sort of story could have so many layers. The money makers, the guys selling the weapons, would have to keep a steady equilibrium to maximize their profits. You can't have both sides mutually destroy each other off the bat. It's a game with 3 players, 2 trying to destroy each other and 1 trying to make money. Thing is, the 2 warring players cannot find out the true motive of player 3, indeed that 3 is a player at all, or else the game would change. Player 3 would become a possible target and/or ally to the remaining 2. If player 3 was smart, he would be prepared for such an outcome, he would have a wild card up his sleeve.

I also like the mystery of your other scenario.


It seems such a lucrative strategy I don't understand why defense contractors don't already do this in real life.



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24 Jul 2011, 7:59 am

You might also want to try something more esoteric.

Open a dictionary on 5 random pages. Pick 5 random words, eg:

House
Fridge
Corn
Ghost
Napalm

Now, turn this into a story.

If you're being really strict, you do it in order, but you don't have to, since it doesn't always work! :lol:

The longer the story, the more words you'll need.


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cornelius6
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24 Jul 2011, 8:24 pm

Quote:
It seems such a lucrative strategy I don't understand why defense contractors don't already do this in real life.


I think it's because there is no real international defense contractor. They all have to work for the country that houses them. I count the EU as a country, or military entity. So it's all like the scenario in which the game of 3 players collapses to player 3 being an ally to one side and one side only.
In the realm of scifi, it's all possible. To wit: Business as Usual, a DS9 episode has that sort of scenario in it. It's not very intricate, but it does expose a lot of the moral issues such a scheme might have.


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wcoltd
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24 Jul 2011, 8:59 pm

Yeah, with science fiction, that's exactly what I was thinking...