I don't really like skipping out on the weekly story, but I've got a ton of assignments due this week and multiple story options I could go with, so it seems like a good chance to fall back on the story planning option.
The first option I’m tossing around comes from Sita’s first conversation with Ravana, when he’s disguised as an old hermit. She asks why someone nice like him would chose to live among the demons, “leaving cities where good men are to be found,” and it got me wondering the same thing. If I used this option, my protag will have done the same thing, and I’d like to find out what kind of character would do something like that. Probably someone who has more in common with the demons, or who has something to gain from it—someone who sells the demons some good or service they can’t get from their own kind.
I also really, really love characters who are impulsive and blindly self-destructive at their core, and my next option gives me a chance to play around with that kind of main character. In the Ramayana, there’s a story about a young demon going around wrecking stuff, and a god finally appears to the demon and tries to bargain with him—what will it take to make him stop trashing the world? In response, the demon kid says, “I want to fight forever. Please grant me that wish.” The kernel of that character—I want to fight forever—suggests so much about him. I’ve got plenty of room for different plots to use with him, but I’d definitely use that as the spine/soul of the story, and see how it expands.
I also found it interesting when the death god Yama is impressed by the strength of a dying Vali. It gives him much more personality than the standard Grim Reaper, and it makes me want to do a story with my own take on Death personified, so that’s also an option.
Finally, I’ve kicked around the idea of basing my story on the bit where Ravana’s brother intercedes on behalf of Hanuman, insisting that they couldn’t kill him because, essentially, that’s shooting the messenger. I think it could be fun to do something about a character who’s part of a messenger agency and then runs into trouble when he learns something he shouldn’t. It’s probably actually a story better-suited to a longer format, but I’ll still see if there’s some snippet of it that could be shaved off and repurposed for something this length.
Bibliography: The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic by R. K. Narayan.
Image: Notes in Notebook by Pexels. Source: Pixabay.
I think it's always so interesting to read a story planning post because it goes through the thought process that a person has when reading a story. Overall, it's just interesting to be able to have a glimpse into someone's mind. I really like how you take little tidbits, whether it is a quote or a character, from the story and create a completely different story from it. Regardless of what you choose to do, I'm really excited to read your story!
ReplyDeleteWow, reading each of these story planning options were awesome! I like the one about personified death a lot. There is always something neat about reading what over people are thinking when they read. It is cool that different parts tend to stick out to certain people but not others! Good luck with your story. Based off the planning, any option would be great!
ReplyDeleteLet me start of by saying wow. You start off the post by saying you don't really have enough time to write a story so you're going to do the story planner. Then you give 4 really good story ideas that seemingly have thoroughly been thought out. I am confident that no matter which direction you take your story you will have a good foundation to build upon. Seeing you are a story nut I can definitely tell that you have all these story ideas bouncing around in your head waiting to be let loose. I can't wait to see what story you come up with in a few days!
ReplyDeleteP.S. - My favorite story pitch was #2.