Yeah, I’ve hit it. The wall. You know what I mean. That point where what you need in your WIP eludes you completely. Right now I feel like slamming my head into that wall.
The desk will have to do.
In leiu of that, want to help me brainstorm? Writers always have the best ideas about… what to write. 🙂
So, here’s the deal. Futuristic society, oldest daughter and therefore heir of the Emperor is approximately 10 yrs old. I need her to do something/something to happen to her between this age and about 16yrs old, that’s age appropriate, that will help build sympathy for this character that I’m going to need later.
Part of the difficulty, though, is that the book is a first-person narration by her father (not the Emperor, the other one.) (Yes, Molly has two daddies.) So whatever happens is filtered through his observations and her conversations with him. The father who is the narrator is the one she sees as the sympathetic one, so she is likely to have more open conversations with him than a tween/teen girl might otherwise.
She’s a great character. Headstrong and stubborn, very smart, fearless, her fathers are big on responsibility and not spoiling the children, which she rebels against a bit, but she’s got a keen sense of responsibility in spite of that. But there’s a nice bit of friction between her and the Emperor, who is trying to train her up to succeed him.
So, that’s not exactly a lot of plot info, but, at the end of the day, kids are kids and I just need a jumping-off idea.
Help?
How about an ostricization? What if the other children her age bear her a grudge for something (being heir, her other father, the colour of her hair – kids are weird, it can be almost anything). Have her go to ‘Dad’ for advice on the situation and watch with him as she resolves it.
Don’t know if that will work, but I must say, I’m curious about your story now. Cargon revolves around a young heir to the throne set in a futuristic Earth. 😀
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Since girls (and boys for that matter) are excessively hormonal at that age range, perhaps she has her first crush that is more than “puppy love.” But, being a royal heir, this poses many problems, personally and politically. So, maybe dad has to help her understand that love and relationships work differently for her because of who she is…
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Oh! two great ideas already.
Kimmy, I honestly hadn’t thought of the idea of some sort of ostracization. I’d imagined her situationally ostracized because of who she is. Which was true for her father, but her situation’s very different from his. Hmmmm…
Tom, I have her in a very significant friendship with a boy during this period which I really don’t need ripening too quickly. But that doesn’t mean I can’t add in a different object of her first crush! Great idea!
Lets do this some more. I love the way it’s making me think about things from a new angle.
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How structured is the class system in this world? For some reason reading through what you said, and the great ideas people were dropping, I get this idea of her getting involved a lower class of person. Not so much a romantic involvement, but what if perhaps she is trying to champion for the underdog, to get the Emperor to maybe look different at how things work in his reign. (I’m not sure if I explained this well or not.)
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GREAT question Aden, because the class system is VERY rigid; a fact which drives most of the conflict in the first book.
Unfortunately, as far as brainstorming goes, those class elements are already well integrated into the plot. Although I have definitely considered her doing some sort of poverty-outreach thing here. It just won’t work as a major element in this section of the timeline because it comes into play in a larger role later.
Leah Petersen recently posted..5MinuteFiction Week 48
Richard Wood just suggested cancer.
Way to raise the bar, Richard.
Leah Petersen recently posted..Shall We Brainstorm
Maybe she rescues and raises a wounded animal, and it eventually dies. So she gets her first lesson about death and caring for others and so on.
Hi Leah: I JUST had a similar problem with my W post (A to Z Blog Challenge) last night. I’m writing an ongoing story, got 600 words into it..and I just could not deal with what I wrote. It just felt wrong, and I felt boxed in a corner. I slept on it, and just finished the W to a more satisfying solution, for me, anyways.
as to your story: it’s probably cliche, but…have her eventually become a voice for an opposing group of like minded pre-teens into teens, with a following picking up their philosophy along the way. Not hidden like Enders siblings in the Ender Universe, or as subversive. I would tend not to make it a romantic thing for her to follow, but more of a moral imperative. It’s not friction as much as opening a new path to dialogue, and those who won’t give a moral thought to anything.
Such great ideas! This is what I love about brainstorming. People come at it from such different angles.
Raven, that’s a neat idea, and I’m thinking, if it doesn’t work for this character, there’s a child elsewhere I might use it for.
Stuart, that’s actually sparking ideas, if not of that specifically, angles to approach her from as well as other things she does.
Writers rock!
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I think that being ostracized by your peers is an excellent way to build sympathy for your character. Like someone has said it’s a hormonal time so relationships, priorities, moods and looks can get all f’ed up and the great thing is that these can sort themselves out over time all on their own with out a lot of lasting issues (or so my shrink says). I think a bout of poor self esteem that shakes her strength and perhaps sends her a short ways down a bad path could do a lot for a young teenage character.
What if she discovers something going on within the gov’t and she sympathizes with the rebellion and chooses to expose the things that are being done to the people who are deemed lesser than the aristocracy and thereby causes a rift within her family and her circle. This would lead to ostracism (which is an idea i love too) And maybe she finds out her father (the one she is close to) has a part in it.
Good luck, can’t wait to hear what you decide to do.
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I was talking about something similar recently and the topic came up of physical injury : ranging from something with no scarring but leaving a mild phobia, to mild to extreme scarring (visible or non-visible with normal clothing), to maiming impairing a major bodily feature (walks with a limp, can’t grip with a hand, to blindness I suppose.)
I am thinking any of these could add an element of difficulty giving the character something to overcome.
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Matt, you’ve actually reminded me of a time when Carly was little and she asked me about my white spots (vitiligo), and I told her I had them because I was special… And she got upset because she wasn’t special enough to have spots. Oops. 😉
But it’s a fantastic point. That’s something that could happen to someone at any level of society that wouldn’t feel contrived. Ohhhhhh…
Corinne, combined with what I’ve been cogitating on other things said above, your point really nails down another idea for me.
I’ll keep you guys updated and THANK YOU!
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Loving the ideas!!!!
Here’s a thought…say this character has an older brother, who is next in line to rule. Problem is, he dies some kind of way when she’s young. This could bring sympathy points, as well as make the relationship with her father, the king, a little bit strained. He was expecting his son to rule, and now has to settle for his daughter. So, not only is she learning to rule, she also has some shoes to fill. Not only death, but also self worth and parental acceptance.
Just a thought…:)
She could run away on some kind of quest and learn things that will help rule the country in the future. Bonding with her people. Perhaps an injury that gets better in time but she has to learn patience because she can’t do what she could for along time years in fact to ge back what she once had in mobility.
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