Ideas for stories

23Jul08

I’ve had several story ideas floating around in my head. The best ways I could translate them to words are just that. Brief ideas that could be described only in snippets of sentences. I’ll try and do by best at making sense, but I’m not promising anything completely fleshed out.

The first one:

This idea is set in the near-ish future. Whenever I envision the place-setting I always think of it occurring at night. However that’s a bit clichéd. The story will revolve around three characters and be somewhat noir-like. One of the major thematic elements would be corruption being inherent within all institution. The first of the three will be very much the epitome of the ‘evil’ within the mind-set of ‘the greater good’. In a way he’s the protagonist but in a way the reader is going to dislike his actions to be as such. The second will be the antagonist, however I want the reader to sympathize with him, to agree with what he does while at the same time disliking the way he does it. Essentially they will be echoing each other in terms of ‘the right that is done wrongly’. With the first it will be delving into the realm of institutionalized corruption, with the latter it will be vigilantism gone overboard. I’ve been thinking about a third character as well, but for now he remains in the shadows of disassembled sentences.

The second story idea I have is that of a man returning from war. It’s set in an alternate present, where military service is compulsory and needed to qualify for fedgov programs (welfare, healthcare). The current figurehead calls for an emancipation of all soldiers in service should they decide to leave. Obviously many do as does our protagonist. I really like the idea of conversation novels, where the action is between characters that are pillars for a certain mindset. It’s easy to say ’such-and-such thrilling car chase’ than it is to write a multi-faceted conversation while avoiding being one sided. Obviously I have an agenda (government programs being contingent on fulfilling duties is ‘bad’) but I feel that it’s something that most everyone can agree ‘is bad’. In a nutshell: Emancipated soldier goes to bar, soldier meets lady-bartender, soldier spends night with lady-bartender, ZOMG something major happens and the emancipation is revoked, in during shitstorm, the characters debate the needs of the country versus the needs of the individual, and the thrilling conclusion.

I kind of want to tie it all together in a epic space adventure including characters from the previous/coming stories. Nothing specific has deposited, however. More to come on it, I hope.

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