Calling to all

Chatterbox: Inkwell

Calling to all

Calling to all storytellers and storymakers

I need help. I have an idea for a story but just like the beginning. So I was hoping you guys could help me and make my idea into like a write as you go kind of thing. Are you in? Will you help? I will lay down my ideas so far and you can add your own if you want once this goes up. Thank you! 

submitted by Hawkstar, age ancient, ReAdInG iN a TrEe
(May 17, 2023 - 7:28 pm)

Sure, of course! I would love to help. 

submitted by Zealatom
(May 18, 2023 - 5:53 am)

@ thank you Zealatom!

So here is my basic starting point.

There are four different children (who are now at this point 12ish) who where born on the winter and summer solstice and sping and autumn equinox. the two in winter and spring are girls Mayu (winter girl) and Avril (spring girl)

the two in summer and autunm are the boys Theros (summer boy) and Logan (autunm boy) 

Mayu lives in japan and Avril in France. Theros in Hawaii and Logan in New York City. I will post there descritions later as well as personalities and such.

They will meet at a air port in the US waiting at the same turmainl and going to the same place. Avril is going back to France she had been on vacation in NYC. Mayu had been at NYC for a school and was now going to France for a while to visit her uncle and aunt. 

Theros had been going to France to stay the year in a very long transfer school and had a layover in NYC airport. Logan lives in NYC and is flying to France to take art lessons from a famous artist bc of his amazing work. 

After they meet they decide to meet up some more while in France bc they enjoyed each others company. While they get to know each other in France they discover they have powers related to the specific day they were born.

So thing is I don't know where to go with it after this. I don't know what they are going to do after they discover they're powers. So I need ideas and such on that part. And if something isn't clear ask me and I'll see if I know or we could just make something up. 

Wow that is a lot. post the characters stuff later. 

submitted by Hawkstar, age ancient, ReAdInG iN a TrEe
(May 18, 2023 - 2:41 pm)

I'll help as well!

I feel like the characters should take it in turns to narrate the story, because chance meetings seem to work fairly well with that method of narration, if that sounds good to you. 

submitted by Seadragon
(May 18, 2023 - 8:57 pm)

Thank you for helping Seadragon! and that type of narration will work perfectly. Thank you for the idea!

submitted by Hawkstar, age ancient, ReAdInG iN a TrEe
(May 19, 2023 - 8:17 am)

I'll help too! M'kay, do you have the specifics of what their powers are? Also, do you have any ideas for an antagonist/conflict?

submitted by Scuttles
(May 19, 2023 - 8:20 am)

Um, well.

*goes back and reads through everything again*

You have run into a creative roadblock often known as 'What happens next', it would seem....

I would suggest zooming out of the timeline for a moment and look at everything you have now as a basic directional guide. Know that EVERY story has three parts(apart from very few exeptions) known as: the beginning, the middle, and the end. (YEP.)

As far as I can see, you've got the beginning worked out in its roughs. Congrats! I would now say that you're prepared to plan out the second act: the middle, but we currently seem to be stuck smack right in the doorway.

Where to go next?

A very good question, that. Lead characters cannot live in happyland forever, and there needs to be trouble somewhere. Have you got the antagonist worked out yet? Is there any hint of abnormality in the beginning for foreshadowing purporses? Are you sure of the main conflict in your world? Those are some quite important questions to answer, and my rule of thumb is having at least a vague idea of them.

The most common and useful method of entering the middle is a explosive dramatical scene, often setting the undertone of the story and the lead(s) objectives, the 'point of no return'. Like how Luke Skywalker returns to find his home destroyed or Percy Jackson barely survives getting to camp half-blood, the point of no return changes the world of the lead(s) fundamently. But to write a scene like this, one has to first have a antagonist and a main conflict.

*exhales*

Ummm, thanks for reading all the way down to this sentence Hawkstar. Please allow me to sum up my very unneeded Ted talk.

Do you have a antagonist yet? If you don't, I can pitch in some ideas about that, because everything above was my mind running completely on the current informtation I have.

P.S. Sorry if my advice-giving may seem a bit too agressive, I'm terrible at these types of things... 

submitted by Zealatom
(May 19, 2023 - 9:20 am)

That sounds fun!

submitted by Avara, she/her
(May 19, 2023 - 11:05 am)

@Scuttles thank you for helping! And I think that Avara is helping too but her post has not showed up yet. 

See that is my problem. I need suggestions on antogonist stuff. Ideas and suggestions will be greatfully recived. The characters everything will be posted one at a time and will appear within the next 5ish days can't make any promises. thanks again! 

submitted by Hawkstar, age ancient, ReAdInG iN a TrEe
(May 19, 2023 - 4:08 pm)

Maybe it could turn out that the characters were born to defeat an ~evil group~ of people who are trying to take over the world, using dark magic. Once they discover this, the characters can try to carry out their mission and save the world...

submitted by Poinsettia
(May 20, 2023 - 4:05 pm)

Maybe each of the places where they're staying in France is robbed of the most precious object there, and the robbers are part of the evil group and expect them to try to find the stuff. When they do find the stuff, they're lured into the lair of the evil group, which is trying to mishandle the season powers in order to do things like murder people and/or make climate change worse. They then try to fight the evil group, which works out either completely or reasonably (reasonably if there's a sequel) well, and live happily ever after (or not). 

The captcha for this post is, according to the thing below that shows all things I've put in the captcha box (probably a feature of the browser, not the CB), an exact anagram of another captcha I've had. 

submitted by Seadragon
(May 20, 2023 - 8:06 pm)

Name: Mayu Ito

Age: 13

Born: December 21 2009

Appearance: 5’0’’ with long black hair that is usually styled in many different ways. Chocolate brown eyes and a pale complexion. Her lips are pink and she has a bright smile with straight white teeth. She has a small nose and she is usually wearing some sort of stylish dress. She wears combat boots or heeled sandals. She doesn’t like to get her hands dirty and she always seems to be impeccably perfect. She literally rolls out of bed looking amazing. 

Personality: A bit on the snobbish side and thinks a little too highly of herself. She is extremely smart and takes an online college class along with going to normal school. She can be a bit overbearing at times. She also is quick with her mind and can analyze a situation fast and efficiently. She can be quick with an insult or comeback. But she can also be quite understanding and a good listener.

Hobbies: she likes to do online college courses (as said above) and she also enjoys to go shopping constantly

Family: only child mom and dad constantly at work but their family is richish but despite the fact that Mayu enjoys this she feels very neglected

Powers when discovered: Power over the northern wind. Snow. Ice. She will be able to lower the temperature. (Should she have an outfit whenever she goes into ‘ice princess ‘mode? If you guys think she should I have an idea for that)

Skills without powers: quick thinker and plan maker. And if this counts can transform anyone into someone else appearance wise with her knowledge of clothes and make up.

Quirks: when nervous she becomes an ice statue. Distant and relatively frozen. When thinking she likes to have a piece of paper or something to just scribble on.

Languages she can speak:  Japanese and English. A bit of French and Spanish.

Weakness: she is afraid of most bugs and a dirty place. If she is in your room and it is dirty she will gag and begin cleaning

Other: she is the youngest of the four


submitted by Hawkstar, age ancient, ReAdInG iN a TrEe
(May 22, 2023 - 8:03 am)

In my opinion... she should absolutely have an ice princess outfit thing and it should be hekkin amazing kickbutt ice armor.

submitted by Scuttles
(May 23, 2023 - 8:04 am)

In terms of antagonists:

I would point out that an antagonist doesn't always have to be some external force of evil. It can be an internal problem or a less malicious but still problematic issue (ex: having trouble with their powers or someone who, instead of "stopping" you must help/intervene/convince to do something, or fighting amoungst the characters depending on whether or not you like drama). This kind of thing is generally relegated to a subplot, but figuring out some small conflict can help you explore the world and characters and relationships, and help you get some ideas down. Plus, there are definite examples of this kind of thing as a main plot, it just isn't as common in fantasy books like the one you seem to be aiming for.

submitted by Hunter
(May 23, 2023 - 7:42 pm)