Story Notebook #7

All right, it’s been forever since my last story notebook post, so I figure it’s time to do another one.

Last time, I shared the story ideas I from my fifth story notebook, during my time in Washington DC.  This next notebook is pretty tattered, and it covers my time from graduation to winter of last year.  One of the reasons it’s falling apart is probably because I didn’t have a car and had to bike everywhere.  That’s probably why I weighed fifteen pounds less, too.

EDIT: This notebook actually covers the end of summer to the the winter, after I’d gotten a car.  Minor point, but it’s worth noting to clarify.

Anyhow, here we go:

Machu Pichu…IN SPAAACE!!!  Seriously, an exploration mission that finds abandoned ruins on another planet.

Happens fairly often in science fiction, though it isn’t something I’ve tried my hand at yet.  Although I guess there was some of that in Genesis Earth, and I’ve got a couple of ideas for something similar in the Gaia Nova Universe…moving on!

A knight sets out to rescue the damsel from the dragon, but the damsel slays the dragon and becomes the monster that the knight must slay.

Hmm, this one sounds promising.  Of course, “knight,” “dragon,” and “damsel” are all archetypes, not literal characters.  For example, if Raoul is the knight, the Phantom is the dragon, and Christine is the damsel in distress…wow, that would be disturbing.

What if Earth is a wildlife preserve for an interstellar species that is far more advanced than us?

Kind of like “They’re Made of Meat”?  I think Predator might have done something like this, except that Earth was a hunting preserve.

A society where people achieve immortality by uploading their consciousnesses to a normal human fetus through a process called “reconception.” They do this because computer hardware is incompatible with human wetware.

I’m pretty sure I retrofitted this story idea from a play on the word “inception.” Man, that was a good movie.

Planetary colonization scheme: send down a group of genetically modified humans, who are hardy, extremely fertile, have shorter gestation periods, etc, and have them do the dirty work of building the first settlements.  Then send the regular humans after a couple of generations, when they’ll be revered as gods for their superior technology, and have the two cultures intermarry.

I had a long involved dream about this story idea shortly after I had it.  Sounds like a good idea for a series; one of these days, I’ll have to write it.

A character who sees right through all the pretenses and lies of society to know people for what they are–a magnificent judge of character who isn’t swayed by power, position, or pretend honors (eg high paying jobs)

In other words, Captain Moroni–IN SPAAACE!!!

An offworld version of Australia or Siberia, where convicts create their own country.

This idea could single handedly save the US space program.

A society in which everyone must remarry every X number of years.

Wow–I want to use this right now in my current WIP!  Okay, maybe that would be a bad idea.

What if dreams are not only the subconscious working through the events of the past day, but of events that our consciousness perceives as lying in the future?  That the subconscious transfers information non-linearly through time and space?

So shiny…must..resist…

A character who can read minds, knows every dirty thought inside your head, and isn’t disgusted by it.

If I ever met a girl like that, my first question for her would be “will you marry me?”

What if the evolution of our society in the information age is like simple celled organisms evolving into complex ones?  Where the AI overmind will organize into a giant organism as complex as a human being?

Reminds me of an excellent story on Escape Pod titled “Endosymbiont.” You should drop whatever it is that you’re doing and listen to that story right now!

An evil overlord who wants to unite mankind under the overmind instead of under his own rule

Kind of like a mashup between Sauron and Javier.

Perhaps every generation has an impossible battle, and whether they rise to meet it or fail to overcome it defines that generation’s place in history.

If that’s true, I’m pretty sure my generation is failing.

A fantasy that romanticizes the minion.

An AI that falls in love with its creator.

A person who appears schizo but actually jumps between close possible universes.

Better yet, a story that mashes all of those ideas together!

A character who loses the mental ability to translate sounds into words and language–who sees everyone else as animals.

I’m pretty sure this happened in The Silmarillion at some point.

A character who believes that existence itself is an epiphanic prison.

…and appears schizo but actually jumps between close possible universes…

What if war and terror is normal everywhere else in the world, and all of us Americans living our quaint middle class lives are ridiculously sheltered?

Uh, I’m pretty sure that’s not fiction…

A fast food place that uses time travel to delver full course meals.

<facepalm> Oh man, there are so many ways that could go wrong.

And finally:

A future world in which smiles have been turned into a commodity.

WE…ARE..THE NINETY NINE PERCENT!

And that concludes my sixth story notebook.  I sense an encouraging trend; some of these ideas were pretty good!  Or maybe I’m still too close to them…in any case, there’s no telling until someone actually sits down and writes the story.

So if you feel like taking one of these ideas and running with it, feel free!