posted
Or she's hiding from someone, and watching for them?
Posts: 262 | Registered: Feb 2001
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Infyrno
unregistered
posted
In the light of her paranoia, she is clutching something while her eyes shift back and forth violently as something terrible happened to her in the past.
posted
But what if she was undead and was hiding from the person who made her that way. And she really is looking for a way to die.
Posts: 807 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
Those are all great ideas. Next step is to take one and run with it. It doesn't mean that if you like another one better you can't take it and run with it yourself, because all could get you to a great story, but now we've got to go with one or two.
posted
According to OSC the reason you keep asking this question is that your first couple of thoughts WILL be cliches.
So, let me try a couple more.
On the hiding front...
She's hiding from her grandchildren, it's a game of hide-and-seek
She's hiding from her dog, which has just turned rabid.
She's hiding from death, who has told her it's nearly time.
She's hiding from her life. (That gets into dissociative fugue, a fascinating mental disorder almost nobody knows about. I might have to write a story about it some day though.)
Or she's dead....
If she died of natural causes 1. her life is flashing before her eyes and she wonders if it was good enough. 2. She was an important leader, the only person holding two sides ready to leap on each other at bay, and now that she's dead all heck will break loose.
If she was killed.... 1. I liked the she's hiding from her murderer noe knowing she's dead. (--raid) Even though I know it's cliche. but you could take the cliche and make it something new if you wanted to. 2. Her murderer is still in the forest, and she's worried for her family. (I know, another cliche)
The trouble with the death angle is that it requires more characters. A dead person doesn't usually do anything.
posted
I like the hiding from the grandchildren angle, but with a few more twists—
She’s hiding from her grandchildren because they are not her grandchildren. They only look like them…
She’s hiding from them because she carries a plague and doesn’t want to give it to them. The most loving thing she can do is die alone…
She’s hiding from them because they found something for her and want to give it to her, but they don’t realize that it is killing her…
She’s hiding from them because, for her species, the grandmother raises the children, and this is how they reach final maturity…
She’s hiding from them because she’s Baba Yaga, and sweet little Hansel (Hansel? Hansel??) and Grettal have gotten their hands on a chainsaw… (Blooming punk-rock kids!)
She’s hiding from them because she’s about to change into a werewolf…
She’s hiding from them because she hopes they will come looking for her, which will draw them away from the house which is about to be covered by a flood…
She’s hiding from them because they want to put her in an old people’s home…
posted
As I read over the ideas presented so far, something occurred to me: we've been discussing why she's here, instead of in her usual place, but not why she's in this particular place. When Christine said
quote:Um...A big, humongous tree of something (life, death, mystery, hope, love...whatever). This is the setting.
it immediately put an image in my head. I can see where she is - the giant Tree, towering above the others, the silvery moonlight (or golden late-afternoon light, or misty gray rain) falling on her face, the colorful dried leaves (or pine needles and cones) beneath her. That Tree is important enough to be unusual, it's not just any tree in the forest. So why is she here, as opposed to any other place outside her normal life?
Which lead me to think - what if this is normal for her, at least recently? What if she's hidden from everyone but those who are supposed find her? Maybe she's a type of Gatekeeper or Guide that sits at the base of the Tree and waits for those special few who can find her? Perhaps she's even stone statue until those travelers get near enough? How did she get this way? Was it her choice, or is she bound in some way? Why her, as opposed to someone else? What determines who can find her, and what will their journeys entail after they meet her?
Ok, I think that's enough rambling from me for the time being.
posted
She is a fugitive. From where? How did she get here in the forest. She rests under this magnificent tree and becomes aware of a peace she hasn't felt in days. The tree...calls to her, bewitches her...traps her???
Posts: 173 | Registered: Dec 2002
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posted
I just realized we haven't picked whether this is sci fi, fantasy, or even mainstream. The forest, of course, makes us think of fantasy, but what if the tree and the forest are on another planet. Then what might this woman be doing there?
Posts: 3567 | Registered: May 2003
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posted
Ha! I like that, and not because, even as I type, I have a similiar story in progress on my word processor! Posts: 3567 | Registered: May 2003
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The tree sends the energy via microwave laser (maser if you like) to an orbiting space-station. The people who live on the planet have devolved (cliche, yes) and know nothing about space travel.
fantasy option:
The tree is a sentient being, full of hate.
as you might guess, I like the scientific option better, but I'm trying to think openly...
posted
The tree was really 2 trees. Twisted together in eternal embrace. One light, one dark, oposites bound together for eternity. Given the power over life and death.
quote:The tree was really 2 trees. Twisted together in eternal embrace. One light, one dark, oposites bound together for eternity. Given the power over life and death.
Granted, this may be cliche, but: perhaps the people that live here always bring their dead to the Tree. Late each night, the dead bodies sink into the ground and disappear, but within a few days a new bud appears on one of the tree's lower limbs. After a few months, the bud has grown large, and when it blooms, within the people find (as you might expect) a new baby.
This is how they reproduce - a sacrifice to the death half of the Tree brings the gift of Life from the other half.
Of course this brings up all kinds of questions, like will the tree accept someone living who's sitting in the right place? (Perhaps our woman is sitting there, hoping to be taken as a sacrifice, so her daughter can have a baby?)
More things to ponder: is the tree sentient, and doing this of it's own will? Is this a natural development of the flora on this planet, or was it created and placed here?
And again, enough rambling from me.
[This message has been edited by taerin (edited July 31, 2003).]
posted
Maybe the people are merely robots who have forgotten their orgins. The race that created the woman under the tree and her people are dead. No one remembers that race except as gods in their legends.
Posts: 14 | Registered: May 2003
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posted
A sci-fi answer: Offworlders crashlanded and got stranded here, and found that while the food would sustain them, it was missing something vital to reproduction. They can't make anything ingestible that will do the trick, but with the tech they have remaining on their ship, they gengineer this tree that can fill in that gap. (Easier to sell this idea if they're not human, and actually require something from their home planet to complete reproduction.)
A fantasy answer: Perhaps the two trees actually used to be people? Something happened that made the people unable to reproduce using their normal methods. (Curse from the gods, magewar fallout, something/someone wanting to restrict these people to just this part of the world.) Through some event or accident or interference from higher powers/outsiders/etc, two people were transformed into this special Tree that lets their race continue.
In either case, if this happened long enough ago, none of the people alive now will remember the origins of the Tree, and may think this is always the way it's been. Loss of records through impermanence of materials or vast lengths of time would contribute to the rise of legends and the absence of facts.
[This message has been edited by taerin (edited July 31, 2003).]
posted
The woman planted the tree, and now she’s wondering why it’s dying.
The woman is about to give birth, and has come here to the tree because it is a holy spot, or because the mid-wife lives there, but she’s not there and now the woman is alone and the birth is becoming troubled.
The woman is harvesting seeds to take the tree to a new land/world.
The woman is looking for the spirit her son saw by the tree right before he died.
posted
Here's an idea, if this kind of thing is allowed (I don't think there would be any copyright issues, but I'm not really sure): does anyone want to write a story based on this starter? I'd like to write something short and see what kind of stuff other people get. For starters, maybe we could keep them under 3000 or so.
posted
Hmmm, sounds interesting. I might be up for a few lines tonight...see what I can come up with. But is it whatever we want or are we going with the same basic line and seeing how the stories diverge from there?
What I mean is are we going fantasy or scifi..using the tree...is she dead...ect
[This message has been edited by Lord Darkstorm (edited July 31, 2003).]
posted
First, there are no copyright issues. I should have said something right up front, but anything said in a setting like this is considered free for anyone else to use.
Second, I think writing shorts based on this would be a great idea! And sci fi, fantasy, the point is that everyone will get something different from this tree, something that appealed to them. There are a thousand ideas!
So, to make a long story short, I'm game for an exercise like this. If it's good, though, I don't want to post it here because of first publication rights issues. But we could all post the first 13 lines on fragments and feedback and e-mail them out to whoever is interested. Mention that it's from this thread and I'll read it. (I just realized that might have been what you meant by copyright issues in the first place....but this is the simple fix. )
posted
OK, here's another idea based on the tree taking the dead and creating new life - people here reproduce normally as well, but some believe that the new child returned by the tree is a reincarnation of the one who died. The reincarnated people can't reproduce though, and already represent a fairly high proportion of the population, which is causing pressure on those who still reproduce normally... there's a confrontation coming about this subject, and the woman sitting by the tree is going to be the starting point of it: she didn't want to be reincarnated, but was left here anyway.
Questions leading from here that I can think of straight away: Who did this? Why?
posted
Well, at this point I'm going to go ahead and throw together a very short tale based on her being dead, but undead. She is hiding from someone, and throw in the tree.
Will throw out the 1st 13 lines once I get it together.
posted
Ok, first one finished, start a new thread for the results. I might take a couple days myself.
Now are we going for full blown story, or just a light conceptual story. I came up with some ideas last night and worked out the framework for the beggining and a semi-weak plot (which for a concept type story would work I guess) but for a full blown story I will have to come up with a bit more.
posted
Definitely make it a full story! These ideas need to be flushed out, but doesn't it tickle your mind as to where to go? That's the point. I want to see you complete a story, even if it takes longer than a couple days. Posts: 3567 | Registered: May 2003
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posted
I don't have a problem doing a full story. I find them fun, but require more though, which is ok too. Just didn't want to rip out 5k words and then find others doing half that. Or something like that.
Overall, I'm glad we are doing a full one, now I have to make something good out of it.
posted
I have started a thread in fragments and feedback for the stories we come up with, that way, if people want to continue throwing out ideas, we can go back to using this thread for that.
Posts: 3567 | Registered: May 2003
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posted
I like the idea of the tree being two trees, one dark, one light. How about these trees used to be very powerful people (sorcerers, whatever), one of which was this woman. For whatever reason, they were transformed into trees.
But now, somehow, the woman has been released. She is a woman again.
Does she remember what happened? Does she remember who she was? Has she retained her powers? Who brought her back, and why?
posted
Here's an idea I had, going a slightly different direction: This woman, although fifty-whatever years old, appears to be a small child about the age of six. Each night she sneaks through villages and towns using a strange small box to steal the dreams from people. She sells dreams she collects to a legendary tree with roots that reach all throughout the Earth. These dreams give the tree energy and life so that it will continue to grow, while the tree, in return, offers her immortality.
posted
Garou> She's failed in her task, of course, and the tree has withdrawn support from her. At least, that's what comes to mind first.
Posts: 55 | Registered: Feb 2002
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No, failing in her task is too simple--but it's on the right track. It has to be a decision. For some reason, she has chosen not to sell either a specific dream or any dreams at all to the tree, and she has lost her life because of it.
Or maybe I'm not there yet either . . . any other thoughts?
QUESTION: Has anyone here but me actually sat in on a 1000 ideas session?
[This message has been edited by Brinestone (edited August 08, 2003).]
posted
Yes, just a few weeks ago at the boot camp, it was really good. It's tougher to do on your own, though. The stimulation of other creative thinkers throwing out ideas really helped. But it can be done on your own. You just have to sit there and keep asking Why and How? again and again until you like our answer, never going with the first answer, which is usually cliche.
Posts: 3567 | Registered: May 2003
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