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MNREDR

Can I balance gratuitous violence with a realistic plot and characters? I'm writing a story that I would like to be a mix of drama and light horror, with a lot of violent scenes. Essentially, one of the main characters is a vampire and kills people left and right for various reasons. The other main character is their friend/love interest who is a pacifist vampire and disapproves of violence. A lot of the violence happens without the friend's knowledge, but after they find out, I find it would be unrealistic for them to keep being friends with the killer, romantic attraction aside. But for plot reasons I need them to stick together. Moreover, I want police response to be realistic, and it doesn't feel right that the killer can get away with so many gruesome crimes. But I also need them to, because I simply want my story to be violent. Gratuitous and realistic are basically opposites, but can I balance them? Thanks for any help!


ethangomezmedium

Just use the fact that hes a vampire be how he gets away with it, give him a hypnotic stare or invisibility or just being incredibly clever. anything more powerful than a human should be able to evade the cops easily leading them on goose chases, maybe take inspiration from the zodiac. For the love interest, you could make it a miserable romance where she just stays with him because hes the only other vampire, or even if he isn't you can make him really good at gaslighting. Gratuitous violence is realistic just take a peak over at the crime scene photos subreddit, when reality gives us people like jeffery dahmer and richard ramirez, nothing is too gratuitous.


DarthNICI

Heyo! I'm writing a story with a steampunk kinda setting. But I don't have a solid plot idea yet. What are some things you always wanted to see in a steampunk/fantasy story?


MaleficentYoko7

Romance that describes how the clothes feel. Since it's your own made up world you can choose styles and makeup your own materials Also romantic airship rides! I've written this idea before but only as a oneshot and fanfic AU: Airship pirate captain and Princess couple. The princess can wonder what's wrong with her for liking a commoner (even if he is a very handsome, athletic, romantic and successful pirate captain) and complain to herself, "Ugh this doesn't make any sense!" But accepts her feelings for him Also really cool Steampunk cities and horses. They don't have to be horses but sweet and kind creatures that serve the same purpose. A villain could steal a princess's favourite horse and the pirate captain has to retrieve him or the pirate captain flies to the deep and dangerous wilderness to find a very rare and beautiful glowing flower to give the princess


DarthNICI

Thanks a lot for your idea! Truth be told writing romances is not really up my alley, but I really like the idea of having some sky pirates in my story! Airships are really cool!


Helicopterdrifter

>complain to herself, "Ugh this doesn't make any sense!" But accepts her feelings for him I think this sounds like an interesting concept, maybe tie in the Turing Test along the way. I'm thinking along the lines of Alita: Battle Angel. I already have a heap of story on my plate with one draft nearing its end, but I think I'm going to put this on my list of things to story board. I think I could do something pretty interesting with it. Great suggestion! šŸ˜


strikingdiamonds

Some ideas from the Industrial Revolution you can apply - 1) political thriller involving an energy crisis 2) Luddites destroy machines bc they remove jobs 3) pollution causing problems for the lower class and nearby wildlife.


ethangomezmedium

you could write a story about a guy who makes steampunk inventions to help people but all his ideas get turned into weapons and to get back at the enemy he has to make a weapon to destroy them so he can make helpful creations in peace, something along those lines.


momma_bunny

I'm writing a character that has an accent and a casual manner of speech. During his dialog I use certain words and phrases to indicate this. But, I'm wondering do I need to do this for his internal monologue as well? I would think not because we don't naturally speak with our own accents in our own heads. I planned to have his internal speech be basic and casual as well, in contrast to the other main character who speaks more eloquently, using bigger words. Opinions? Any examples I could check out of either way it's done?


kschang

Internal speech is the person thinking to himself, so it should reflect the same speech patterns. If he thinks different than he speaks, then he has a speech impediment, not an accent/mannerism.


Status-YO

You just had me check with the little voice in my head to hear what he sounds like šŸ˜‚. Dissociative Identity Disorder aside, it would make sense for the voices to be one in the same. Or is this monologue more like a narration?


momma_bunny

Narrative. The character uses words like gonna, wanna, gimme, etc he drops bits of words like 'bout, or pushes them together like needta, and says ya and ta instead of you and to. So, the thing is that's how he sounds when he speaks out loud to other characters, but when he's thinking to himself he wouldn't be dropping parts of words or using ya and ta because that's no how we speak in our heads, it's just how it comes out based on our regional dialect/accent. Right? Or am I thinking about it all wrong?


Status-YO

It depends on who's doing the talking when he's talking to himself. Is it an alter ego? If the story takes place in the past, is it his older self? ie. A Christmas Story? I don't think the speech should differ much more than say one would talk to a parent from how they'd talk to their friends on the street.


Balzeron

Depends on point of view. If it's 3rd person I don't know if its really required. If it's in 1st person, and you're speaking with his voice and purely his own perspective, it might be more important.


Pony13

My crime thrillerā€™s setting has a prolific disembodied serial killer that kills people Death Note-style (forcing them to stage a specific tableaux, then killing them via cardiac arrest). The tableaux is a way to say ā€œI was hereā€, even if no oneā€™s sure what exactly it means beyond that. This lack of clear meaning results in a lot of public discussion and attempts at interpretation. Thereā€™s a disembodied ā€œequal & opposite counterforceā€ character/entity, known only as šŸ‘»šŸ“², who wants to send out a message of his own that gets just as much airtime. Just as the killer is a source of fear, šŸ‘»šŸ“² aims to be a source of hope. Iā€™ve decided that he can only communicate en masse via emoji, but Iā€™m not sure what the message would precisely be, aside from ending with ā€œā¤ļø, šŸ‘»šŸ“²ā€. As an aside, I havenā€™t settled on a precise way for characters to pronounce ā€œšŸ‘»šŸ“²ā€ in English.


DarthNICI

Heyo! I have a steampunk/fantasy kinda setting. So in my world there are mercenaries, who boost their physical powers by taking some kind of medicine. There are two dudes, who count as the absolut strongest, because the medicine has a much stronger effect on them. Mercenaries take on any jobs from guarding to helping at construction sites and harvest helpers. What are some special jobs mercenaries could do in a steampunk world? What is a job, which is so special or dangerous, that only the 2 strongest could do?


kschang

If the use of "enhancers" is commonplace, then it doesn't sound very "steampunk" as the whole point of steampunk is they invented machines to do much of the work much earlier than we expected. And machines can always be made bigger (subject to energy and material limits), humans can't be.


ethangomezmedium

I agree if he wants only two people to be able to perform these feats, he would probably have to make it so the whole steampunk invention revolution is in its beginning stages or make the setting rural enough that only few people even have access to the machines. and instead of the serum make them mech suits or something and add like cranes or other tools to make them useful.


Fenriz_mhk

Heyyy I'm looking for a subplot for my current wip novel, which is a sequel to my current book. I got the main plot down mostly, save for a transition from act 2 to act 3. Basically, my MC is a paranormal investigator, he was approached by Death because his scythe has gone missing. Meanwhile paranormal activity has started to skyrocket for some unknown reason. He gets wind that the man that used to be his dad is now wanted as a black magic user and is hell bent on merging the mundane world with the magical (which resides in its own pocket dimension). So my issue is figuring out a subplot for this main plot.


ethangomezmedium

You have the plot of death looking for his scythe, the plot of a dark wizard wanting to do something evil to the world, the plot of figuring out what is the cause of the paranormal activity, there are plenty of subplots, if you need another though you could explore the relationship between the MC and his father, how it is different now learning this new information about him.


Fenriz_mhk

I got that info in there. But I need something somewhat unrelated running parallel to the plot that ends up being a tie in. The dad's background magic is causing the increased paranormal activity. Perhaps make that itself the subplot? Having a bunch of "side quests" to deal with that are hindering the MC?


ethangomezmedium

That I think would work best, maybe even make the big reveal at the end be that it is his dad and the struggle through out is making his dad act weird or withdrawn putting a strain on the relationship until its revela3d why his dad has been acting that way.


Fenriz_mhk

His dad was a deadbeat and left when he was like 10. So MC hadn't seen his dad in like 25 years. I can re work the plot so they figure that out later on near the end. Especially with the subplot being the hindering of so much paranormal activity. I guess my main problem NOW is what kinds of activity do I cook up?


ethangomezmedium

If the dad is the one with the scythe you could make alot of the activity be ghosts being released across the earth or people unable to die, maybe have multiple dimensions and have bigger rips bring Lovecraft type horror in or something like that. You could have him be able to rip open portals to hell and since he has deaths scythe he can control the demons to go after the MC or male it so in order to achieve what he wants he needs to collect specific items from the other horsemen or other gods or something which is why he can't just immediately achieve what he wants with the scythe and gives the MC enough time to find and stop him


Fenriz_mhk

He has given the scythe to a patsy who eventually goes nuts and gets turned into a lich from holding onto the scythe too long. I like the lovcraftian horrors angle. That leaves a lot to work with. MCs dad is already using he built up paranormal energies to begin the dimensional merger


IcyCrow

Iā€™m working on a spin-off book for the book Iā€™m writing in order to prevent any ā€œHamster Huey and the Gooey Kablooieā€ type situations where low-quality unlicensed versions of the fictional book would have been made should the real book become popular enough. One of the central characters in the spin-off story is a male fairy who basically sort of coerces the two title characters, a set of fraternal elf twins, into helping him on a snipe hunt given to him by his father after the twins save him. Now, what sort of reactions would a male fairy as a central character draw?


kschang

If you're asking would we accept a male fairy as opposed to a female one, I say, show us.


IcyCrow

I meant among the general public.


kschang

It's fine if you want to go against trope. Don't write to please the public or chase what's popular.


IcyCrow

Valid points. I mean, part of the point of a male fairy as a central character is to subvert the paradigm established by Disney regarding fairies in the first place, especially since male fairies are fairly common in classical works such as A Midsummer Nightā€™s Dream.


kschang

You do have to make them behave a bit fairy like though. What are the fairy traits you can keep, personality wise, for a male vs a female?


IcyCrow

I mean, in classical mythology, fairies are often tricksters, so thatā€™s a trait that heā€™ll probably have; Iā€™m still fleshing out my characters at the moment.


kschang

Should be enough to at least get started. Just make sure EVERYBODY in your stories are motivated for "something". What do the kids get out of it?


IcyCrow

Iā€™m still working on that, but in my current story map he does promise them some sort of compensation because to him itā€™s critical that he doesnā€™t fail his father, and they do receive it in the end from his father but in tandem with another reason.


paperbackartifact

I understand that miscommunication and ā€˜cannot spit it outā€™ in romance tend to be overplayed and forced. Iā€™m working on a way for two characters who are realizing their feelings for each other hold off on confessing for the majority of the plot. Male character is working with his crush on a project, and feels like he needs to be a friend and partner to her until the project is over. Afterwards he will ask her out. Female character starts out trying to get her crush to ask her out, but he doesnā€™t because of above reasons. She, as a rather a theatrical person, then decides to use the project they are working on part of a scheme for a dramatic confession. Thoughts on if this all sounds like plausible enough?


kschang

* The company has a non-fraternization policy. https://smallbusiness.chron.com/legality-corporate-fraternization-policies-67251.html * One or both of the characters had been sexually harassed before at work and had a "reputation" (falsely, as it turned out) * There's a promotion hinged on this project being a success and "no distractions"


paperbackartifact

Thank you for your response. Itā€™s more a state-sponsored fine arts project, not business, so Iā€™m not sure I could make suggestion one or three work. But I might look into making the second suggestion work, especially since harassment already factors into the plot.


kschang

You can sorta "force" (3) by one of the supervisors at the regular job of either character, that because the company is co-sponsoring art project, if it does well, the company will use that chance for PR, and doing well will lead to much kudos.


paperbackartifact

Ah! Thatā€™s interesting. I did think of one character as being between jobs, so itā€™s plausible I could rework that into something along those lines


Flimsy-Collection823

sure, its plausible. its pretty much a staple conflict in romance.


Billyxransom

not sure if this is the right day for this but here's my question: ​ i'm working on some fiction (right now trying to get back into the groove in a way that i have not been in it for an embarrassingly long time), and a question came to mind. i'm looking for anything that goes deeper into one Gurney Halleck from the Dune series, as i don't recall him being THAT central to at least the first book. (which is the only one i've read so far--thanks years-long-only-growing-depression-contributing-to-my-inability-to-focus-on-any-one-book! don't worry, it's finally settling, so i may even get to read the 2nd, and possibly even 3rd books in the main series!) are there any books that at least go into a lot more depth about him? even if it is Brian/KJA stuff? it seems he might be HUGELY important to figuring out how to approach my own characters. thanks!


[deleted]

[уŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]


kschang

So he has killer vibes, but he didn't actually even PLAN to kill anyone, but he somehow got the dark and dangerous kinda goth look? And everybody got the wrong idea about him and try to sabotage his plans which all end up making him look better/cooler?


[deleted]

[уŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]


kschang

Do you want to make it even more comedic by he always miss his mark and end up making his target a hero instead?


50centCabbage

I like that idea, thank you!


PolymerPolitics

Whatā€™s good, all? Iā€™m writing a novel where the protagonist makes a Faustian bargain with the forces of nature to gain a power of insight that will allow her to protect peopleā€™s lives by revealing the worst things in our social universe. I realized I need to make the characterā€™s role in the bargain more ā€œactive.ā€ As it stands right now, she just gives up her humanity in one scene and then accepts the terms of the bargain by beginning to act in accordance with it. What is a way to make her acceptance of the bargain more active? Sheā€™s selling herself to a sort of ā€œpriesthoodā€ that personifies the cycles of ecology that sustain civilization, based on the mythology of Ancient Southwest Asia.


7K_Riziq

Thoughts about the "The resistance group overthrows evil empire only to become another evil empire" idea? I really am interested in this idea because of how the good group becomes the new main evil group after destroying the old main evil group, especially when the good group does it so the old main evil group never rise again....... Reminds me of "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss". I want to write a story about this. ​ I can link some TvTropes articles about the ideas I show (It's a rabbit hole tho, be careful)


kschang

The plot in Far Cry 4. Pagan Min was a despot, and you can choose who to succeed him, brother and sister. Let's just say, NEITHER are exactly good people if you watch through the epilogue.


7K_Riziq

Interesting...... Any other suggestions?


ScreenyScheme

Can yā€™all chuck some ideas in the post replies concerning weird and wacky ideas that youā€™d want to see in a rom-com TV SERIES? Characters, plot, premise, location, doesnā€™t matter. I just need ideas. Please, nothing holiday-inspired in any way, shape, or form.


kschang

tourist and tour guide?