Words before art...

[Ilaekae]

I'm establishing this thread for people to post ideas in that are NOT drawn. Comics, movies, and games are not just characters running around willy-nilly, spouting grunts and such. There has to be a plot--a reason for why they exist. A story-line.

I'm not asking for or expecting full script treatments here (in fact, it would really plug up the thread...), just IDEAS for stories that could be the basis for something greater when the art is added. If you have an idea for a story, post it here with a short synopsis of what happens, who the characters are and why we should be interested in them. It could literally be one paragraph. It might be a good bit longer and go into moderately heavy detail to get the point across.

If you have an idea for a character or group of characters that you think might be interesting in various situations that you would like to see developed further, post it here.

If you have an idea for an epic adventure, post it here.

If you have an idea for a short personal interlude between two characters that someone might like, post it here.

If you have an idea for a series of characters, story lines or situations that you think could be built into something much more powerful and involved, post it here.

This is more the literary end of the Sequential Story world. And it wouldn't just be for us. Other Challenge areas and just members looking for an idea are welcome to come here and browse to see if they can get something kick-started.

Just be concise as you can, as detailed as you can in a few words, and as creative as you can be. We don't want anyone afraid to look because there's a solid wall of 20 inches of solid text facing them--they see that and they won't read it. We WANT people to read your ideas, so keep it brief and to the point.

[arttorney]

SPLIT

One idea I had back when I rode a lot was future noir story that focused a little more into bike art, like in the early going of Akira before it went all hocus pocus and giant blob oriented.

Lane splitting is allowed in California. For those not in the know, that means you can ride your bike between the rows of cars along the dotted lines. It's kind of maniac behavior but can really get the adrenaline going.

Many attorney services exist in the large urban areas which hire bikers or bicyclists as messengers because of their increased abilities to beat traffic jams (and deal with gas prices).

How does this all come together? Well supposing a couple of bike messengers are having lunch down town after their pickups or deliveries and they get their bags crossed. Then it turns out that one of them is working for the evil firm from Hell and gets killed when it turns out he no longer has the bag with the Maltese Falcon, or O.J.'s bloody clothes or whatever the hell was in there. Then the other guy finds out about this (and probably about what is in the bag he inadvertently got) just in time to start the great series of chase escapades and meeting all the cyberpunk weirdos who might be able to help him somehow (or might betray him, who knows). Ramble Ramble Ramble.

What's in the bag? It's got to be something incredible to drive the story arc onward into ever more hair raising escapades. What kind of characters does our hero know that he might be able to go to (for change of identity documents, or to tell him what the hell the thing in the bag is). What are the inevitable assassins like?

[arttorney]

This one is a sort of cross between Robinson Crusoe and Nostromo. (For those who don't read a cross between Pitch Black and Treasure of the Sierra Madre). A group of characters crash an air or space craft somewhere remote and the survivors find something like Lasseter's Reef. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/lasseter%27s_reef) (it's in there. Just click the thing that says Search Wikipedia for ... I can't get the damned link to go straight in.)

Knowing it for a rich gold deposit they resolve to try to hide it's nature or location so they can be rescued without the rescuers finding it. This story is all about the disintegration of character in these people as they try to disable or hypothecate the black box, for example, that would lead the rescuers to them (and to the mineral formation) or trying to hide wreckage. They are trying desperately to be found, but to be found elsewhere anywhere besides where they are. They are losing sight of the value of their respective lives. Do they succeed in their desperate enterprise? Do they kill each other off one by one? Do they reach safety, only to return to the desert in search of their own discovery, and then die needlessly? Who are these characters? What are they going to do with this stuff even if they succeed?

[arttorney]

This one stems from a complaint I heard out of someone concerning a pet "ass draggin'" on a carpet. I conceived of a character or monster that was a dragon whose flames come out of the wrong end. I wrote him a little song. I hope you like it.

Myron the backwards dragon,
Had a very bad digestion.
And if you ever saw him,
You would have to ask this question:
Why do the other dragons,
Always laugh and call you names?
(They never let poor Myron,
Join in any dragon games.)
Then one snowy Christmas Eve,
Santa came to say:
Myron with your bum so hot
Won't you melt my parking lot?
All of the other dragons laughed and shouted out with glee:
Myron the backwards dragon,
You'll go down in history!

[arttorney]

I know space marines are cliche, but everybody loves drawing them so much. Here is a little scenario based on the premise that a personal antigravity device has been invented so there is no longer a need to do reentry by free fall. Now with controlled descent the atmospheric friction never rises to a sufficient level to burn anything. We find ourselves with an elite combat team so equipped who specialize in infiltration of less advanced worlds (e.g. a commander who is trained in tactics and orienteering, a sergeant and a corporal, an energy weapon person, a demolition person, a medical robot, a rifleman with electronic countermeasure expertise and equipment, a squad automatic weapon person, and a rifleman cross trained in engineering and languages).

How do these guys keep themselves together as they descend rather than landing potentially hundreds of miles apart? What do their suits and equipment look like? What does the mother ship look like? What is their mission down on the world that is today's story? Will they be picking somebody up? If so, how do they transport the extra suit and antigravity device? Is the antigravity device actually a squad antigravity device that they all ride together like some kind of Johnny Quest saucer? Does that person want to be picked up or not?

Will they be killing somebody? If so, why go to all this trouble? Why not just dump an asteroid on the victim's general vicinity?:xpld:

There must be some kind of a story behind all this. What is the best use of panels? A nice big environment splash for leaving the mothership and re-entering? Lots of dialog and facial close ups? How quickly do you pace yourself through establishing the scenario before you get into the meat of the tactical story? Are there any minor conflicts that develop during the course of resolving the major conflict?

Can these guys rise back up into the sky when they are done, or does somebody need to come pick them up?

[arttorney]

Here's a little something I read in the King Features Syndicate listing in Artists and Graphic Designer's Market and I though this was the best thread to share it:

Good writing will help weak art better than good art will help weak writing.

[dark eagle]

pandoras box-esque.

A few boys are playing football(american or not?) and they happen to stumble across a ditch which one of them falls down. He sees infact it's not a ditch just a bushy bank. Theres seems to be a clearing and a light behind the dense foilage.

He walks toward it and there infront of him is a pair of wings. Which have straps so you can wear them.

--------------flashback---------------

A shooting star fell her a few days ago.

---------------and were back--------

So. He walks over to it and it seems to be bleeding lightly. He picks it up and puts it on with a slight back offish manner.

--------KABOOM----------

your choice.

or.

They engulf the dude in fear agony and wrap around him a tight manner squezing out the very last ounce of air inside him, crushing every bone.

Then out of the womb(what a caterpillar goes into before becoming a butterfly) an angel comes...

[Matt001]

Buddy D, of "Buddy D's Pancakes and Burgers" off CO Route 47 as he hides in the employee bathroom:

"A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

Yeah, bullshit. It was yesterday. I'm tired of this vague shit. It's not real. It's not-- They were supposed to be movies, man. Just movies!

Jaames was a regular hire, nothing out of the ordinary... but the double letters... fuckin' Lucas is famous for the double letters. I thought it was only some liberal crap, maybe his parents smoked-- you know.

Ah! What was that noise?!?

But then Jaames started fixing things, and-- machines aren't supposed to talk, man. The dishwasher... it told me to have a nice day. Do not tell me what kind of day to have... dishwasher!

And then THEY showed up, the two boys in black. First they were polite, asked if I knew anything about Order 66, asked if I was a responsible citizen and wished to remain loyal and serve my Emperor. And I was, like, heck yes. I voted Republican.

That's when it hit me. And I ran in here.

Ah! That sound! Two light sabers! Ah, a third!

I don't think my insurance covers this. I am so screwed.

God, what's that smell? Man, if hidin' in this bathroom is going to be a regular thing, I really need to Cometize this bitch."

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