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Okay, y’all, I need a brainstorming partner… or two… or as many as I can find, haha…
It’ll actually be for two separate projects. One is a middle-grade contemporary novel, and the other is a YA fantasy. If you’re up for helping me brainstorm, either (or both!) need work, so anyone who can, pretty much? I’ll give the tags here, and then put the stories I’m working on in later posts. Thank you guys SO much!
@devastate-lasting @gracie-j @scripter-of-kingdoms @abigail-m @keilah-h @elishavet-pidyon @jodi-maile @annabelle @daisy-torres @koshka @trahia-the-minstrel @libby @lydia-s @e-k-seaver @issawriter7 @mkfairygirl @seekerofthetruth @kathleenramm @jenwriter17 @nanisnook @elfwing @seekjustice @sparrowhawke @maryg3 @relia @writerlexi1216 @nova21 @hallie-jean @power @anne-of-lothlorien @gretald @madelyn @overcomer @avacoulter @autumn-rebecca @karissa-chmil @elanor @joy-caroline @denali-christianson @unsung @emilysf @godlyfantasy12 @anyone and everyone else!!First things first: the middle-grade contemporary.
Indium Grace Arlington lives a pretty normal life for a 10-year-old… except for her crazy family, whose escapades are generally the talk of the whole town. (Not that the town is that big, of course.)
Okay, so maybe her life isn’t all that normal.
I mean, they were kind of doomed from the start when their biochemist father, Flint Arlington, gave each of his 7 kids the names of elements: Indium (Indi), Krypton, Thorium (Thor), Francium (Fanny), Cerium, Cesium, and most recently, Osmium (Ozzie). But when Indi’s parents pull them out of school and begin homeschooling, she finds out that her family can be even crazier than she thought.
That’s the blurb I came up with on the spot, haha. But it’s a pretty good descriptor. I have the bare-bones outline (which is all I want) for the first 5 chapters of the first book (I actually need help with two), but I really need help discovering and outlining the rest of the story. The main problems in the first book are the following: Indi and her family are trying to figure out homeschooling, Indi doesn’t have any friends, she wants a dog, and, of course, their unusual family.
By the end of the first book, Indi’s connection with her brother Krypton will be far stronger (he’s her best friend), they get a dog (named Astatine), and she begins forming friendships with other people, as well as growing to truly appreciate her family. This story is supposed to be funny, so each chapter so far has been dotted with humorous mini-stories.
In the second book, I know even less. Astatine (the dog gained by the end of the first book) plays a huge part in it, and I want the ending scene to be Indi dancing with her dad at a father-daughter dance, but I don’t want rebellion to be a theme in either of the stories. The purpose of this story is to be completely clean, sweet, and to show that there actually are some good, albeit flawed, families out there. Indi is 11 by the second book.
So that’s about all I have, at least for now. I’d appreciate all the help you can give me with possible ideas, how to tie in all the problems (and create some for the second book), and… yeah. Pretty much anything would be great!
Equally important second things second: my YA fantasy.
I’m not even writing this one until NaNo (for now I’m focusing on the above story and editing past ones), but I want to start getting comfortable with the idea and turning ideas around in my head. I want this to be a trilogy, and I don’t have enough story for that yet, so I’d love anything you can give me.
Jarek, the MC, is a hero. I want to get that out first. He’s desperately broken, but despite his brokenness, he is still a good person at heart. I think of him as a 17-year-old mixture of Kaladin from the Stormlight Archive and Jean Valjean from Les Miserables.
When Jarek was a boy (I’m going back and forth between 12 and 15), his village was raided, all of his family was killed (possibly before his eyes), and he was sold into slavery. He lived a tough life for a few years until he and the other slaves owned by a certain man found a way to escape, but Jarek stayed behind to help the last boy get out, and he was retaken. Because he tried to escape, he was beaten almost to death and left by the side of the road to die, but another man came along to help him. That man (I don’t know his name yet), his wife, and their family nursed Jarek back to health, but while he was there he had a chance to see the atonement child.
Every year, a human child (called the atonement child) was sacrificed to the god of the land to satisfy the ‘god’s’ thirst for blood, and this girl (Myra) was to be the sacrifice that year. So Jarek left the only peaceful home he had known since his real home, took Myra, and fled the country.
After that, I have no idea what’s going to happen, but I do know that at the end of the trilogy, Jarek sacrifices himself for Myra. Jarek is the MC and the main POV character, but his story is also seen a bit through Myra’s eyes and in flashbacks. (I’m going to start Jarek’s story right in the middle of the action, so I plan on revealing the story of his slavery slowly throughout the first book.)
As you can see, this needs a lot of work XD. Once again, anything – anything! – you can give me would be much appreciated. Thanks a ton!
For your YA fantasy:
I think there might be more potential for more mature themes with Jarek being 15, because he won’t be purely emotional, but can still have those sort of responses; any deeper thoughts he has and more mature, developed reactions to things will be both believable and more powerful. You won’t be held back by a more regular simplistic thinking that younger children have while writing, but you also won’t have to dive all the way into topics. As 15, he would be just at the edge of starting to really grow up and enter the adult world but still hanging somewhat in the world of children where things are simpler.
You can keep the simpler elements you want and still include the more mature ones you also want.
That is simply my opinion of the matter, tho.
As for plot, there are several options I see. You can have him struggle against society and it’s beliefs, like the entirety of the sacrifice thing, or you can just have him struggle more exclusively with trying to stay alive and keep Myra alive. (Funny thing, I actually know a girl with that name, hehe.)
I would suggest exploring Jarek’s personality and story to understand him better, as well as Myra’s character. Then ask yourself about how other people, not just those two, react to what he does.
What do her parents do? Go after them? Give them up? What does the country do? Seek them out to catch Myra, or sacrifice someone else? How does their running away affect the attitude of the country against him or for him? Does he eventually return to the country? How would they be greeted? What do they do in the other countries? What challenges do they face in the other countries? Is there a search for them that spreads world wide, spanning national borders? Is he labeled as a criminal for his actions? If they are left in peace in the other countries, what do they do to live? Do agents from their home country come searching to find them? Do people help hide them? Who is the antagonist or villain of the story? What is the biggest struggle Jarek and Myra face?
🙂
I don’t want to give too much besides (hopefully super helpful) questions, because I’d rather have it be your story, than mine. 😉
"[Write] today like there's no tomorrow!"
Ooh, those questions are super helpful and thought-provoking! I’ve thought of some of them before, but I’ll definitely use them to keep the plot churning!
(And if you ever think of more, please don’t hesitate… the further I get this, the better!)
@faith-q I love the names on both your stories! The chemistry family one sounds cool. Astatine is a genius name for a dog.
"When in doubt, eat cheese crackers."-me to my charries who don't even know about cheese crackers
I love them too! The Arlington’s names are honestly what makes them come alive to me, haha… and I love Indi!.. and everyone else, now that I mention it.
Anyway, thank you, and I agree 🙂
Okay, so I wrote up this super long thing… but I lost it :'(
Let’s see how much I can remember…
I love the sound of your middle grade novel!! It sounds just like something I would pick up at a library!
Here are a bunch of maybe’s and questions to get the creative juices pumping…
How do the townspeople show their dislike for the family? Gossip? Mocking them? Ignoring them? Leaving them out? Is there a main instigator of this (a main bully)? Is there anyone in the town who actually feels sorry for them, or even likes them? Maybe a lot of the townspeople feel bad for them (and just keep quiet), but later stand up for them?
Maybe a new family moves in and befriends them. Later, when they learn about the Arlingtons’ reputation, they kinda regret it and draw back. Maybe that’s something they have to work through/past.
What’s her parents’ backstory? Is her mom science-y? Were does her dad work? Does her mom work?
How do her parents go about homeschooling? Do they go way overboard–turning the house into a school, pretending to be different teachers (or even students), and assigning loads of homework? Is her dad involved in the teaching (maybe the science)?
How can Mr. Arlington’s science-y stuff add to the story? Ya know: explosions, experiments gone wrong, crazy ideas, increased ridicule, etc… (thinking Belle’s father from Beauty and the Beast here XD).
Maybe Indi has some kind of a deal with her parents to get a dog. Say: if she keeps her siblings and the curious townspeople away while an important science-y guy comes to check out Mr Arlington’s work, then she can have a dog. Of course, nothing goes as planned 😉
Maybe Krypton comes alongside her in a tough spot–or the other way around. How is he struggling with all the craziness? How do their personalities complement and clash? Does he want the dog too? Could that be something they’re working towards together?
Second book ideas and maybe’s…
Maybe Indi’s dad does some sort of experiment on the dog that makes it a little… unusual.
Maybe one of Indi’s siblings go missing… or they all start going missing… one by one… *thunderclap*
Maybe the government wants to tear down their town for a *fill in the blank*, or maybe they believe that there’s a treasure or an archeological site beneath it.
Maybe a film crew comes to make a reality show about Indi’s family (maybe something big in the previous book drew national attention to them?).
Maybe something happens to her dad; like he gets falsely convicted for something, he decides to go a science-y expedition somewhere but his plane/boat goes down, or he is confronted by something from his past. (That would make the daddy daughter dance a good conclusion because he’s safe back home)
Good luck with your story; it sounds awesome! 😀
~In Christ Alone My Hope Is Found~
Indi’s story sounds so fun!!! Here’s a couple questions:
-How does Indi feel about her dad? Since his oddities have made her an oddball, does she resent him? And since her mom went along with the strange names, how does she feel about her?
-How does Indi feel about her dad’s line of work? Does she admire him? Wish he was normal?
-How did she feel about leaving school? Relieved to get away from bullies? Sad to leave friends? Does she know anything about homeschooling or have an opinion about homeschoolers?
-How do the neighborhood kids think about their house? Is it spooky-witch-houses that they dare each other to visit? How do they treat the members of the family?
-Why does the family get a dog? Stray? Pet-shop? Given to them by a beloved friend or family member? Dumped off in front of their house? If it shows up randomly, do they try to find the owner? Try to give it away?
-How old is the dog? Do they have to train it?
-Now that they’re homeschooling, will the family go on field trips? Join a co-op?
-How well do they know their neighbors? Are they friendly? Grumpy? Private? Weird? How do they feel about having the Arlingtons nearby?
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