My Ideas - Part 1

You've probably seen me deep in thought, oblivious to the world, if you've seen me at all. I'm always thinking, often about things completely unrelated to anything that is going on at the time. What I am thinking of? Well, if you know me well, you know that I plan to be a fiction author when I am older. I guess that because I am currently writing a book, I already am a fiction author. Anyway, I have many story ideas that I constantly play around with in my mind, ranging from fantasy, science fiction, and real world plots to anything in between. I get many ideas through music, and strengthen previous thoughts through music as well. Other sparks of imagination, however, come simply through everyday occurrences. For instance, last night at the dinner table at a restaurant, my sister was looking at me funny. She said that the lighting somehow made it look like I was crying. That got me thinking: what if I was crying and didn't know it? What could make that happen? What if we couldn't control our emotions? What would life be without emotions? Long story short, its strange, random ideas like this that connect to old and new ones, eventually becoming something big enough I feel inspired to write a book about. I'd like to share with you several ideas I have for books or series and maybe a few explanations of my standing on actually engaging in writing one of these novels. Please please please tell me what you think about them specifically, I could use some peer insight. Oh and I trust you won't steal these ideas. After all, they are under (un)official copyright.

1. The Dreamers
The book I'm writing now, which only a few people know about, is about dreaming. A seventeen-year-old girl named Amethyst (Amy, for short) is nearing the end of her junior year at school. Despite the enjoyable life she shares with her four incredibly close friends, Amy yearns for something more. Planning to be a fiction author (much like myself), Amy turns to her imagination (dreaming, in particular) in hope of making her routine life seem more exciting. She begins to have dreams that are increasingly lucid, and in one dream a figure pulls her into the dream. From this point on, she actually enters her dreams as if they were reality and can control everything around her. The figure that pulled her into the dream turns out to be an actual person, one of an in-dream community of 24 dream-controllers from across the world. Interacting with this diverse population helps Amy acquire new perspectives about the world and its cultures. The group, spending every sleeping moment together, becomes very close, learning to trust and even love each other. When a problem erupts back in reality, the dreamers join together to save the world in a way only they can.

This story means a lot to me, and I know it can mean a lot to potential readers as well. It is the ultimate story of world peace/unity and it connects teenage life/desires to international issues to music. In a more aesthetic view, this plot allows me to include a lot of emotion, while this dreamworld setting allows me to explore endlessly, possibly involving a lot of action and other assorted moments of quirky randomness.

2. The Angels
While Amy is caught up with her dreams, actually becoming trapped inside the dreamworld for a long period of time, the real world is caught up with a severe problem. A strange disease has taken the entire population of the world at once. This disease, originating from an unknown source, isn't fatal, but rather drains the mind of all emotion, leaving only a feeling of importance when it comes to daily routine and bodily necessities. The population continues to work, to go to school, to sleep, to eat, and carry out all of their other usual tasks, but there is no conversation, no affection, no passion, not even courtesy. Habit rules life. Amy's friend Tristan, unknowingly overtaken by the ailment, finds through his habit of listening to music before bed that music temporarily reverses the effects of this blight, bringing emotions back to the mind. The next day, he brings his guitar to school and sings in the school's halls, bringing his schoolmates out of oblivion. With a group of his friends, Tristan begins to travel from city to city, uniting the populations through music, and leaving each community with advice to keep listening to the music to stay free from the disease. Tristan and his band grow to be nationally acclaimed, starting a chain reaction by encouraging other musicians to share their talent with those taken by the disease. Though things begin to turn for the worse for Tristan and his friends, they go down in history as "The Angels", their band name.

This story is probably my most realistic idea. Sure, there is an impossible blight that takes over the whole world simultaneously, but the characters don't have any special powers or abilities. They suffer through tough times much like the average person would in such a situation, and see as much, if not more failure their success in their endeavors. I plan to write this series in journal format, from the view of the characters. This might put restrictions on my ability to effectively explain what's going on, but it will allow for a deeper connection between the reader and the characters/content of the story, one that is greatly strengthened by music (as always with me).

3. The Harbingers
Several aliens arrive on Earth, camouflaging themselves to easily stay hidden among us, while they learn about our ways. They are on a mission to discover who we are as humans, each focusing on one individual person. What is our purpose? What do we care about? Why do we live like we do? They plan to meet together after they have had enough time to explore Earth. At this meeting, they will decide our fate. Either their race will perceive humans as worthy allies and friends, or they will infect us with an instantly fatal disease and take Earth for themselves. Though they lean toward destruction after witnessing our wars with each other, both on a large scale and on a small scale, they are fascinated by something we have, something they have never seen before: emotion. When these beings discover the influence of love, the power of happiness, and the strength of anger, they see these emotions as gifts to be treasured. The focus of this story is on a young woman named Grace, whom is the chosen point of interest for one of the aliens. This being not only learns everything about Grace, but Grace learns everything about it, because it is fully honest and open to her. Though she knows her every action and word represents all of humanity, she lives no differently than before. She impresses the being simply by being herself, and eventually becomes romantically involved with the humanlike being.

I'm crossing a lot of boundaries with this one, but if it counts: I think a young woman falling in love with a strangely attractive, friendly, sensitive, humanlike alien is far more reasonable and interesting than a young woman falling in love with a cheesy, awkward vampire that sparkles and devours harmless woodland creatures regularly (*wink wink*). This idea is still early in development and to prove it: I decided the character's name would be Grace a few hours ago.


I was going to continue, but my time for the night is wearing thin and this post is getting quite lengthy. I still have six stories to go that I can count now, so check back for a part 2 and probably a part 3 to see a little more of what goes on in my head. Thanks for reading, and please let me know your honest thoughts!