Call For Submissions: Public Brainstorm

We had a round of Public Brainstorm a couple years ago, and then it fell off my radar.  This week, I'm resurrecting it!

You know how, sometimes, you get really stuck on a plot point, to the point where you are despairing of its ever resolving itself?  We've recently talked about how our brains figure out (sometimes unusual) ways of breaking through--but don't you just wish, sometimes, that you could bounce your problem off a fertile mind or two, to brainstorm your way out of the corner?

Well, this is my attempt at providing just such a forum.  There is SO MUCH CREATIVE ENERGY HERE.  Let's tap into it to see if we can help some of our fellow soldiers-of-the-pen get through a tough spot.

Here's how it will work:

1.  I will accept 10 entries (first-come, first-served).  Enter HERE.
2.  Include a short blurb for your novel so that we understand the premise.
3.  Briefly outline your problem--your stuck place--and what you're not able to figure out.
4.  Our fellow writers will offer their ideas to you in the comment section.
5.  THIS IS IMPORTANT:  As folks leave their ideas, don't come back and tell them why their ideas won't work--UNLESS it is posed as a question!  For instance, if someone says, "What if she finds the bloody razor after the donkey relay?  Would that throw off your time line?"  In this instance, it's fine to answer yes or no, and engage in dialogue.  But please don't be a Negative Nellie and punch down other people's brainstorms.  Read, absorb, let your brain start quietly ticking.
6.  The entries will post tomorrow (Wednesday) morning.

So, basically, your entry will look something like this:

TITLE: Seven Dead Spiders
GENRE: YA Thriller

BLURB:  Sven is a 17-year-old genius headed for an Ivy League school--until he starts murdering people in his sleep.


So we're at the point of the story where Sven realizes he's been planning (in his dreams) to kill his girlfriend Flopsy.  It's the middle of the night, and Flopsy is knocking at Sven's back door.  The problem is that I can't come up with a compelling motive for her to be there.  They just had an argument earlier in the day, but it's not in Flopsy's character to come running over in the middle of the night just to apologize.

Got it?

Ask your questions below!  I will open the submission window at 1:00 PM EASTERN TIME (NYC) TOMORROW, and will close it after we have our 10 entries.

Public Brainstorm: Feedback

Okay, folks.  Many of you offered great ideas yesterday--it's fun digging into someone else's story for a bit, isn't it?

So please give me your feedback, and I'll determine whether or not we should do this again some time.  If you were a participant:  Did you find this exercise helpful?  Do you have some positive takeaway?  If you were an idea-giver:  Was this enjoyable?  Would you be willing to participate again in the future?

I'm all ears!  As ever, I want this to be a place you want to come to.  Critique away!

Let's Brainstorm!!

We've got a great mix of 8 stories here, and the authors need your help.  Please offer your ideas in the comment boxes!

You can reply directly to specific comments, so that it's possible for back-and-forth dialogue to occur here.  Make sure you "subscribe" to the posts you offer feedback on, so that you'll receive email notification whenever there's a reply to your comment.

We've got SO MUCH creativity in this community.  Let's offer up our collective brainpower and help our colleague get un-stuck!

Public Brainstorm #8

TITLE: The Resurrectionist
GENRE: YA Historical Thriller

18 year old Calvin will stop at nothing to make a name for himself in the medical world, but the deeper he delves into the seedy underworld of body snatching, the more he learns he's not in it just to help people. Set in 1890s America.



Cal has just killed the leader of the body snatching gang, a doctor, that Cal's a part of. He forged a letter of recommendation from the dead doctor for medical school and the dean of the school is pretty much ready to accept him. People in the local medical community are talking about the apparent "suicide" and Cal is gloating.

Where I'm stuck is I want the man's death to be written off as a suicide, so he's think's he's scot free and can make some more serious mistakes down the line and the cops get involved. But there needs to be some sort of external conflict/pressure, maybe within the gang (or a rival)? It's four guys, who all get along pretty well, but now the dynamics have to change. One other guy is doing it for the medical reasons, the other two are just doing it for the money.

Public Brainstorm #7

TITLE: Dragons of My Heart
GENRE: Fantasy

Boy turns his back on the dragons that have helped raise him when his father dies in an accident serving the dragons. I've gotten him to leave the dragons, but there's a gap (of time and space) before he reconnects and returns to the dragons. I'm looking for interesting sub-plot ideas or other challenges that will take him on his journey back to his roots. (Dragons in my world are an intelectual society- not monsters)

Public Brainstorm #6

TITLE: Liars And Thieves
GENRE: Epic Fantasy

The supreme ruler of the Dominion transmits his power to everyday objects, including a sword which protects the life of its rightful bearer--the Lord Regent of Efrathah. When the sword is stolen, Josiah, second in command, accuses trade delegates from a neighboring country who have only recently arrived in the capital.

We're at the point of the story where Josiah persuades the Lord Regent to let him search their quarters and belongings. Eventually Josiah is going to be accused of stealing the sword himself and then thrown into the dungeon.

But when I started to write the scene showing the search . . . well, there wasn't enough conflict. He looks in room A. No sword. He looks in room B. No sword. I don't know how to infuse this part of the story with conflict. Ideas?

Public Brainstorm #5

TITLE: The Memory Taker
GENRE: YA Magical Realism

Astrid takes memories. If someone can't cope with the loss of a friend or wife or someone they love, they can pay a fee and Astrid will erase that memory for them, relieving them of their unbearable pain. Astrid's younger sister is in a coma and Astrid has tried to get into her head to find the memory that has her so deep into unconsciousness, but it's too hard, too straining. But now she's found Kellan. He came to Astrid haunted by the murder of his girlfriend. And Astrid thinks that if she can help fill in the gaps of that horrific memory that's buried deep in Kellan's memories, she may find what she needs to save her sister.

Problem: I want the murder of Kellan's girlfriend to somehow be related to Astrid's sister, but I'm having trouble finding a way to plot it. I want it to be a twist that takes the reader by surprise at the end.

Public Brainstorm #4

TITLE: Still in the Works
GENRE: MG Adventure

Twelve-year-old Holland Stratford hair mysteriously turns pink and Holland tries to hide it from her mom but when she sees her new style, she gives Holland a bronze coin, then collapses.



We're at the point of the story where Holland needs to find the map so she can get the cure to save her mom and get her hair back to normal. Her dad has been arrested because the police think he took the mother. The problem is I'm not sure how to transition from Act 1 to 2 so that is interesting. What can they do to get out of the house without the adults following them or telling them no?

Public Brainstorm #3

TITLE: Splintered
GENRE: Urban fantasy

Splintered is a novel about two sisters, both born in the afterlife, "Elysium." The novel is set in Elysium and Earth. Their father is the immortal Consul charged with keeping the balance between the Core Realms of Elysium and the mortal realm of Earth where it should be. Their mother is Fae and during a massive Horde demon attack on Elysium, she disappears with one sister, Alyssa, taking her to Earth for safety. She's forced to leave her there to hide her identity as the Consuls daughter and so she grows up on Earth, coming into contact with the Conclave, an organization of Auric (magic) users on Earth bent on controlling all magic for themselves. Shes trained by them until she realizes their true purpose. She's pursued and sought after by the Council, and Conclave.

My problem: I can't really figure out why she's so important. Does she hold the key to breaking the status quo? What about her abilities makes her a target?

Public Brainstorm #2

TITLE: The Ladysmiths
GENRE: YA Fantasy

Blurb: Shennafi has always wanted to be a Ladysmith, but now she needs their power for more than just fulfilling her dreams. She has to avenge her father and rescue their village from his power-hungry apprentice.



Question: When she first, illicitly, summoned the firewylfs (the key to Ladysmith power), she did it with such strength that she burned herself and her friends. Now back, recovered and determined to succeed, she can't manage to get enough power to make a lamp brighter than a dim candle.



I need her to not be able to access her power fully, but I don't know why she keeps having such problems. She clearly has the ability, since she did it successfully the first time. So why not now? Her friends aren't having the same difficulties.

Public Brainstorm #1

TITLE: Disappeared
GENRE: Suspense

BLURB: Two American women are vacationing in Morocco. Fay disappears. Julie figures out where Fay went and goes after her. After multiple adventures, Julie is reunited with Fay—in jail. Fay's plan to rescue two Moroccan women who'd been 'disappeared' has failed.

The four women poison their their captors, escape, steal a truck, beg for money, have a medical emergency, narrowly avoid recapture, reach the airport just in time for the Moroccan women (who've received false passports) to get away . . . phew.

The conclusion is too tame compared to Fay and Julie's earlier hardships:

They've arranged decoy airline reservations near where they were last spotted. Their end-of-vacation flight home will leave in a few hours from this airport, so they cautiously check in. When they see a soldier near the gate (normal security? to arrest them?) they try unsuccessfully to get on a different flight. Then they make a smoky fire in the ladies room. Pandemonium. When the soldier leaves the gate to take charge, Julie and Fay board the plane. Fade to black.

Too easy?

How can they get home with the same personal resourcefulness they've exhibited throughout (no cop-out embassy call)?

Call For Submissions: Public Brainstorm

So I want to try something new, and if it flops it flops, yes?  We won't know unless we try, though, so here goes:

You know how, sometimes, you get really stuck on a plot point, to the point where you are despairing of its ever resolving itself?  We've recently talked about how our brains figure out (sometimes unusual) ways of breaking through--but don't you just wish, sometimes, that you could bounce your problem off a fertile mind or two, to brainstorm your way out of the corner?

Well, this is my attempt at providing just such a forum.  There is SO MUCH CREATIVE ENERGY HERE.  Let's tap into it to see if we can help some of our fellow soldiers-of-the-pen get through a tough spot.

Here's how it will work:

1.  I will accept 10 entries (first-come, first-served).  Enter HERE.
2.  Include a short blurb for your novel so that we understand the premise.
3.  Briefly outline your problem--your stuck place--and what you're not able to figure out.
4.  Our fellow writers will offer their ideas to you in the comment section.
5.  THIS IS IMPORTANT:  As folks leave their ideas, don't come back and tell them why their ideas won't work--UNLESS it is posed as a question!  For instance, if someone says, "What if she finds the bloody razor after the donkey relay?  Would that throw off your time line?"  In this instance, it's fine to answer yes or no, and engage in dialogue.  But please don't be a Negative Nellie and punch down other people's brainstorms.  Read, absorb, let your brain start quietly ticking.
6.  The entries will post tomorrow (Wednesday) morning.

So, basically, your entry will look something like this:

TITLE: Seven Dead Spiders
GENRE: YA Thriller

BLURB:  Sven is a 17-year-old genius headed for an Ivy League school--until he starts murdering people in his sleep.


So we're at the point of the story where Sven realizes he's been planning (in his dreams) to kill his girlfriend Flopsy.  It's the middle of the night, and Flopsy is knocking at Sven's back door.  The problem is that I can't come up with a compelling motive for her to be there.  They just had an argument earlier in the day, but it's not in Flopsy's character to come running over in the middle of the night just to apologize.

Capiche?

Ask your questions below!  I will open the submission window at 1:00 PM EASTERN TIME (NYC) TODAY, and will close it after we have our 10 entries.