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Looking for story ideas...
Submitted by Nate Walis on Thu, 02/16/2012 - 11:45
I've posted a few times on Deviantart and other sites inviting people to approach me with ideas they may have for stories and offering to write up the concept for them. The result has been some very interesting ideas and stories that were a pleasure to write and seemed to make the people they were written for very happy with the results.
I was wondering if I could do the same here, ask for ideas that you may have thought up and wanted to have turned into a piece of prose, but for whatever reason were unable to do so.
If you take a look at my Blog: http://natewalis.wordpress.com/
Or my Deviantart page: http://nate-walis.deviantart.com/
You can see the type of stuff that I specialise in and how I write.
So if you're interested then let me know.
Forums:
suggestions
Hi Nate
Firstly, I have read your mermaid-spceific stories on your blog, and I enjoyed them immesnely.Feel there is just so little mermaid-related stories and literature, and specaily mermaid transformation stories.
I always love reading mermaid transformation stories, and specialy around how the lady-now-mermaid has to deal with a different life, and how she has to cope it. From the physical changes, to the mental ones, adn maybe even spritual.
Also, I am into the more adult side of mermaids, because lets be VERY hoenst, mermaids are well known for their sexual "strength" and "powers", she is helpless above the water, but her pure sexuality renders her a very dangerous adversary to men specially even outside her natural, and safe element.
I also like slow transformations, where the process of becoming a mermaid is not instantaneous, or over night, but a progression, almost like an evolution, but on a much faster scale. But i also liek the odd fast transformation, asl long as a good , detailed explanation is given of the physical changes that the mermaid has undergone, and not just saying "She now had a mermaid tail", end of story... A mermaid is a beautfiul, mysterious creature, and to describe her in minute detail is important to convey this marvel and beauty.
I also like forced transformations, where she has no choice but to accept, and has to wrestle with the fact that her old life no longer exists, and that she to start and adapt to her new life, with new challenges, new dangers, etc.
I also like it when the mermaids use their powers of sexuality, beauty, magic for either personal gain or for others, but not in a "Ariel" or "Disney" kinda way. There are many "kiddy-friendly" stories, but not enough adult-centered ones.
I will post some more of my recomemndations, and likes, thoguh hoep this kinda gives you something to wrok with...
Regards
Stanton
Story Ideas
While I like/agree with much of what edgie_za said in the previous post, I tend to prefer those story elements as "icing on the cake" of a mermaid story, as opposed to "the cake" proper.
"Borrowing" an example of "cake" that SeatailsAdmin once wrote: What would a Special Forces Navy Seals operation look like if mermaids were involved? Another example, "borrowing" one of my own ideas: What if an organization like PETA decides to "repatriate" mermaids into the wild (after said mers had snuck themselves into and adapted to human society)?
See my point? I think such stories could still have what edgie_za has suggested, yet have a fleshed-out plot to go with it too. ;-)
Also--for me (and your mileage may vary): An "adult" story does NOT have to be identically equal to "pron." In other words (and ideally speaking), perhaps there can be mermaid stories that reflect adult thinking and interactions without all the graphic details. [Of course, with "The Mermaid Problem", such graphicness is likely to be raised anyways.]:-P
Story Ideas II
Have you tried your hand at a "mermaid" variation of the short story "The Most Dangererous Game" by Richard Cornell? The basic story itself has been . . . shall we say . . . recycled quite often in many action/adventure television series, but still I don't think there's been one that had a mermaid protagonist.
A couple of quick comments on same:
1. In the original story, most of the action takes place on a remote island (so there is little chance of the protagonist being rescued by the outside world). At first, a mermaid protagonist might not make the isolated sea location so intimidating, but if she knows the remoteness of the island, or the antagonist has plenty of fishnets or sharks surrounding the island . . . etc.
2. I imagine some folks might prefer both the protagonist and antagonist be from mer races. (For myself--in spite of the potential "political incorrectness"--I'd rather the antagonist remain a human (guy).)
--
On a different note: Are you doing these stories for free, or are you paid?
Story Ideas III
First, feel free to post any stories you want to Seatails, so long as it stays mer-related.
1. When I was working on Canto, one idea that I had in the back of my mind was the story of two mermaids in World War II, one British, the other German, both attached to submarine crews. It would actually fit well in the "The Most Dangerous Game" metaphor - each is attempting to defeat the other while trying to keep the crew of "her" vessel alive.
2. A Steampunk mermaid story arc built around Jule's Verne's Nemo stories has some very distinct possibilities as well. Indeed, much of the back story of Canto was woven around that particular thread.
3. A mermaid gum shoe (or at least gum flipper). The damsel in distress trope gets completely subverted here. In a similar but more modern vein, a detective specializing in divorces discovers that the husband she was supposed to spy upon was having an affair with a mermaid (or possibly the wife having the affair).
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