quddusaliquddus

Hi all. What do you think of: a cult of magicians are spreading throughout the land. its set in india or arabia. They recruit people and in exchange for joining them - they give you power over jinns (i.e. spirits/ghosts). The main character is a boy of 15. His tribe has joined the cult for protection against their powers i.e. "if you cant beat them then join them". The boy is the 'chosen one' to beat the cult. The boy sees true dreams. Seeing these dreams works against him as the magicians use it to their advantage. He must leave the tribe and search for a magical item e.g. turban to beat the cult. He must travel and acquire the help of magicians ect...

questions:

1) What should the item be that he has to search for in order to beat the cult?

2) What should the mini quests be? (mini quests leading up to finding the main item that is).

3) Whose help should he search for? How would each of the people he searches for help him?

any help would be much apreciated. THANKS

quddusaliquddus

any ideas other than those to do with questions ive posted are welcome!!

quddusaliquddus

and also how do we find out that the boy is the chosen one? And how does the magical item destroy the cult?

Anarkos

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Flexbile Garphite

Some good suggestions there. I second those. My question is why can't you figure this stuff out for yourself?

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S1E9A8N5

I always see, "Why can't you figure it out yourself" kind of answers. What’s wrong with asking for your opinion? It's not a bad thing. Opinions can trigger ideas. Inspire you to think of other things. Etc.

Maybe have it so that "it" chooses him? Maybe the "magical item" could be the boy...? Just throwing out ideas.

rydenthorne

Ok, I'm just brainstorming now....

This cult has discovered some kind of ancient evil process for summoning the jinns, but they are missing a volume of the text necessary to control them. So their summoning backfires and the cult is possessed by the very spirits they sought to control. The jinns wish to enslave mankind in revenge for making them submit to the wishes and whims of men.

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Fixed

it's spelt djinn by the way

if he is the chosen one then there is obviously some type of prophet or prophecy and the boy has to fulfill it, to make it more interesting though the boy probably should not know he is the chosen one until he is told, and even then when he is told he shouldn't believe it until he finds some powers he never really knew he had etc
an idea for the item could perhaps be the say a manuscript or something which will unlock some powers within him (remember how arthur was the only one who could pull out excalibur? how neo only became "the one" once trinity kissed him in the matrix? how harry was the only one to not die at voldemort's whatever it's called spell?)
Basically you want him to find an item that only he can wield or use...

as for your quests... it has to be something not too far away from the cult or item, I honestly have no clue, but it could as well be a series of fights and puzzles where after each fight or puzzle he learns something new or becomes better at something he did before, ever played a zelda game? you could make it something like that where after each dungeon link would get a new weapon or new power or more health etc (obviously don't explain it like I just did now lol, that would be much too brief, you need to explain how he obtained this new skill or whatever)
you want to see this guy develop into "the chosen one" and not just start off as some invincible god, you want to see the path to him being a god

he should search help from close friends and wise men, in some cases an accomplice to help accomplish the mission is useful
also if there was an witchdoctor or whatever that said that this boy is "the chosen one" to beat the cult then he should also visit the oracle or whoever it is to ask advice on what he should do next, this oracle shouldn't give a precise answer but more give something out like an inexplicable riddle which will be answerred later on in the story etc

now that I think of it, if you do use a prophecy
whether it is written or spoken or somehow communicated then imagine what could happen if it was wrongly interpreted?? remember starwars and how anakin, the supposed savior of the republic turned into darth vader? you may just as well create a scene somewhat like this

hope I helped, oh and this guy probably could have figured his own stuff out, he just asked for people's opnions to see if he could get any more ideas and kind of brainstorm
I myself am actually kind of lost on so many ideas right now I have no idea which story I should start since my most recent one which I wrote about 3 chapters of, i turned into 3 separate short stories to enter a competition for and now I wanna start writing a new book...

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quddusaliquddus

Thank You fixed. Very helpful stuff you've writtem there. I'll be sure to mull it over.

quddusaliquddus

one of the ways in which im thinking of making him the chosen one is by making the boy see true dreams. His ancestors have had brushes with mysterious men with magical powers and they almost got the powers themselves from the mysterious men - but they didnt because they didnt pass the test. the test being different for each one of his ancestors. i want this boy to face a test himself e.g. beat the evil magicians, to gain some mysterious power. or he might not face a test himself but is given the the magical power to defeat the magicians. im not sure yet.

As for the magic item - i was thinking that maybe its a mirror that deflects magic onto the person practioner. This way he is able to wqork against the magicians because they're magic wouldnt work on him. But then he'd have to find another item/person/power in order to actually destroiy the magicians.

What do you think?

andrew.v.spencer

This sounds like the strong influence of a RPG.

The item finds him. Does the boy want to be the chosen one? If not what changes his mind. Why must he beat the cult, apart from summoning djinns, what do they do that's evil or wrong. Could their aims, at least in their own eyes be laudable?

As for help, well the best help is usually the most reluctant.

Be careful you don't stumble into thinly disguised RPG version of the LOTR.

quddusaliquddus

i hope i havent copied an RPG...its been a quiet a few years since ive played any sort of game...although i have seen all the LOTR movies. I havent thought whether the boy wants to be the chosen one...although ive decided that the cults aim is laudable in their eyes...although i havent completely thought out of how they're evil ...

it seems i havent thought this out .... sorry for being such a noob ... this is my first attempt at writing a story ...EVER!!

Thank you for your help though

andrew.v.spencer

Nothing to be sorry about, I'm a "noob" myself on this site. I've done no more than finish the first draft of a novel. The whole process is strewn with blind alleys, unbelievable motivation, conventions picked up from other media, knotty character problems and difficulties in driving the plot forward. Other than that it's great fun.

Usually the conventional answer or convention occurs to one first, it is after all ingrained through extreme exposure. Then I try to think what else could it be, how about inverting it, what else COULD happen. Often it helps get me on the way, or at least realize that what I've just written doesn't work.

The journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step, (thanks to "Cliches are us for that one); many of us are new on this road, and we only learn by walking ever on.

Best of luck to you and your work.

Cheers

Andrew

Fixed

true dreams, ok fine but he should only be wonderring whether these dreams are true and should have no evidence that they will turn out to be true, how will they be used to make him the chosen though?
honestly I'm not a huge fan of true dreams, especially in books, in movies they can work, I started a book with true dreams once and it turned out to be horrible because I had to show the same dream over and over to remind the reader (well there was none but w/e) and the dream would only come true towards the end of the story, and it's very hard to actually have that dream mean anything after you describe it... afterall, what is it but a dream? obviously you could try it out though.
then you mention a type of test.... this seems kind of childish... so his ancestors never beat the test and now you're saying that this boy can, not only that but maybe he won't even have to take the test? why did his ancestors even get to take the test in the first place, what was so different about his tribe or family that gave them a priviledge to have this test?


yes no problem with those items, just realize though that that mirror can be used by everybody else as well, so maybe you could have that mirror stolen/lost at some point in the book so that he is either forced to get another mirror, find it back, or fight the magicians without it, or you could just let him keep it, all depends on whether you want to add to the plot or length or maybe serve to use this subplot in the major plot of things...
that other item/person/power though has to be something which only he can use though... since he is "the chosen one" only "the chosen one" can use it

You need to answer all these questions before you start writing because otherwise you're going to be stuck on what to do and this would easily frustrate you and just make you quit on your story (which by the way could be very interesting, it just sounds like you haven't thought it up enough yet), I've quit on several stories just because I started writing without giving a thought on any of the plot, then I ended up at several deadends, redone chapters and came up at another dead end, eventually after that I got fed up and quit the story... hmm this time I actually find myself quite confident about the book I'm writing though

You might wanna actually start by writing several short stories first as it's basically like writing a book which is very very short and therefore much easier to avoid dead ends

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quddusaliquddus

thanks again fixed!