What do you think? New story idea. - Writers Forum

Briie · 11-05-2006, 07:01 PM

This is an idea for my newest story...what do you think? Any advice or help or hints is appreciated and taken into consideration.

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Lonely Sunrise

Summary

Diego Alvarez is used to being sold. His boss sells his talents to anyone who needs them and is willing to pay the price he sets. The seventeen year old ‘vaquero’ has been used like this since he was ten, but he doesn’t ever complain about it because it is the life that he was raised into. His mother died during childbirth, and his father gave him up, to distraught over his wifes’ death to care about the boy. Now, after almost seventeen years of growing up as a ‘cowboy’, Deigo’s father has remarried and has a daughter of his own and a teenage step-daughter…but something’s missing. His son. What will Diego do when his boss, Spiro, tells him that he is to go live with his father…someone who Diego has never even met.

Characters

Diego Alvarez

Spiro Nunez

Antonio Montejo

Cecilia Rodriguez-Montejo

Camila Rodriguez

Alita Montejo

/*/Horses/*/

[Carlos Hastings]

[Elieis Santini]

[Jeron Diaz]

(Alano Baez)

(Benito Avila)

(Andrelo DeLosa)

(Matthew Jigstan)

(Chuck)

{Juanita Onate}

{Maria Calero}

/Rico Duenas/

/Scott Martin/

/Marion Peters/

/Elsa Zayas/

>Teachers<

>People<

>Instructors<

>Bullies<

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Just a little help...for the characters.

The first 6 are the 'main' characters. No, they ain't all the actual main characters, but they rank up there.

The horses are very important, so they rank up there too.

The ones in brackets [] are the hired hands at Antonio Montejo's ranch.

The ones in parenthesis () work for Spiro and are Diego's friends.

The two in the curly brackets {} are the 'maids' at Antonio Montejo's home.

The four in the forward slashes // are Camila's friends.

The last ones in the greater than/less than signs >< are not important at all, but would help the story run smoother.

FrankBlissett · 11-05-2006, 07:29 PM

Briie,

I'm about to go off on something of a rant, and mean no offense to you. However, I can't help but notice the large number of "is this a good idea" posts we get here.

The standard reply is "it only matters how well you write it." But, let me put that in more specific terms.

If Danielle Steel asked "what do you think of the idea of a book of old-time ballads, but with modern political themes." I'd say "hey - sounds like a great idea." And the poetry book would probably be crap.

If Bob Dylan pitched a standard romance book to me, with some interesting characters, I'd say "hey - sounds like a great idea." And the book would probably be crap.

If Stephen Jay Gould had pitched an idea for brain-eating space aliens to me, I'd say "hey - sounds like a great idea." And the novel would probably be crap.

If Stephen King had a great idea for a book of essays on natural history, I'd say "hey - sounds like a great idea." And the collection would probably be crap.

So, I'll simply say "hey - sounds like a great idea." And trust that you're more straightened out about your interests and abilities than my quasi-fictional authors above.

-Frank

Omnisu · 11-05-2006, 08:03 PM

I'll go the opposite way, and tell you it sounds like crap. I certainly wouldn't want to write that book! I can only speak for myself, of course.

Briie · 11-05-2006, 08:12 PM

Which one of us are you speaking ot?? I'm lost...

I don't know if I stated it, but this story will be for my eyes only. I know that I'm not a good writer.... but I do like to write, and I can't write 'normal' things that well....

Talia_Brie · 11-05-2006, 09:01 PM

Briie, feel free to ignore the posts above. The good thing about this forum is you get to take what you like.

Frank, however, has a point, hidden in there among the drivel. Any idea can be great, if it is well written, and you enjoy creating it. Is your idea original? I don't read that kind of fiction, but my gut says it isn't. Does that matter? In a way, it just means you have to put some real effort into creating the characters, and fleshing them out.

And even if the story is just for you, I personally think you shoudl always try to make it as strong as you can. There's a huge amout of personla satisfaction involved in creating something really good.

Frank, if you'd like to rant, in the future please open up a new thread for it. We're perfectly happy to have people ranting, but try to to hijack someone elses thread for it.

And for everyone involved, Briie and I are no relation.

Mike C · 11-06-2006, 02:14 AM

I'll back Frank up.

Is your idea a good idea? Maybe. How you write it will decide that one. The question is, do you believe it's a good idea? If you have to ask others, the answer might appear to be no. If you believe in it enough to ignore other people's opinions and just get on with it, maybe it's a yes.

Break any idea down and it becomes meaningless. Like, Shakespeare had this idea for a story about two kids who fall in love, piss off their families, and they both die. Is that a good idea? You only know the answer to that when you see Romeo and Juliet performed.

An idea is just an idea, and meaningless until you've written it.

I also agree with Talia:

Quote:

And even if the story is just for you, I personally think you shoudl always try to make it as strong as you can. There's a huge amout of personla satisfaction involved in creating something really good.

Even if it's for personal satisfaction, write like it's for publication. Make everything you write better than the last. Make every story a stepping stone to the next.

Dawnstorm · 11-06-2006, 05:56 AM

Your summary reads well, and you seem to have gone into more detail in planning the story than you show us, so my question is:

Why aren't you writing it already?

Your summary isn't really a summary, but more of a teaser. And to anyone but you the characters are just names. For example, it's not very interesting to hear that "//" are Camila's friends when we have no idea who Camila is, or how she fits into the story. On the plus side, the list of Characters shows that you paid attention to variety (you don't have only characters with Spanish names, for example).

And I think you should replace the horses with armadillos. I like armadillos.

Fixed · 11-06-2006, 10:26 AM

what you want me to say? apart from yeah ok good idea
now write it and make it as good as your idea sounded to you