loopy777

So, today I came up with an idea for a novel. The idea itself isn't important or relevant; I come up with an idea everyday for a book, including one notable departure from fiction for a tabletop picture-heavy hardcover about potato chip culture in America. However, what I did with the idea (the one from today, not the potato chip book) is what's interesting.

I did nothing with it. I'm not going to write it.

But it occurred to me that it's a good idea, and maybe someone would want to buy it from me.

But how would I sell it?

So, this is my experiment with selling an idea. I don't really expect anyone to want to buy it, but I was curious if the model I came up for the salesmanship would work. I invite you to pretend that you're an interested buyer, and tell me whether my pitch works, or if there's more information you would want to know before you make a decision and/or offer.

I'm not going to be sharing the idea for the novel itself, as that would be giving away my product for free, but I'm going to use it for this experiment so that we have a solid foundation. Ideally, we'll develop a model we can all use to sell ideas online, maybe even create an Idea Industry, and then we can all sit around on our computers all day touting our mystery "pleasure food" idea and then reveal "pizza wrapped in ham" after we've been paid by some dumb patsy. (Naturally, we'd have to worry about inflation and brand devaluation.) It's not that I dislike my day job, otherwise I might actually try writing this novel, but trading a real job for a not-real job without loss of income is the Great American Dream. (And all foreigners love American stuff, so I'm sure everyone else digs it, too.)


( The Pitch... )

Here we are again, planning a story I call "Sokka's Eleven," about how Sokka reacts to adulthood and peacetime by lashing out and robbing a casino for specific reasons I'm obscuring for now. So, last time I discussed my premise, and outlined what seemed to be my Eleven crew before I said I was going to have to redo the whole thing.

The list I created last time was indeed the cast I was going to use before I shelved this story, but since picking it up again, I realized that it had major problems. (Either I needed the perspective of a little distance, or I've become a better writer since then.) I'm sure most people notice, but the core of my Eleven crew is, essentially, the gAang. If I write them as in-character then they're going to essentially get along, they're going to know how to work together, and they're not going to interact as readily with the lesser cast members who won slots on the team.

As was pointed out on my deviantArt account, Zuko and Aang especially seem like odd choices for this story. They are the Avatar and the Fire Lord, two of the world's five world leaders. It's kind of mean for them to picking on a little casino owner. Even if he is a really bad person, or trying to take over the world or something, it's just petty to rob him or her before saving the day in the traditional manner. Just like the President of the United States wouldn't have worked in Ocean's Eleven, Zuko and Aang wouldn't have worked here.

Plus, this is a story about a casino heist. I notice there's a disturbing dearth of career criminals involved.

What I need is a team that will challenge each other, have some little conflicts without the interpersonal drama overshadowing the heist itself. I need these people to learn from each other, and learn about themselves through their interactions. I need people who can undergo their own little story-arcs that tie in with the main themes. I need them to be "small" enough that they are the underdog against this casino owner. And, as Lavanya Six noted on my LiveJournal, I'm missing some important archetypes for this kind of story. So, who should I swap out, and who gets in?

Well, Sokka stays. And, as noted, Mai has a major story arc while also being a pleasantly quirky specialist. I may or may not want to give a midlife crisis and/or growing-up story to Ty Lee, but even if I don't, she can be a really useful sounding board for the other two. Teo, as I noted, fulfilled an important archetype, plot-related role, and even played into the main theme. He stays. And they all have unique skills that could be useful for the heist.

So, who's new?

( Read more... )

And yes, there are pirates!


( You know you wanna... )