loopy777: (asn)
In a previous journal entry, I described a model for selling a story idea that someone else could turn into a book or comic. I had hoped to refine it into a functional (theoretically functional, at least) sales method, but it seems that I was trying to build on a shaky foundation. Commenters took the position that most artists prefer to work as auteurs, as there's no possible way that anyone but the idea's originator could do a good job with it. Since most of us aren't professionals, it's not a surprising philosophy, although most of what we produce- fanworks- are testaments to the effectiveness of producing an idea that someone else came up with. (Hollywood is another testament.)

However, one line of thought especially jumped out at me. On my livejournal, [livejournal.com profile] lalunatique shared a great article that outlined the history of Publishing and the role of the Author in the evolving sales model, ending with the assertion that the changing marketplace (online versus bookstores, grassroots over corporate publishing, etc.) will yield a new manifestation of the old concept of an Author. The article can be read here, and I recommend it as much for its exciting and punchy style as for the learning opportunity it offers. The article really got me thinking and one idea especially won my infatuation:

What if the next evolution of the Author is from a single, credited person to a team of interchangeable people?
Function and details... )

So, do you think something like this could work? What improvements would you suggest?
loopy777: (asn)
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... )
loopy777: (asn)
Last time, we got into heavy details about what Sokka's team would look like. I still had one slot to fill with a couple more that weren't yet completely certain, and people gave me some great suggestions to work with. However, I'd like to step away from that now without finalizing the team. I do have an idea of what I think the final team will look like, but I'd rather not set it into stone until I flesh out more of the plot and The Plot. So let's get started with that by looking at the foundation of the story- the setting.

Ideally, the setting of a story is a good reflection of its themes while also providing lots of elements that can be used and abused by the plot. I've written stories that basically just inherited a setting from some element of canon, and also stories where I had to create my own setting but basically did just a new take on a something known like "Earth Kingdom city." For this story, though, I'm going to be diving into something completely new. That is, of course, the steampunk casino.

My original idea was... )
loopy777: (asn)
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... )
loopy777: (asn)
So, I was reading Star Wars: Scoundrels this weekend, a story that could have been retitled "Han Solo's Eleven" and it wouldn't be any less apt. I personally recommend the book to people who like Star Wars, Han Solo, or complicated capers, but that's not what this post is about. I enjoyed the book so much that it revived my enthusiasm for an old fanfic idea that I shelved in favor of other projects:

Sokka's Eleven.

One of the reasons I put it on the back burner was the announcement of The Promise, because my vision of Sokka's Eleven would deal with how the various characters adapt to adult life in the post-war world, and I didn't want the comic stepping on my toes. (It already ruined Last Stand of the Freedom Fighters forever. No need to repeat it.) However, since the comics have turned out to be a blight on everything that was ever good about ATLA, I'm thinking maybe I don't care about writing a story that one-ups the comics. After all, I can't do any worse than Gene Yang. Besides, Legend of Korra gives end-points for the main cast's lives that go far beyond the circumstances of the comics, so I can use work based off that information and perhaps accidentally wind up more or less compatible with what gets filled in later as "canon."

However, I'm writing Retroactive now. (Hey, maybe one or two of you haven't heard yet. Doesn't hurt to get that fact established.) I'm too dedicated to that to shelve it in favor of another novel-sized project, but I figured out the next best thing...

I'll just plan out Sokka's Eleven in public, via a series of blog posts, and see how people respond to my ideas and process.

So, first up, I flesh out the premise and major characters.Read more... )

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