Story Seed
Since I'm behind on homework, I have several short stories to write for school, and I'm in the middle of trying to write TR, of course it's time for another story idea to descend upon me. It's going to have to stew until summer, but that won't stop it from developing in spurts in the meantime. Because I need another story like I need a kick in the gut. This is one of those things that had been bubbling under the surface for a while without form, and it finally took shape yesterday, so I might as well share.
Story:
It involves life after death, except instead of everything being perfect or everything being miserable and it being some eternal endpoint, it's just another imperfect phase with its own struggles and dangers and problems, only slightly darker and weirder. It all takes place within the space of our world, only all of the colors of our world are dulled and muted, while everything in the spirit world is more saturated and colorful, so the contrast between "ghosts" and the world and living people around them is really stark. I think either how one dies or what kind of person one was affects what form one takes in this afterlife, so that really messed up and twisted people end up really scary looking or something. I think one's "skill set" is more or less determined by such factors too. I know you can die in that life too, and that the details surrounding that are a big part of the story, but I don't know the semantics yet. Some people have trouble letting go of their old lives and try to hang onto the living and follow loved ones around, but I think that prolonged exposure to the dead has a really negative effect on the living, drives them to depression and madness and such. Some really desperate ones do it intentionally to drive them to suicide and reunite, but it usually ends poorly because it really screws the person up when they transition over. There are a fair number of other details that are only half-formed now, so I'll wait to discuss them until things become a little more concrete.
I think it's an alternating viewpoint story between the two protagonists.
Characters:
(Unknown means I don't know it yet, not that it's unknown in the story)
Protagonist 1:
Age: 19ish
Name: Unknown
Cause of Death: Some kind of accident
Info: Asian-American, female, short kind of hip/choppy hair. She's kind of a straight-forward and cut-through-the-crap kind of person, not so much in an overly snarky way, but more of a way that she'll call people on things. Really physical, a bit of a "tomboy", lots of energy, spunky, quick-thinking. One of those people who are deceptively strong for being so petite.
Protagonist 2:
Age: Mid Twenties
Name: Begins with an R. Possible names are Rhys, Rafe (short for Rafael), Rod/Rodney, or Remy (short for Remington)
Cause of Death: He hooked up with a girl (not sure if she was a prostitute or just a one-night-stand), and while he was in the process of removing his pants, she shot him in the head and then robbed him.
Info: Jokes around a lot, really sarcastic, a little suspicious, impulsive, a bit easily flustered, simultaneously a wuss and recklessly brave in turns, kind of obnoxious but also rather poetic. He's sometimes noble, but he's also a sleaze.
Supporting Character 1:
Age: Twenties
Name: Unknown
Info: He died as a newly-wed. His wife ends up killing herself in her grief and depression, but dying in such a state warps her in some way upon death, and the whole experience surrounding the time just before and just after her death was so traumatic that he refuses to talk about it. All people know is that she killed herself, SOMETHING happened, and now she's not around anymore and he won't discuss it. It all still affects him very clearly though, both mentally and physically.
Now that I have that down, I'd better get back to homework.
Story:
It involves life after death, except instead of everything being perfect or everything being miserable and it being some eternal endpoint, it's just another imperfect phase with its own struggles and dangers and problems, only slightly darker and weirder. It all takes place within the space of our world, only all of the colors of our world are dulled and muted, while everything in the spirit world is more saturated and colorful, so the contrast between "ghosts" and the world and living people around them is really stark. I think either how one dies or what kind of person one was affects what form one takes in this afterlife, so that really messed up and twisted people end up really scary looking or something. I think one's "skill set" is more or less determined by such factors too. I know you can die in that life too, and that the details surrounding that are a big part of the story, but I don't know the semantics yet. Some people have trouble letting go of their old lives and try to hang onto the living and follow loved ones around, but I think that prolonged exposure to the dead has a really negative effect on the living, drives them to depression and madness and such. Some really desperate ones do it intentionally to drive them to suicide and reunite, but it usually ends poorly because it really screws the person up when they transition over. There are a fair number of other details that are only half-formed now, so I'll wait to discuss them until things become a little more concrete.
I think it's an alternating viewpoint story between the two protagonists.
Characters:
(Unknown means I don't know it yet, not that it's unknown in the story)
Protagonist 1:
Age: 19ish
Name: Unknown
Cause of Death: Some kind of accident
Info: Asian-American, female, short kind of hip/choppy hair. She's kind of a straight-forward and cut-through-the-crap kind of person, not so much in an overly snarky way, but more of a way that she'll call people on things. Really physical, a bit of a "tomboy", lots of energy, spunky, quick-thinking. One of those people who are deceptively strong for being so petite.
Protagonist 2:
Age: Mid Twenties
Name: Begins with an R. Possible names are Rhys, Rafe (short for Rafael), Rod/Rodney, or Remy (short for Remington)
Cause of Death: He hooked up with a girl (not sure if she was a prostitute or just a one-night-stand), and while he was in the process of removing his pants, she shot him in the head and then robbed him.
Info: Jokes around a lot, really sarcastic, a little suspicious, impulsive, a bit easily flustered, simultaneously a wuss and recklessly brave in turns, kind of obnoxious but also rather poetic. He's sometimes noble, but he's also a sleaze.
Supporting Character 1:
Age: Twenties
Name: Unknown
Info: He died as a newly-wed. His wife ends up killing herself in her grief and depression, but dying in such a state warps her in some way upon death, and the whole experience surrounding the time just before and just after her death was so traumatic that he refuses to talk about it. All people know is that she killed herself, SOMETHING happened, and now she's not around anymore and he won't discuss it. It all still affects him very clearly though, both mentally and physically.
Now that I have that down, I'd better get back to homework.