I’m writing this post to jot down ideas for posts that I’ve had in the past. You see, my brain is a little funny. It thinks of interesting little ideas. If I don’t write them down, I usually don’t remember them. I’ve been writing ideas into my journal and cellphone so that I have more material to work with.
I decided to share them for two reasons: to see what you want to see and to possibly inspire a reader. I want to know what you want to see because I’m not the most motivated person in the world. But, if I see that someone wants to see a certain idea written by me, I would certainly find motivation to write. By writing this post, I am sharing my ideas with the world. If any of these ideas inspire you, go ahead and write about them. I want to contribute to the writing community in any way. I’m happy with a contribution that is just a small idea.
Developing Planets
The setting for this idea is the far future when many planets of our solar system–and maybe other solar systems–have been colonized. Politics can now be seen on a larger scale. The terms 1st world and 3rd world are quite literal. A planet can be a developing world or a developed world.
Earth is now a developing world. How has politics changed on the planet itself? Is America still in charge? Is their only one government? How have nuclear arms or climate change affected Earth’s development? All those questions set up the status quo of Earth. It could go many directions. Maybe Earth is ruled by one government because a global catastrophe created a need for that. Maybe a nuclear war has somehow made Australia the superpower. Maybe none of that happened and the Earthlings simply haven’t come up with space travel yet. The lack of space travel is impeding our development. The point here is there are many reasons why Earth is a developing world in this setting.
The point of view can be from that of a federation of planets deciding whether or not to aid Earth in its development. Maybe Earth has been trying to get into contact with this federation for a while.
If I were to write a story about that, it would be to highlight how power changes when scope changes or to highlight how power changes through time. Humanity may have started on Earth, but will it leave it behind? When will Earth become a foreign land?
7 Days Gang
This idea is about a group of assassins that give their targets seven days to live. This gang is powerful and has access to many resources. The story can be about how the gang got its name. Many of its targets have tested it in various ways. One of them flew to another country and disguised himself as somebody else. Another thought he could buy his way out. One thought joining the gang would prevent it. Yet another thought the threat of mutual destruction would prevent it.
There could be a character in the gang who decides to kill people because of simple offenses. One day while eating at a cafe a waiter spills soup on him. The character then wipes himself off and tells the waiter, “You have seven days to live.”. The waiter doesn’t know whether to believe him. The waiter thinks it may be an idle threat. “Maybe he’s not from the gang? Even if he were, he wouldn’t kill me for this. Would he?”, he thinks. In seven days, the waiter is killed.
A story can also be about a target and what he or she does for the seven days. There can be several responses to being outright told, “You have seven days to live.”. The target can try to run and hide. The target can go into depression or denial. The target may even accept it and have the best time of his or her life.
For some reason, I imagine the setting to be in Japan with samurai. The limited technology of the time makes the idea more interesting, but it could work with a modern setting.
Evil Brother
This idea is definitely a dark one. A brother sees that his younger brother is crazy. He hides that fact from his parents somehow and uses his brother’s lunacy to his advantage. The evil brother manipulates his younger brother into murdering people.
Maybe the evil brother stumbled upon a way to hypnotize the younger brother in their childhood. It’s a weird idea. The evil brother is able to get away with murder that way. The younger brother is just a pawn.
Dreaming
This is really just a scene my mind thought up.
A person awakes from sleep. This person has fallen asleep while watching a movie with two others in his room. Something feels wrong though. The person can’t see the faces of the two others although their bodies look familiar. That’s when he notices a sound, but it’s not coming from the TV. In fact, no sound is coming from the TV. The sound becomes clearer. Something is being said in an alien tongue. The person assumes he is still dreaming. He goes back to sleep with a strange feeling.
That’s all I got. Maybe he’s been abducted by aliens. Maybe he wakes up in a dream that he cannot get out of. The reasons for this situation can be pretty complicated. One just has to think of them.
Importing Work
This idea is about a nation that has gotten rid of retirement and vacations so that its workforce can have more time to work. The nation actually imports work from other nations. What does that mean? If you are a citizen of the importing nation, your life is one of work. If you are of the other nation, you don’t have to work.
Maybe the importing country has made its workforce this way because it gets more tax revenue to pay off debts or to pay for war. Maybe it is actually a colony of the other nation. In this case, the resource the colonizing nation is after is time. Time for its citizens to relax. This story can focus on the politics and economics of this situation. How is this system viable? What kind of taxing is done so that both nation’s governments profit from the situation? I imagine the colonizing nation saying, “All this work is good for the colony. Before they had no economy whatsoever, now it is booming!”.
The story can be about how other nations view this situation or about how the working nation’s citizens react to the situation. Is the nation’s control over the people so strong that they support it? Or, is their civil unrest?
One Day
This is a story of two men who hate each other so much they fight to the death. With his last breath, the dying man says, “One day I will kill you.” This can go two ways.
One way, the dead man comes back to life and eventually kills his killer. Maybe it’s for supernatural reasons. For example, maybe their hate was so strong that it brought him back to life. Maybe some deity brought him back to life to exact his revenge. Maybe he was turned into a zombie because of a military experiment.
The other way is more symbollic. Maybe a person with the same name as the murdered man kills the other guy. Maybe someone who looks very similar to the murdered man kills the other guy. Maybe the guy had a twin!
Space Trucking
This story is about a space trucker reflecting on his job. It suits him well because he is a loner. He cannot imagine life in the past stuck on one planet surrounded by people. His home is literally his driver’s seat. His cargo ship is the cheapest model and the cockpit is the only living space. He eats where he drives. He sleeps where he drives. He pees where he drives. The rest of the ship is dedicated to carrying cargo.
The setting is in the future and in space. The trucker’s special kind of ship makes for a strange living situation, but it is one he enjoys. His small living area is completely decorated with things that make him happy.
Armed Treaties
This is an idea about treaty organizations getting some muscle. Treaty organizations have their own armies or hired mercenaries that they use to ensure their treaties are followed. The changed dynamics this creates are pretty interesting. Treaties are more effective, but now nations have more to worry about. Pressure from other nations or the treaty organization itself can be a reason why nations still take part in treaties.
If a treaty organization has its own army, maybe it gets soldiers for that army from the nations participating in the treaty. In this case, maybe a fake war is started by the participating nations so that they can legally withdraw soldiers from the treaty organization’s army. The participating nations then break the rules of the treaty to their hearts’ content.
Non-fiction
I’ve also got some ideas for non-fiction posts. I’ll write a post about that later though.
Let me know your thoughts on these ideas! And again, feel free to use them as your own.
