How strong is your concept?

[Leif Notae]

The topic provided by Larry Brooks in today's (12/3/12) post about The Secret To a Successful Concept points out something I am seeing a trend in with the questions and critiques. This isn't a bad thing, but this post can help.

So, how far down have you drilled to find your true concept? Is it harder than it looks for you?

 

[Feo Takahari]

All of my current projects deal with conflict between two different models of a situation, either or neither of which may be correct. For instance, a slaveowner seduces a slave, who goes along with it to avoid punishment and get better treatment--is the slaveowner deluding himself when he thinks the slave loves him, or is the slave deluding himself when he thinks he doesn't? In some cases, these conflicts aren't explicitly spelled out in the narrative, but they underly its events in ways that I hope will gradually become obvious.

 

[Anders Ämting]

All my stories are very conceptual, in the sense that I define concept as a combination of narrative, themes and style, and try to take them all in account when I formulate a project. I don't consider it very challenging, honestly, but if I don't have a clear concept I don't really have a story. So, for me it's kind of a necessity.

 

[ThinkerX]

Hmmm...

Labyrinth - Arrogant aristocrat and companions venture into an immense labyrinth in search of a family artifact which could put his family on the imperial throne.

Empire - A young noblewoman and her companions, while acting as mercentile agents in a supposedly minor matter, find themselves dealing with intrigue and monster attacks.

Shadow Sea - A shipwrecked nobleman fleeing a fallen city crosses a barely known sea to the strange heartland of the invaders, intent on rescuing his wife and father.

Falling Towers - Hundreds of years ago, two battling wizardly factions called a truce, and scattered dangerous arcane devices amongst their many towers. But now warlords, barbarians, and fanatics are arising, and the towers are falling one by one. Can a long dark age be prevented?

 

[Wanara009]

The Warrior and the Healer: A wandering warrior agreed to escort a healer to the north. However, when the healer began to doubt herself, the warrior insist on continuing. Why is he so adamant about getting there? All of this is set during a time the nations that controls the northern land are experiencing heavy turmoil and the threat of war loomed ever closer.

A King's Oath: A peaceful king made an oath to unify the archipelago. However, he does not have the military mind to do it so he called upon his master tactician of a best friend. The story details how the king and his friend changes as the campaign goes on.

By the looks of it, I'm focusing on how the people react and interact with other during a certain situation. I also like to explore the conflict within my characters and how it'll change them (i.e.: a peace-loving king forced to wage war that will certainly changes him, a simple idealistic man forced into the complex and corrupt underworld out of a patriotic sense of duty, etc).

 

[Leif Notae]

Hmm, this is why I am glad I posted this. It appears there are many "concepts" that are not clear. I'd love to see more, just to see if this trend keeps happening (no bad reflection on you all that posted, it is always good to have these conversations).

 

[Ireth]

Winter's Queen: A human teenager struggles to escape an impeding forced marriage to a Fae prince, while her father and uncle search for her in Faerie.

Summer's Pawn: A human family and their Fae guide hunt down a fugitive Fae princess, and must decide whether they are willing to forfeit everything they have to keep her safe.

Low Road: A young vampire finds a new home, makes friends and (possibly) falls in love, then is threatened and runs into the Big Bad while seeking revenge on the man who tries to kill his (possible) lover. Said Big Bad tries to corrupt him, but the hero defies him.

 

[Anders Ämting]

The Arcana Memento - A young girl is admitted to a famous school where she learns that she is a magician. As she struggles to master her powers, she finds out more about her long lost mother, who seems to have left a mysterious legacy for her to uncover.

Thousand Skies - At the brink of death, a young man is drawn into a world of magic and swashbuckling adventure! There, he swears himself to serve as the protector of a beautiful princess, knowing that if she dies, he dies as well.

Untitled - A group of orphans are raised as warriors at a military academy, but must flee as a mysterious calamity destroys their world. A misshap with a time machine scatters them across time and space. Guided by mysterious forces, they must now must find a way to reunite and uncover the events that led up to the destruction of their world.

Calamity Gadget - On a planet where a system of deadly satelites keeps the inhabitants from ever reaching space, a powerful android of mysterious origins tries to pass for a normal teenage boy. But after defeating a massive mechanical monstrosity from outer space, his seven "siblings" arrive and offer an ultimatum: Do battle with us, or watch your homeworld burn.

Soulmate - A boy meets a beautiful girl and finds that she is his soulmate. (Literally.) Problem is, the boy is already in love with a different girl. A story about love, friendship and magical swords.

 

[Anders Ämting]

Hmm, this is why I am glad I posted this. It appears there are many "concepts" that are not clear.

Keep in mind that it can be difficult to sum up all the aspects and intricalities of a concept in a few sentences. That doesn't mean the concept is unclear to us who are writing it.

 

[Philip Overby]

It's funny you posted this Leif, as I'm reading Larry Brooks's book "Story Engineering" at the moment and he talks about concepts in the early stages. Something he notes about concepts in the book is that you need to be able to ask several "What if...?" questions in order to see how deep your concept really is. He also talks about the difference between an "idea" and a "concept."

An idea is more like "A man travels across a desert to find a dragon."

A concept is more like "What if a blind Dragon Rider travels across a desert to kill a dragon that used to be his mount?" (Something I just made up here).

There's a little bit more meat to the second one because you've made the journey more intriguing because it's just not a man trying to find a dragon, but a blind Dragon Rider looking to kill a dragon that used to be his. This brings up loads of questions.

Why is the man blind? Was he blind from birth? Did using the dragon to fly give him more mobility and now he is lost without it? Did the dragon actually blind him? Why does he want to kill the dragon? Did it betray him? Did he betray it? Is this a revenge story or does it go deeper? How is a blind man going to make it across a desert without getting lost? Does he have a plan?

This concept I came up with may not be completely awesome, but it does open up a slew of other questions that you hope the readers will be asking themselves when they pick up the book. It could probably go even deeper than that, but the key I think is to make sure the concept has a lot of things working for it. Something for a potential reader to latch onto in addition to some dramatic possibilities.

 

[MadMadys]

An idea is more like "A man travels across a desert to find a dragon."

A concept is more like "What if a blind Dragon Rider travels across a desert to kill a dragon that used to be his mount?" (Something I just made up here).

That's a great way to put it (made up or not!). I usually start with an idea and develop it until it sounds halfway amusing.

Live On City: An ex-convict, ex-military, over 50, drunk woman has to escort a young boy across a future meg-city in order to pay rent and she's out of cigarettes.

Dragon Wench: Young man is possessed by a disrespectful queen dragon who had been banished for years and so he seeks to free himself of her when he isn't at work, shopping, or trying online dating.

Deep Red: The crew of submarine on a far off planet race to turn in an amazing find while one of the crew members attempts to sabotage the mission because they're lonely.

 

[Philip Overby]

@MadMadys: Well, the difference between idea and concept is developed more in Brooks's book. I meant I just made up the concept (about the Dragon Rider.) Don't want people to think I'm taking credit for what is in Brooks's book.

Your concepts sound interesting to me for several reasons:

1. The buzz-words in your first concept pique my interest:
a. ex-convict, ex-military, over 50, drunk woman That evokes an image immediately of a pretty wild character, someone I'd be interested in reading about.
b. future meg-city Not sure what that is, but it sounds interesting.
c. she's out of cigarettes This makes me think, "Oh, this should be funny." Which I think is what you're going for.

2. Even though your concept is short, it's packed full of stuff to hook a reader in. I think that's what makes a good concept: something short, to the point, but full of details that may interest potential readers/editors.

 

[BWFoster78]

How's this for an idea:

A boy really wants a girl to like him.

It's simple, but a million books have been written with only slight variations on that theme.

I think what I'm trying to say is that the concept of your book doesn't have to be all that awesomely mind-blowing in order to produce something worth reading. A well written story with relatable characters, tension, and emotion will engage the reader.

That's not to say that I disagree with the posters above entirely; I just wanted to bring a bit of a different perspective.

 

[Philip Overby]

As an idea, "A boy really wants a girl to like him" is, of course, a great one. Like you said, there are tons of stories that feature this idea. However, what Brooks is trying to get across is that ideas are a dime a dozen. A concept has to have something in it to get readers interested and also give you dramatic tension.

So as an idea: "A boy really wants a girl to like him" works. But if someone said, "Let me tell you about my book! It's about a boy who really wants a girl to like him." People may say, "So what?" A concept has to go a bit deeper than that.

I agree, concepts don't have to be intricate or complicated in order to get interest, but they do have to have some kind of hook that gives both the reader and writer something to work with. Like "A boy really wants a robot girl to like him." Then a bit deeper, "A vampire boy really wants a robot girl to like him." Each sort of addition may add layers of drama or conflict.

A vampire boy and a robot girl can't be together right?

 

[saellys]

Wow, Brooks's egregious overuse of italics and boldface makes that article nigh unreadable for me. I muddled through, and came away with an impression that he thinks writers should narrow really general ideas down into really specific ideas. Yup, that's a great thing to do before you start writing.

Since we're all sharing, Camlann is about two estranged brothers must work together to restore their dishonored family before war and politics bring them to ruin.

 

[Ireth]

A vampire boy and a robot girl can't be together right?

I don't see why they can't, personally. XD My mom has a story in progress about a vampire who falls in love with an android.

 

[MadMadys]

A vampire boy and a robot girl can't be together right?

Who are you to deny their love?

And Phil I quoted your earlier post because it was a good example rather than thinking you came up with point. Perfect examples are always appreciated. My take on that example, would be saying you want to build a house. Great! That's an idea. I want to build a two-story house, 3 bedroom and two bath with a bar and dungeon attached to the two car garage. That's a concept and a creepy one at that.

An appealing concept for me is one that has something in it I wouldn't expect. As in my earlier example, I have a very unusual protagonist, over-50 female, on a lame 'quest' for a mundane reason. I wanted to create something that sounded so odd that it would at least entice the person to look a little deeper. The story itself is a pure character study on making a main character that is unappealing but still human and so, instinctively, we attach to her. All that is just added concept talk, of course, but it all spawned from one incy wincy idea.

 

[Leif Notae]

Wow, Brooks's egregious overuse of italics and boldface makes that article nigh unreadable for me. I muddled through, and came away with an impression that he thinks writers should narrow really general ideas down into really specific ideas. Yup, that's a great thing to do before you start writing.

I will say this about Brooks, he is 100% bitter failed author first and internet marketer second. He has some ideas, yes, and he has some skills in getting others to open up, of course. However, he is also someone who is keeping food on the plate by offering the $100-$300 critiquing services.

As far as being a critic for anyone's synopsis or concept, I only point out there are some here that are in predevelopment while others are missing a great opportunity.

The one I just finished up (Short Story): A witch hunter with tainted blood returns to her parent's estate when she discovers her family is held hostage. The only help she has is an initiate, a trained vampire, and two old witch hunters. She struggles with watching her past die before her eyes while maintaining control over the one bargaining chip she has, a gem powered by the souls of the victims the witch skins alive. Along the way, she runs into a family member she never thought she would see again.

 

[Anders Ämting]

A vampire boy and a robot girl can't be together right?

Well, I dunno. Is the robot girl a vampire hunter? (Robots make for kickass vampire hunters. Tricky to bite, and they have no blood.)

If it's just a vampire and a robot, I don't see where you get the drama and conflict. In fact, they would work better together than either one would with a human, for various reasons: Vampires are noctural and robots don't need to sleep; vampires cannot prey on robots, so the girl is safe from him; both can theoretically live for a very long time, etc, etc.

 

[Rullenzar]

Figured I'd join the fun.

Untitled - A man sets out on a journey of revenge but soon realizes everything he thought he knew is the shadow of something much more sinister at work and gets tangled up into a plot his birthright always meant for him to be in.

This is basically my story in a nutshell set in a medieval time.