A World Where the Heroes Messed up Everything

[Philip Overby]

I have several novel projects I'm throwing around in my head right now, one revolves around a world dictated by art (hence my other post about it). Another I'm thinking about is a world where there was a group of heroes that killed this monster. He asked for sacrifices each day, or whatever, and was super powerful. But they found these weapons that could kill him. When they killed him, they didn't realize he was the god of the world and the weapons were hidden for a reason. So the world is slowly unraveling each day without his direction. If they would have kept making the sacrifices they would have been ok. But nooooooo!

The heroes, in a panic, scattered to the far reaches of the world.

It would sort of be like if people on Earth thought the Moon was evil and decided to blow it up. Of course we'd all die.

The heroes have in fact become the villains because the people believe that if they kill them, then the god will be restored to his former glory. Some people think that the society that forced the heroes to kill the monster are to blame, but the majority think it's better to kill them.

They want someone to blame for their world collapsing, so if they're all going to die, they want to take the people that are to blame down with them.

It's sort of in the vein of the Dying Earth sub-genre, but I thought it would be interesting if the world slowly was collapsing in on itself each day. I want the world to literally be falling apart as the new heroes race against time to track down the old heroes in the hope that if they are killed that their god will come back.

Sort of like a disaster book meets a fantasy book. Instead of global warming destroying the Earth, it's the death of the creature that created everything.

Really I just want an excuse to literally drop a mountain on someone.

 

[Parqstu]

Hah, I like it

 

[Chilari]

Sounds like fun. How would you give the impression that the old heroes actually are heroes? Would you split the story into two parts, with the first one being their quest to kill the monster, and the second being the reaslisation that this wasn't a good idea and the new heroes trying to track down the old heroes, or would you start from the point where the monster is killed and go on from there?

 

[Philip Overby]

I think I would have a multiple point of view set-up. I want it to start from when the heroes kill the monster and then the after effect it has. So I'd have the point of view from the old heroes and the new heroes. There would be sort of a gray area as far as who is "good" and who is "evil." I like reading novels with multiple point of views, always have. Not sure why. But I would like to go that route with it.

 

[Ravana]

Sounds like fun. So much fun that I'm tempted to try it myself.

Be interesting to see how each of us takes the concept in our own directions.

 

[Chilari]

Yeah, I love seeing different perspectives on the same idea. But I think this one is really Phil's. Maybe if we started a thread where someone suggests a theme, scenario or title, and we each try to write a short story or scene which is our own interpretation of that. Cause that would be cool.

 

[Donny Bruso]

It's an interesting concept, Phil. Somewhat like Eve Forward's Villains by Necessity, where the so called 'good' guys are the ones actually causing the problem. Excellent book, by the way. It's out of print and hard (pronounced expensive) to come by, but well worth it in my opinion. I think it's a concept that merits exploration to see what you can do with it (pronounced get to work so we can see an excerpt, lol).

 

[Philip Overby]

Yeah, I love seeing different perspectives on the same idea. But I think this one is really Phil's. Maybe if we started a thread where someone suggests a theme, scenario or title, and we each try to write a short story or scene which is our own interpretation of that. Cause that would be cool.

Yeah, I'd like to do something like as well, sort of like an "Adopt a Plot" type thing like they do over at NaNoWrimo.

This story I'd been bumping around for a little bit, doing some world-building, etc. but wasn't really sure it was quite where I wanted it. I still think it needs a bit of tinkering, but once I get it going, I think it could be decent.

@Donny Bruso: I'll try to post something from it once I start cranking it out. Thanks!

I'll fish around and see if I can find that book you suggested for cheap-like. Maybe I'll get lucky.

P.S. I checked out Dark Crusade. I like it so far. Interested to see where it goes.

 

[Ravana]

Yeah, I love seeing different perspectives on the same idea. But I think this one is really Phil's.

Heh. The majority of my stories arise from my reading something else and saying "That's not how I would do it…!"

Besides, I can think of examples that fall close to what Phil's suggesting. As can Phil, seeing as he mentions some. And Donny. I'm confident that if we both sat down and wrote our own stories, they'd be sufficiently different we could send them to the same publisher at the same time and have both accepted (assuming they otherwise stood on their own merits, of course). Any treatment of this idea is going to be very idiosyncratic.

On the other hand, the notion of starting "story challenge" threads has considerable merit. I'll see what I can come up with to throw out there as a starter. Assuming you don't mind me stealing the idea.…

 

[Donny Bruso]

@Ravana: Oh I'm sure of that. You can give fifteen people the same writing prompt and get nineteen different stories. (The extra four are because some people didn't like their first story)

@Phil: Glad you' re enjoying it. Feel free to PM me here on on Writing.com with any critiques/questions/suggestions.

 

[Ravana]

@Ravana: Oh I'm sure of that. You can give fifteen people the same writing prompt and get nineteen different stories. (The extra four are because some people didn't like their first story)

Yep. Though if I'm in it, there will be at least twenty, as I'll have two different ideas and like them both.… Oh, and I went ahead and started a "challenge" thread in the Showcase. Everybody go have some fun with it.

 

[Philip Overby]

I think it is sometimes ok to do something similar to what has already been done. I mean it's almost unavoidable. Almost all fantasy stories have some kind of journey or political intrigue or fighting against a grand evil or some other generalization. My concept is still pretty rough and it bears some similarities to other stories I've read, but I can't think of any stories with this exact premise.

I don't know if I like the idea of doing the exact same concept as someone else unless it's just for writing practice. When I'm a millionaire I won't mind fan fiction though!