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Getting my MC from one world to another

Ireth

Myth Weaver
*pokes title* Having issues with this in a short story I'm working on.

The premise of the story is that the MC, a girl from modern-day Earth, is stuck in writer's block and seeking inspiration for her work. Somehow or other she winds up in a fantasy land (as yet unnamed), where she encounters a dragon -- exactly the inspiration she's been looking for. She befriends the dragon, writes the poem she wanted to, and stays in the fantasy land for a few days (against her will, as she wants to go home as soon as she's done writing her poem, but doesn't know how). After more encounters both good and bad with dragons and humans alike, she finally is pulled back to Earth when she's kicked in the head by a spooked horse when she jumps at the rider to keep him from killing her dragon friend. She actually dies in the fantasy world, and returns to her own world alive but wounded, and probably at the very least concussed. (<- highlight to read spoilers)

My initial idea for getting the MC to the fantasy land in the first place was that she'd be transported there by her Muse, who took a rather hands-on interpretation of the MC's desire for what she wants to write about to come alive. The trouble with that is that the Muse doesn't bring the MC home when she asks (the first time is when she's done her poem), and doesn't step in to save her when she's in danger of dying. (I'm not certain if the Muse is the one to bring her home in the end at all, or if she's returned home simply because she died.) This makes the Muse come off as kind of sociopathic, which isn't what I wanted at all.

To be brief, I need a way for my MC to end up in a fantasy world against her will. I don't want to make it as simple as walking through a certain door, a la Narnia; I want it to tie into her frustrations as a writer somehow, whether or not it involves the Muse. Any thoughts and comments are appreciated. Thanks!
 

Ruby

Auror
Hi Ireth, this sounds like a really interesting book which will be brilliant if you can pull it off.

My initial thought was that muses are notoriously unreliable: sometimes they are there, other times they just don't turn up. Perhaps the muse is working for more than one writer and forgets about her?

Is your story going to be like Inkheart where a character disappears into a book? Could the MC have an enemy who doesn't want her to return?
 

Ireth

Myth Weaver
Thanks, Ruby! At this point it's just a short story -- I don't know if I have enough material for a full-length novel. I like the idea of an unreliable Muse. The main antagonist of the story is a knight who thinks the MC is evil and in league with the dragon she befriends, but he doesn't know she's from another world. I don't know whether she'd tell him, and if she did, he wouldn't be likely to believe her. This isn't going to be like Inkheart; nobody will disappear into anywhere.
 

Ruby

Auror
Hi Ireth, have you actually started writing the story? I find that usually my characters already know the plot and I just hang around, writing and rereading the WIP until they reveal what's going on.

A common device would be for your MC to be in a coma or have a dream; but I think that's a bit of a cop out really.

Perhaps she's writing a story for a competition and her muse is abducted by someone else's muse. For example, Mariya the muse we have on our Flat Earth RPG has a whole back story.
Is there going to be a romance between the knight and the MC, but of course at first they hate each other, as in all good love stories?
 

Ireth

Myth Weaver
I have already started the story, but I'm giving the plot a bit of an overhaul. I've developed the dragons and their backstory a lot more, which is part of that.

I hadn't thought of bringing in someone else's Muse, but it could be a good idea. I'm just not sure how to put that into the story, as it's written in first-person from the MC's POV, with no variance. This particular muse is the Greek muse Calliope, who inspires epic stories and poetry. Or at least that's the form she takes when appearing to the MC.

No, there is no romance at all. As I said in my original post, the knight is the bad guy, and the MC hates him from the start. (I'm not even sure the MC is interested in men at all, to be honest.)
 

Ruby

Auror
Have you tried changing the POV to third person? I did that with my current WIP and haven't looked back. I found first person was too limiting.
 

Ireth

Myth Weaver
No. I think first person would work better for this story, as it gets the MC's voice across more clearly, in my opinion.
 

fantastic

Minstrel
There are many ways to do this.

You can have a muse that does not appear often, as Ruby said.

Maybe muse is never in that world.

Maybe the girl dreamed of the land.
 

Ireth

Myth Weaver
I like the first two ideas, but not the last. Having it all be a dream feels like a huge cop-out. I'd be disappointed if I read a story like that.
 

Queshire

Auror
In Mark Twain's story, a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, the MC is sent back in time after getting bonked on the head. We never get any more explanation than that. It's always bothered me.

You said they're suffering from writer's block right? Maybe you could have her scrapped writing turn into a portal somehow.
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
Maybe the Muse brings her over, and whoever the Big Bad in the story is does something to the Muse, which explains why the Muse can't send her back again or help her. And before it is all over she ends up having to save her own Muse (rather than vice versa).
 

Ireth

Myth Weaver
If I do include the Muse in the story (which is seeming less and less likely), I don't intend for anyone other than the MC to be able to interact with her at all. The villain is just an ordinary guy, so he wouldn't really have the power to abduct or do anything to the Muse in any case.
 

MineOwnKing

Maester
How about something like the old movie Christine? An old car is possessed.

Your MC purchases a new laptop and the laptop communicates to her through her iTunes. Her writing starts to improve and soon she feels more confident about herself. Eventually the laptop convinces her that it can help her to write the ultimate story, but when she agrees she finds herself living within the alternate world.

A few short periods of time in the alternate world, leaves her confused and on the point of mental breakdown....you just need to choose if she will be completely swallowed by the bad magic of the laptop or see through the self-destructive illusion.
 

Ireth

Myth Weaver
That's a cool idea, but I don't think it would suit the story I want to write. The MC's trip into the fantasy world is a one-time thing, and I don't really want to involve technology in it to that extent.

I've decided to go with Queshire's magic-portal idea. :) Thanks to all who gave suggestions!
 

ThinkerX

Myth Weaver
So...your MC is staring at her keyboard, waiting I vain for a solution to her writers block, when a really update message appears on her screen. She gets partway through the update, then spills her tea on the keyboard, and a whole slew of funky characters start bouncing all over the screen, then off the screen, then one touches her, and she's elsewhere.

Or, if this is a low tech story, MC is staring at the blank pages of her book, waiting for inspiration, when she remembers the funky quill and attendant ink bottle she bought. She fetches them, but the bottle breaks, spilling ink, which instead of dropping to the ground encircles her in a whirling black ring, and away she goes.
 

Ireth

Myth Weaver
Or, if this is a low tech story, MC is staring at the blank pages of her book, waiting for inspiration, when she remembers the funky quill and attendant ink bottle she bought. She fetches them, but the bottle breaks, spilling ink, which instead of dropping to the ground encircles her in a whirling black ring, and away she goes.

My plan is something like that. The MC is writing in pen on a hot summer day, getting frustrated with her inability to write more than a line or two about dragons. She crumples up her latest attempt, but the edge of the page gives her a papercut. Said cut brings a tear of pain to her eye, which falls -- along with drops of her blood and sweat -- onto another page, on which is written the word dragon. The ink smears, then turns into a portal, which sucks the MC in.
 
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