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/lit/ - Literature

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15180011 No.15180011 [Reply] [Original]

Post your short story ideas. It's not like they're going anywhere.

>> No.15180021

>>15180011
I know your con.

>> No.15180026

>>15180011
A guy has lunch with his roommate and starts joking about wanting to sleep with their mom

>> No.15180163

I have an idea for an play I've always wanted to write.

the story opens onto an opera that is just wrapping up. It's an grand Wagnerian ordeal and you just get to see the epic finale.

Just as it "ends" the characters walk to a set "offstage" (but it's still onstage) and become themselves. So you're no longer watching the opera that just ended but instead the lives of the opera participants that just finished performing it.

The story is about what it's like to be a part of a dead art form. The actors/singers have to balance their passion for the art with the knowledge that it's dead and little more than a historic oddity for rich people to oogle at. They're dealing with the fact that their "successful" but also failures for not being apart of a living art.

Also characters also periodically call out "line!?" as though they've forgotten their lines in order to break the fourth wall.

Its a post modern play within a play within an opera.

>> No.15180167

>>15180026
Dude who has absolute resentment towards his parents for circumcising him

>> No.15180194

Kid one day goes to school and finds another kid sitting on his chair. He looks exactly like him

>> No.15180201
File: 89 KB, 500x690, doomer.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
15180201

>>15180011
I wan to write the following, more like a novel but I don't care if this is the correct thread. A child starts from the right and eventually becomes the one from the left due to his own observations and vital experiences. The process of being redpilled on the of the modern world made novel. The awakening of a hylic.

>> No.15180208

>>15180011
pige

>> No.15180213

>>15180163
You should watch Holy Motors, very similar themes. A weird movie my ex made me watch that made me uncomfortable the entire time but was overall very good.

>> No.15180327

Tapir cute

>> No.15181017

>>15180011

A young man wants to read The Magic Mountain so he joins a book circle and finds it's full of people who have been stuck in the novel for years. They keep meeting and discussing it but never actually finish it.

>> No.15181039

>>15180011

Doctor Johnson's story told from HIS perspective, not from Boswell's. It turns out Boswell didn't have a clue about what was going on and Dr. J. was actually the head of an international gang of adventurers. They're always planning a daring bank robbery or the kidnapping of a middle-eastern potentate or something and then one of them looks out of the window and says "Oh no, Boswell's coming" and they hastily roll the maps up and stuff them under the table and sit around and pretend to be talking about Goldsmith's latest book.

>> No.15181045

>>15180194
Nice hook. But now what?

>> No.15181051

>>15180194
Didn't Dostoevsky write something like this, The Double? There was a movie adaptation with Jesse Eisenberg which follows closer to your idea.

>> No.15181052

>>15180011

A lonely man buys a goldfish. However, it behaves in a peculiar way. It keep trying to get out of its bowl, even though this will obviously kill it. It also grows bigger than a goldfish usually does. And it's a different colour.

The man thinks it must be ill and researches goldfish diseases on the internet and medicates it. But all to no avail. It keeps growing and keeps trying to get out of its bowl.

Eventually a friend visits and explains that it isn't a goldfish at all, but a tapir.

The man is now torn. Part of him wants to take it back to the shop and get a refund. But part of him is like, hey, this isn't so bad.

>> No.15181064

>>15180011

THE BECHDEL-WALLACE TEST
---------------------------------------------
Two girls keep almost having a conversation about not-a-man but are always interrupted/distracted/whatever by male characters in increasingly bizarre ways until it's obvious that the writer is just sabotaging his story from passing the test.

>> No.15181094

>Two siblings squabble over what to do with their parent's estate, one wants to sell off everything, the trauma of memory and hanging onto their possessions, their childhood home is too much; the other however wants to keep everything, they can't stand losing any more of their parents. How do they compromise their two different grieving mechanisms?
>An incel who has been considering murder wakes up one morning to find himself in the body of the very thot he has been hate-fapping to.
>A handsome and charming man from interstate has repeatedly told his girlfriend of 4 years that his mother is dead, claims to have gone to visit her grave and everything. Then one day while he's visiting her grave his mother, very much alive, arrives on their doorstep and introduces herself to the girlfriend. What happens when he comes back?

>> No.15181106

>>15180011
>Owls of Gahool, but tapirs

>> No.15181107

>>15180011
A person has a habit of eating sunflower seeds whole. One day, they develop a cough and wheezing breaths, so they go to the doctor and one x-ray later, they fine a live sunflower growing inside their lungs. The doctor tells the person they need surgery to remove the plant from their lungs, but they adamantly refuse. They become attached to their sunflower, and begin to treat it like it's a baby growing inside them, and have deep philosophical discussion regarding pro-life arguments and the nature of having something grow inside you. The person's family tells them they're fucking insane. Eventually, the stem grows up out of their trachea and chokes them to death, killing them instantly

>> No.15181123

>>15181094

First one is best and most original, I think. Unless you stole it from a famous story I know nothing about of course haha.

>> No.15181130

>>15181123
Thanks, I figured the last two were too High Concept or "writing prompt" so I decided to make one more psychological. Of course I could have subconsciously ripped it from somewhere like George Harrison did.

>> No.15181171

Anthropomorphic first person story of a hotdog that is disgusted by the fact that it is being eaten by a really fat guy, goes at length to describe just how ugly he is. However after it is masticated it begins to lose it's sense of 'self' as it feels a terrifying 'oneness' with the fat guy as it slides down his esophagus. This continues as it experiences the horrifying burning of his stomach acids but somehow feels removed from it. Eventually and seamlessly the narrative 'I/Me' changes from the hotdog to the fat guy as he begins to feel a little queezy, "I wonder what that hotdog did to me".

>> No.15181209

>>15181171

this might work

would you hide the fact that the narrator is a hot-dog? lots of short stories use that as a gimmick
e.g. there's one by jeffrey archer where a girl talks about the man she lives with and only at the end do you realize it's a cat talking

>> No.15181249

>>15181209
I'm inclined to make it very clear that it's a hotdog (or you meal of choice) because that gives greater weight to the limits of self, diffusion of otherness/identity and the abject that comes from the transition between the narrative perspective being from the food to the person eating.
The problem with that is the obvious superfluous notions of, how can food have a identity and aspects of magical realism. Does the hotdog even come from a single animal identity - and if so how do we circumnavigate the idea of a contiguous soul of the animal from which the meat was made, how does the bread become part of that soul?
I think you need some clever stylistic devices to circumnavigate that to just get to "the hotdog is narrating - deal with it."

>> No.15181261

>>15181249

Naa, clever stylistic devices can suck my hot-dog.

>> No.15181294

>>15180021
Not him, but an idea is just an idea. When you start writing, it can go a hundred different ways.

>> No.15181301

>>15181017
Sounds interesting

>> No.15181302 [DELETED] 

>>15181100

Noam Chomsky and Ruth Bader G. in a room with a baby arguing about who gets to drink the blood. It's a philosophical discussion about whose life is still more useful (a bit like one of Walter Savage Landor's Imaginary Conversations).

>> No.15181308

Noam Chomsky and Ruth Bader G. are in a room with a baby arguing about who gets to drink the blood. It's a philosophical discussion about whose life is still more useful (a bit like one of Walter Savage Landor's Imaginary Conversations).

>> No.15181335

>>15181261
I can only think of responses which are bad sausage puns, so please accept this non-response as a response.

>> No.15181348

>>15180011
A reporter goes to interview a former inmate of a concentration camp. They go back to the camp together so the old inmate can refresh his memories. While in the camp, they gradually realize that the old man was actually a guard and not an inmate, but he suppressed his memories out of guilt.

>> No.15181357

>>15181348

This isn't bad. The trouble is the whole topic is so politically charged the story might have trouble breathing.

I suppose you might manage it if you made the setting deliberately vague i.e. no certain country or time period.

>> No.15181483

>>15180163
Sit down and write this, it's a complete idea already.

>> No.15181703

>>15181483
This. It's a little more than an idea, better start writing the specifics and begin, otherwise you'll do nothing with it.

>> No.15181760

Пигъ

I wrote out some great story ideas a while ago for a similar thread but nobody ever replied even though I thought they were great.
I would try and type them out now but they won't feel the same and I'm not sure how to find them.
What a shame.
Regardless some people probably read them and found them interesting. And what's the qualitative difference between that and having then now, written out, for people to read? Nothing substantial.

Maybe I will write something more soon. The lit quarterly looked good for submitting stuff but I haven't seen anything about it recently. It's it still going?

>> No.15181836

>>15181760

You were probably unlucky and picked a day when I wasn't on /lit/. I always reply to every idea I think has merit and post many fine ideas of my own which get ignored. Fortunately I have my visceral hatred and contempt for freeloaders to sustain me.

>> No.15181843

>>15180011
Satré's hell but it's all pop intellectuals. Instead of debating, they just do awkward smalltalk as they slowly realize they were only invested in their ideas because of fame, so now that fame is worthless, it's more comfortable to just pretend they never disagreed on anything. This is inspired by the Peterson-Zizek "debate"
Also the pige you posted is very cool.

>> No.15181907
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15181907

>>15180011
>September 10th, 1944
>somewhere outside Eindhoven, the Netherlands
>a column of German trucks sped past an abandoned chapel, completely oblivious of the occupants
>Anne Frank quietly eyed through a hole in the covered up window
>when they had arrived back in July, Germans seldom traveled this road, now they drove by ever more frequently
>at first they were heading South, but now, most headed North, away from the Allies, back towards Germany
>the sight gave her a small degree of comfort, it reminded her how close to the end they really were
>this terrible war, that had robbed her and countless others of the flower of their youth and innocence would be over, soon
>her mind drifted to the news the pastor had given them when he stopped by a few days ago, Paris had been liberated
>in happier times, Paris wouldn't have been even a day's travel away, the Allies were so close that she could almost taste the freedom with her own tongue
>if they could just stay hidden for a few more weeks, a few more days even, then all of them would be safe
>it wasn't long before she felt her other "reassurance"
>she felt the tortured skin on her stomach abruptly expand as the baby kicked, hard
>the impact was so hard that she gasped for air
>"You okay Anne?" came a familiar voice
>Anne stumbled, "I-I'm fine Peter."
>"Are you sure? Looks like you got the wind knocked out of you."
>"It's nothing."
>"I think you need to have a seat."
>Peter gently took Anne by her hand and guided her as she waddled to the nearest bench
>after nine months, her stomach become so round and so huge that she could barely walk
>"There. Stay right there.”
>Peter soon returned with a cup, “drink”
>Anne tasted the cold liquid (neither of them dared use the small stove in the center in the day), it was sweet with vanilla, milk and apples, just the way she liked it
>ever since she had become pregnant, Anne’s sweet tooth had exploded, she craved it constantly
>it made her feel guilty, to be demanding sweets in a time when even the most basic essentials were in short supply
>she managed to utter out a “thank you” in between sips
>when the cup was halfway empty, Anne lowered the cup her mouth, now partially stained with something stick
>”H-How did you make this?”
>”You’re not the only with her head buried in books.”
>Anne shot him an annoyed glare
>she knew he was only teasing, but she wished he would take her diary more seriously, her writing at improved so much over the last year
>”What have you been writing lately in that thing anyway?”
>Anne decided to be honest, “not much, there’s so little to write about. And when I do try to write, I just can’t… concentrate. I’ve just been editing it mostly.”
>”Well let’s hope this helps your concentration.”
>Anne took another sip, she saw as Peter eyed her taking a gulp

Continue?

>> No.15181927

>>15181843
Can I tag on a variation of this anon? Rather than awkward small talk upon realizing their own motivations they continue to boastfully pontificate about their ideas reducing it into a pissing contest devoid of actual debate about the 'truth' of their ideas, because they are dyed in the wool self-promoters who either for fear of what introspection may ring, or an actual deficit of self-awareness, must maintain their ideas (you could cast your characters accordingly).
By the end they are yelling in each other's faces platitudinous word salads of pseudo-philosophical catch phrases.

>> No.15182261

>>15181927
The whole idea is that this is what you would expect them to do. Most people (me included) thought the Peterson-Zizek debate would be two "intellectuals" shitflinging in their distinct, impenetrable pseud-jargon. Instead they barely challenged each other's ideas, maybe out of fear that their own wouldn't hold up. The whole thing looked like neither of them wanted to be there, and the only reason the event ever happened was because Peterson boasted too much about wanting to debate Zizek in an attempt to generate drama and gain exposure. Zizek had to accept not to lose clout. If it weren't for attention, these two never would have met.

>> No.15182276

convicts forcefully drafted eating candy then get mad cus they get no candy and rape up a city

>> No.15182700

>>15182261

It's a bit off-topic, but this is what usually happens in a debate between two people with wildly different views. I remember once hearing a very cute comment: "To argue with someone, there must be things you disagree on and also things you agree on". If you disagree with someone on *everything*, it's pretty much impossible to have an argument, or any communication at all.

>> No.15183083

>>15181308
>Walter Savage Landor's Imaginary Conversations
idc about the idea but this sounds like something to look into
>>15181064
fun idea, it would probably suck in practice unless written exclusively for comedy
>>15180201
this is what houllebecq does quite a lot it seems
other authors as well
>>15180167
I think it needs a little more flavor than that

>> No.15183090

>>15180163
you should definitely write this

>> No.15183091

>>15181094
tempted to write the second
you get the interest coming from the female perspective but you aren't writing a female character

>> No.15183151

>>15181064
this sounds hilarious if written in an absurdist satirical way.

>> No.15183175

>>15181836
Every time? Do you every write any of them?

>> No.15183184

>>15183091
Yes. The kneejerk reaction is to make it he gets to see what he looks like as an incel because he gets hit on by so many thirsty guys.
However I think more interesting would be to focus on the cattiness and passive aggressive relations with other women.
The fact that when women talk about problems, it's not to solve them.
The really acid comments about appearance "did you see her eyeshadow, yuck" "Jeffree Starr called he wants his liquid liner back"
I could go on.
But it's all the stuff that most men just don't realize.
to paraphrase Jerry Seinfeld it's not stripping down to bra and panties and having pillow fights

>> No.15183295

>>15183184
Interesting take on it
I played it out in my head as well, and he just cuts off from the girl's world because he can't comprehend it, his mind is too warped to fit in to their hypersocialised world so this young debutante crashes and burns stays at home all the time continuing to post on incels.me as if nothing has happened.

>> No.15183414

>>15183295
That made me laugh. I think that's a good way to play it out, especially with him just returning to his old ways.

>> No.15183473

>>15180213
Thanks I'll check it out

>>15181483
>>15181703
>>15183090
Thanks for the kind feedback. I do have a few ideas for characters but I don't actually know anything about operas or plays so I feel like it would come off as phony. I don't have any idea what that world is actually like.
I just thought the idea of opening with the end of an epic opera and then transitioning into the mundane lives of the characters was a pretty neat idea when it came to me. I'm glad others agree.

>> No.15183692

>>15183473
Check out the Royal Opera House channel on youtube, there's lots of interviews with singers about behind the scenes stuff you can use to establish authority in your story

>> No.15184440

>>15180167
>>15183083
Dude who hatefucks his mum as vengeance for circumcising him.

>> No.15184451

>>15180163
I've been wanting exactly this for ages. Write it.

>> No.15184564

>>15181357
Seconding this.
Or, just set it in a non-nazi concentration camp. Soviet Union, North Korea, Cambodia, etc.

>> No.15185030

>>15183414
Tempted to write it now.. Stay tuned

>> No.15185055

>>15180011
Set in precolonial East Africa, a woman goes on a quest to find her husband, who went missing after a hunting trip. Along the way, she has to fend off different creatures from folklore

>> No.15185061

>>15181045
No idea. I want to make a comic and this was the first idea that popped.

I thought two things, one is that maybe he ends up finding out that people have replacements, be it clones, androids, spirits, it doesn't matter, but something that puts the sense of the self out there. The second one would be a loop, be it time, space, or being stuck in his mind. Maybe a thought of himself when older to reflect on.

But those two ideas seemed really, really silly to me, very vanilla, I don't think I'll pursue them