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If you wrote a book, what would it be about?


ian

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I've always thought that most readers are frustrated writers.

 

Sometimes, I think it would be very cool to be a writer. I'll read books and think "I could do better than this". More often I think " This is genius; I couldn't write anything as good as this". So, I think I will remain a frustrated writer, as I have neither talent nor patience enough to make a success of it.

 

However, that doesn't stop my brain from occasionally throwing out the odd good idea. I enjoy imagining writing these ideas down and becoming a world famous author.

 

Tell me that's not just me, right? :lurker:

 

So, anyway - I know that I'm never going to turn any of my ideas into actual books, so I thought I'd share them. Perhaps someone will recognise that one of my ideas is actually a published book already. Do you have any book ideas floating around your head, waiting to become the next publishing wonder?

 

So, a couple of mine were....

 

This one came about following a discussion at work when the lottery was first set up. We all hated our jobs at the time, and were looking to get out. We all said we would resign if we won the lottery. One other person said what we should actually do is still come in to work, but do nothing. You don't need the money, and it doesn't matter if they sack you. But coming into work every day, late and then just sitting there doing nothing, even when asked, would so throw most bosses, that it would take weeks for them to sack you! So, my book would be based upon a small syndicate who having won the lottery, decided to see who could last the longest without being sacked, despite their odd behavour.

 

My other idea was based on Dr Jekyl & my Hyde. The main character is a highly popular bad boy rock star, the kind who is always in the media because of his excesses. He takes a drug that instead turns him into a mild, boring character. The popular media and his fans turn against him because he's no longer the type of person that people love to hate. (so basically Jekyl and Hyde in reverse).

 

 

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I am that way at least, I read a book and think that paragraph could be something and then sit and think up whole books about that idea or a sit and rewrite the book in my head because I don't like were the story is going! :)

 

I think that your first idea with the lottery could be fun to read if you thought up some really crazy things for them to do.

 

One idea that I had was for a wizard in training to suddenly inherit a kingdom from a very long lost uncle only to find out that it has a few problems with it, mainly the huge dragon that had taken over the castle and the odd creatures that were running around stealing plates.

Edited by Vimes
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Ian,

these are both great ideas! You should have a go at writing, do the lottery one first [i think it would be easier] and you can write about characters[and the way they speak] more naturally.This idea would also make a very good play for tv.You need a book on how to write screenplay if you did it this way.You obviously have creative talent, so have a go. You are right in thinking that sometimes books are useless [and we could do better] yes, we may not all be great classic writers, but there is a lot of dross published too.Also a lot of 'in -between books' which are just good or fun to read.I am much too lazy to write anything like a book

 it does take dedication, and I don't have that many creative ideas either [i always feel they have already been done before] but if I was to write one I think it would be SF and set either in the future or as a time hopping theme [this has already been done, many times!] :doh:

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I am that way at least, I read a book and think that paragraph could be something and then sit and think up whole books about that idea. Or a sit and rewrite the book in my head because I don't like were the story is going! :)

 

I think that your fist idea with the lottery could be fun to read if you thought up some reply crazy things for them to do.

 

One idea that I had was for a wizard in training to suddenly inherit a kingdom from a very long lost uncle only to find out that it has a few problems with it, mainly the huge dragon that had taken over the castle and the odd creatures that were running around stealing plates.

Vimes, I like the castle idea and the odd creatures stealing plates!This could be a good children's book. :smile:

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Ian,

these are both great ideas! You should have a go at writing

 

The fact that it took me 45 mins just to write that first post, and even then I wasn't happy with how I had described my ideas tends to make me think I'm not cut out for writing!! Still, thanks for the encouragement!

 

I did write some short stories in my 20's: I was going through a bad time and writing them was almost therapy for me. I've kept them, but I've never let anyone else read them.

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Those are interesting ideas, Ian and Vimes :)!

 

If I were to write a book (and I might do so), it'd be an autobiographic book to do with me and my disability. I once planned on writing a fictional story based on autobiographic elements, but it sounded too difficult in the end so I decided to write an autobiographic document instead (first I was going to do it chronilogically, now I've decided to group it per sub-subject). I hope to be doing more writing at some point, I'd like for my story to create more understanding and help others with a similar disability.

 

When I was a child and young teenager I thought up many different ideas for fiction books, I still have most of them on the computer. One of them is actually a book of 88 written pages, unfinished. It's not on the computer though, that one I wrote by hand. It'll be fun one day to dig it up and read what I've written. It was about a boy who wasn't very good at school and who was bullied because of that. I was bullied myself so I think that's part of why I wanted to write the story. I don't remember all of my ideas on top off my head though I think most were based on this world.

Edited by Athena
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If I were to write a book, it would have to be non-fiction, as I have no imagination, and haven't got the foggiest what I would write a novel about!  I did once write a long essay for my Environmental Science A level on the history of British agriculture from 1930 to the modern day, and I absolutely loved it, got full marks for it, and my teacher took a copy of it as she wanted to use it as reference material in the future, plus my other half read it and thought it was fantastic, and he was usually extremely critical of any of the essays I wrote.  I think if I was to write a book, it would be on this subject.

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The fact that it took me 45 mins just to write that first post, and even then I wasn't happy with how I had described my ideas tends to make me think I'm not cut out for writing!! Still, thanks for the encouragement!

 

I did write some short stories in my 20's: I was going through a bad time and writing them was almost therapy for me. I've kept them, but I've never let anyone else read them.

We all seem to think that 'real' writers write with an effortless flow..... but they don't!They do it like a job, write for so many hours, and constantly edit and tear things up.Don't give up on the idea for that reason Ian.

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The guy who wrote the Riyria Revelations took fifteen years to write the three books. So even if it dose take a few years it doesn't matter :)

Edited by Vimes
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Strange enough I did write a short story on bullying when I was around 19 and entered it into a local competition.  I got a letter from a publisher interested in more but I panicked and didn't reply.  I had more than a short story to tell and its somewhere lurking around my place.

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I am a really big One Tree Hill fan and in the show one of the main characters, Lucas, writes a book mainly about being in high school and what happened to him and his friends and family. I'd really like to do that with my own life. Kind of like an autobiography, but not really. Maybe use the main events from my life with different characters or as a base for a novel. 

 

The other thing I'd like to write isn't really what I would write about but I want to write something that has deep meaning. I want the reader to need to read the novel two or three times to fully understand it. Every time the book is read I want it to make more and more sense. Lots of symbols and such...books that make you go WHOOAAA mind blown when you read them the second time. 

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I love books like that, you read them.and you just know you have to read them again and then you see every thing that you missed and you find little clues that suddenly make a plot line the you hadn't understood make sense. One of the best kinds of books

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I have already written one, which I published around 7 years ago now. It is still available in Kindle format for anyone who wants to check it out and wants an interesting and perhaps challenging read. If though I was to write another one it would probably be the made up stories about the soft pigs that I collect. :smile:  

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I see lots of great ideas for stories on here!  :smile:  I have recently just started writing a story. How it came about was that I  got obsessive about a certain period in history- Victorian England- and read so many fiction and non-fiction books about it (about 40 so far) that I felt I had to do something with this knowledge . I carried the plot around in my head for months without even realising it was building up into a story and then about 3 weeks ago the pressure in my head just seemed to burst and I started writing bits down. 

I don't know if this will work out I am not taking myself too seriously. Also it is hard to find time to write. We will see.

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A little bit off topic, but in my writing class we just read a part of a book about writing tools and tips. The author says that sometimes he will write the end of the novel or story first, then write until he gets to that ending. That is how J.K. Rowling wrote the Harry Potter series. I think that for the next thing I write, I'm going to use that strategy. 

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A little bit off topic, but in my writing class we just read a part of a book about writing tools and tips. The author says that sometimes he will write the end of the novel or story first, then write until he gets to that ending. That is how J.K. Rowling wrote the Harry Potter series. I think that for the next thing I write, I'm going to use that strategy. 

 

That is often the case. The author thinks "boy wouldn't that be cool if--" and they have the ending scenario all mapped out... The question now becomes HOW DO I GET THERE!

 

Not all stories start out with "It was a dark and stormy night..."

 

In fact another valuable piece of information spoken by a writer of some note, says he rarely if ever has writer's block. When a scene is giving him trouble -- he simply skips along to another area that he is comfortable writing. Whether it be the middle, beginning, ending or anywhere in between. Don't get trapped -- just get it written!

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  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...

Love the ideas in this thread and love the topic. And I read and bought the interesting book of Talisman. One of my friends owns it now. 

 

I always loved writing, as a child and teenager. I still write. I took a writing course. I mostly write short stories, but now I've been working on and off for a long while now about someone who goes to a Safe House for females who have troubled relationships with their partner and/of family, I've been describing how life is in those Safe Houses and what it feels like to be there and in such a situation. I try to put humour in it too and I try to make it a novel, it's not a documentary type book, it's not non-fiction, it's supposed to be fiction based on real experiences. 

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