onedeadplotbunny | [Brainstorming]

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kalloway posting in

onedeadplotbunny

Welcome to the third 2015 Brainstorming Post! Feel free to use this space for any brainstorming needs you may have.

A couple of guidelines for this post--

• Everyone has a different opinion on spoilers and how long they stay spoilers before becoming public knowledge (Rosebud was his sled!) - if you are concerned with spoilers in your comments, feel free to use white-text, bumper comments, or whatever method you prefer.

• Nobody is under any obligation to use any suggestions made in this post or to credit any commenter if their suggestions are used (though perhaps if a long, productive exchange occurs, a short author's note might be nice).

• If you have any concerns with any content in the comments, please feel free to PM me.

(Basically, be good to one another. Happy Brainstorming!)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

kalloway

Finding an old notebook with a partial list of old plotbunnies including a line that just says 'Tumacacori'.

Now I've visited Tumacacori before, and I remember the visit quite clearly.

I wonder what I was thinking of writing about it... Alien invasion? Giant robots protecting national landmarks? Mundane field trip?

Not a serious plotbunny... but now I just want to throw things at it and see what sticks...

From:

the_rck

How about time travel? Always a classic.

From:

the_rck

This is kind of complicated-- I'm working on a Harry Potter divergent AU, a dark one. In it, the war with Voldemort went a lot differently and lasted over seven years. Voldemort has finally been defeated, but everyone opposing him ended up making moral compromises and becoming people they wouldn't have imagined being before.

There are two things I'm trying to decide about. The first is what happened with the Horcruxes (or if I want to ignore them altogether). This story diverges early in Half-Blood Prince, so Harry didn't learn about Horcruxes from Dumbledore. I've got other ways in mind that he could have learned about them if I decide to use them, but I don't know if I want to. Then again, I have this weird image of Harry devouring pieces of Voldemort's soul somehow or another, and I can't get it out of my head. If the Horcruxes did exist in this AU, they're gone now, one way or another, because I definitely want Voldemort to be dead and gone permanently when the story starts.

The second thing I'm stuck on might, potentially, relate to the Horcruxes or might be something else altogether. I've established that one very perceptive character sees a sort of contamination on Harry, a Voldemort residue of sorts. She hasn't told anyone (and likely no one would believe her). The taint really is there (I'm not sure if it's leftover from Harry being a Horcrux or if it's from how Harry disposed of the Horcruxes or if it's something else altogether), and something has to be done about it. I'm just not sure what. Other people have noticed a gradual change in Harry's behavior, but they're assuming it's just him having got hard and ruthless in fighting Voldemort for so long.

A mcguffin hunt seems in keeping with canon, but I think it would be a distraction from what I'm trying to do with the rest of the story (which is very character driven). Also, my two point of view characters aren't really able to travel. One is locked up, and the other has been ill and can't walk more than a few steps unaided.

A ritual of some sort could work, but Harry Potter magic system doesn't seem to go in much for rituals.

I suppose a deus ex machina is possible, too, but that's rather a cop out.

Is there another approach that I'm missing?

From:

aurordark

I think, for what the opinion of a random stranger is worth, that I'd go with what works best for you and your story. Maybe try writing a scene where you deal with the Horcruxes one way or the other and see how it develops. If you like it, keep going with it. If you don't, take it back out. I keep an outtakes file where i put random stuff I don't want to get rid of, but don't want to use in the current thing I'm writing, either.

As for the other, I could see a ritual working. Maybe just write it as a deeper more advanced kind of magic that the kids at Hogwarts didn't learn about, but that does exist in the HP world.

I hope that's at least somewhat helpful. :)

From:

aurordark

I just hit a bump in the story I'm writing, and I'm wondering if maybe someone here can help. I have this scene that fits with the story and the characters, but... it's kind of graphic (in terms of violence). I see two options. Include it, or cut it and cut the scene that precipitated this one.

I kind of like the first scene because it adds some action to what's mostly a character driven piece, but... it could work really well as just a character driven piece, too. And I am a bit uncomfortable with the graphic violence. I don't really want to say anymore because I know different people are comfortable with different levels of stuff like this, from "absolutely none" to "anything goes."

I know it's ultimately my call, but I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts here?