Let's lol at what my young self thought were good writing ideas

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Tin Tim: Live by the pun - Die by the pun

Hello, yorbs

Over the course of my life I've always been doing some form of creative stuff. Drawing, painting, writing, acting, music, videos, photos, making things... the whole nine yards. Mostly because I like it, but also because I wanted to find the thing I'm better at than the average person if that makes sense? Turns out that it was music&videos for me but yeah, I still did all the other stuff and occasionally do when I get the itch and have a good enough idea. At some point in my life I thought I could maybe get into writing. Probably in my early twenties? Don't recall exactly. Seeing how I'm not a writer today, you can probably guess that it didn't turn out well enough. But a little while ago I stumbled upon a folder with some of my old material in the dusty corners of my external HDD. After reading through it, I had a little chuckle at my young self, but also felt that the core of some of my ideas wasn't half bad and maybe other people would have enjoyed them. So I figured I'm gonna share them and maybe get a fun thread out of the whole thing.

The format will be that I'll post what I've actually written first and then follow it up with the background/worldbuilding/notes and explanations about where I wanted the story to go. That way you can read my words with a free mind without having shaped expectations and can maybe even spin the story for yourself before I explain it. I only have four stories so the thread won't be super long and if somebody wants to join with their own stuff then that's cool with me! Since English isn't my native language I had to translate my writings and did some minimal edits where it made sense or was needed. But I kept all the corny names for creative honesty lol. Also, my punctuation and grammar will be spotty and I'm sorry

Okay, first serving "Bai-Shurrud, The Eternal Wanderer"

quote:

When we speak of reality, we usually mean our immediate reality which surrounds us. Our personal one, so to speak. But what if that were not the only one? Well, many people can live in the same place and yet be in vastly different realities. That much is already known. But we are are not actually talking about the reality that is determined by our perception. It is rather the factual reality of our world and universe. An universal thruth that stands outside of our personal perception and thoughts. It surrounds us all and should belong to us alone. But what if there were others? If they existed side by side, separated only by empty space? What if there were countless of them, none like the other? Compact like a pack of cards but still clearly separated. Like the pages of a book, held together by its cover.
Would we care? Would it make any real difference at all?
It is impossible for us to determine this, but if you think about it, you might come to certain thoughts. For instance, there could be considerable problems, if someone were able to pass through the space in between. If they could mix their reality with the others and influence them. For example, think of the ripples that a pebble creates when it is thrown into a pond. They are very small and the water also smoothes out quickly. A mostly insignificant event. However, if a rock falls into the same pond, the water splashes out and the ripples spill over the edge, and the pond is no longer as it was before. Now think of an ant crawling along the edges of the pond. How would a big splash of water affect it?

What if you're the ant and someone else is the rock?

-------------------

Summer was nearing its peak. Already for weeks the sun filled the idyllic view of the Jao Valley. A gentle wind kept the woods and meadows in constant motion, swaying them back and forth like a mother swaying a crib. Birdsong and the buzzing of insects united to form a pleasant symphony in the background. The Jao Valley was rightly known for its beauty. Surrounded by a ring of mountains, it lay in the middle of the world. Nowadays most people knew that it was created by a meteorite impact, but the more religious held on to the belief that the gods were born here. Therefore, a huge temple complex was first built in the middle of the valley, and a city was only formed around it over time.

But this year there was something else to admire in the valley. The big tournament. Every ten years, the best fighters from all provinces met and competed for the Belt of the First. An ancient artifact that has been passed down from generation to generation. Whoever wore it was not only considered to be the best fighter in the world, but also the protector and teacher of his fellow people. For a dedicated fighter in Shangri-La, there was no higher goal. In this year the tournament was under especially good signs, because the summer was long and the harvests were rich. The schools of the different provinces produced many talented students, and it was generally believed that a memorable event was about to take place. In a few days it would begin, and already now masses of spectators and participants populated the city of Kai-San and its gigantic temple complex. Those who still arrived would have trouble finding decent accommodation. Nevertheless, an aura of contentment and happiness lay over the city, and the people were enjoying the food, drink and quality of life of these days. One could really believe that the gods had blessed the valley.

Since it was surrounded by a ring of mountains, there were only a few paths into the valley. The majority of the visitors came through the winding mountain road, which started in the Khal-Jat plain and led into the valley after a good day's journey. Those who could afford it, booked a boat passage on the underground rivers that crossed the northern sides of the mountain range. But those who were seriously rich, came in their magnificent airships or bought a place in someone else's. There were high towers, spread all over the city, on which these ships were now moored, but the magnificent ships of the High Emperor and the most privileged nobles, were docked at the four ancient towers of the inner temple complex. The sea of flags, colours and emblems, was an uplifting sight to behold once you reached the top of the mountain road at the entrance to the valley.

And along this road, walked a lone figure in foreign garbs.

Hmm, where do I start with this one?

The central motif is multiple realities as the intro alludes to. The main figure of the story was supposed to be a guy that was cursed to wander from one reality to another. A lot of aspects of the story were heavily tied to oriental philosophy, martial arts, Buddhism and all that stuff. Mostly because it thought it was cool! The main character was supposed to be a guy that lived on some fantasy planet, where a big war broke out where one side just massacred and conquered everyone else. The evil leader could have had mystical powers or could have just been competent at doing war. Never fleshed that out according to my notes. Anyway our guy was a high ranking member of the "monk" caste in his society. One of the inner circle of the defenders or some kind of leader. When the war razed across his world and couldn't be stopped, he started to look into alternate means of power to stop it. Mainly to save his wife+kid and the temple city he lived in. Due to his position he had access to ancient records and found out that there was an imprisoned god in the bowels of the temple city. A god of war to be precise. It was said that the god would grant unfathomable martial powers to whoever freed it, but would in turn claim that person as their vessel. Of course the old monks were like wtf don't do that it's crazy, but our guy was desperate and did it when the evil army came knocking at the gates. He indeed got the power he desired and just went hog on the invaders, slaughtering thousands without effort and even killed the evil leader. But as soon as the invaders were beaten, the god claimed his price and took him over and left his universe. So despite saving his family and everyone he cared about he will never get to see them again. Since gods of war are keen of fighting and power, his "curse" is to force our guy to wander from one universe to the next in the search for powerful fighters. And when he finds some he has to fight them, probably killing them in the process, because if he doesn't then the god would take over and just go ape-poo poo on everyone in that world. And he would be forced to do this until he found someone strong enough to kill him and become the new vessel for the god. So pretty much an eternal cycle with no way out. That's the main basis of the story and I think I didn't continue it because I had no real idea where it was supposed to go past the first "volume". I mean DBZ style fighting is cool and there are some tragic and moral motives to work with in the character, but it just never developed into a full story if that makes sense?

Anyway, the part that I started to write also had notes on how it was meant to go. Our guy would wander into town and then spend a day or two before the tournament started. He was supposed to meet the female owner of like a noodle shop and question her about the world and the tournament while eating his noodles. Both of them would develop a sort of soft friendship, because the lady felt that our guy was friendly and nice despite being all mysterious. Not like a love-interest just a genuine and friendly relation. Maybe she reminded him of his wife/kid? Maybe he chased of some rowdy patrons? Didn't flesh that part out in my notes. But the majority of the story was supposed to be written from her perspective to explain the world to the reader and flesh it out properly. Also I wanted the reader to form a "relation" to noodle lady first instead of the protagonist. To make the impact of what happens later a bit more shocking I guess. As the day of the tournament starts, noodle lady is there early to make a few quick bucks by selling to the spectators. She spots our wanderer and invites him to watch the tournament together. Conveniently also covering his entrance fee since he's not really supposed to have money. Both of them then spend a bit more time sitting in the "arena" and talk about various things. When the opening ceremony is at its height with all the fighters in the ring, our guy apologizes to noodle lady and thanks her for her kindness which confuses the heck out of her. Then he just super-jumps into the ring, with glowing eyes/hair whatever and announces that he's come to fight everyone present. And if they refuse he'll just start killing people. Everyone kinda laughs at the crazy guy, but that stops when he just straight up crushes the first people that try to remove him. So then a ton of fighting and dying happens and nobody is able to beat our guy. Once it's over he just vanishes and leaves behind a ruined arena with corpses and misery. We're then left with the horrified and confused perspective of noodle lady before the story ends. In the epilogue we join our guy in a sort of pocket dimension where he exists while traveling between universes. I also made some notes for another character that's there with him. Sort of like a fragment of the god that's supposed to watch over him and makes sure that he doesn't find a way to break the curse/cycle. I marked this character as a possible comical relief in the vein of a trickster god which is cliche as heck. This pocket dimension was also meant to be the place where I could write about the struggles between the character, the god and what he has to do and the tragic motives. But as said before, the whole thing just never became a real story. I guess it could be good enough for a random 30-min anime OVA :v:

Next time: I just straight up steal from various desperado movies

# ? Aug 14, 2020 23:44

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# ? Apr 26, 2024 01:26

frump truck: hello... again!

hi i am a philistine and there are not enough plump butts in this story to hold my attention

# ? Aug 15, 2020 14:49

frump truck: hello... again!

my personal edit suggestion -

replace:

quote:

But this year there was something else to admire in the valley. The big tournament.

with:

quote:

But this year there was something else to admire in the valley. The big plump butt.

# ? Aug 15, 2020 14:51

Tin Tim: Live by the pun - Die by the pun

Hmm interesting if I ever get back into writing I'm gonna refer back to this

*takes note*

-Write about a god of butts and the search for the plumpest butt

Thank you Pot Smoke Phoenix!

# ? Aug 15, 2020 16:22

magic cactus: We lied. We are not at war. There is no enemy. This is a rescue operation.

Tin Tim posted:

Hmm interesting if I ever get back into writing I'm gonna refer back to this

*takes note*

-Write about a god of butts and the search for the plumpest butt

God Emperor of Dune but the golden path is about leading humanity towards having the most perfect rear end in existence

Thanks to Saoshyant for the amazing spring '23 sig!

# ? Aug 15, 2020 17:20

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