Discarded Story Ideas

[dadioflex]

So I had this idea pop into my head one time - what if a couple of celebrities wanted to do something dangerous and illegal like robbing a bank, but wanted to make sure they had an alibi. Obviously they hire some lookalikes to hang around their villa and give the paparazzi something to photograph while they're shoving guns in people's faces. Car chase, fake hostage drama, switcheroo, mistaken identity double-cross and happy ending.

Hilarity ensues. Or tragedy. I dunno, I'm never going to write it. I have notepads FULL of ideas from thirty years ago that I'm never going to turn into stories.

So I'm giving this idea up to the ether.

Anyone else have an idea for a story that's been cluttering up the back of your mind forever, well here's your chance to set it free.

[Justin Nemo]

Originally Posted by dadioflex

So I had this idea pop into my head one time - what if a couple of celebrities wanted to do something dangerous and illegal like robbing a bank, but wanted to make sure they had an alibi. Obviously they hire some lookalikes to hang around their villa and give the paparazzi something to photograph while they're shoving guns in people's faces. Car chase, fake hostage drama, switcheroo, mistaken identity double-cross and happy ending.

Hilarity ensues. Or tragedy. I dunno, I'm never going to write it. I have notepads FULL of ideas from thirty years ago that I'm never going to turn into stories.

So I'm giving this idea up to the ether.

Anyone else have an idea for a story that's been cluttering up the back of your mind forever, well here's your chance to set it free.

I did have this idea about a nun and a soda fountain, but I don't think it was a story line!

[Nancy Fulda]

My question is, why didn't the celebrities just hire someone else to rob the bank?

[teh603]

I stuff all my discarded story ideas into a notebook, along with the good ones.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Don't have any, actually. If the story sounds good, even if I don't know when I'll write it, I always keep it. I've got about a dozen ideas waiting to be attacked right now. And if I thought it was no good... I wouldn't inflict it on you guys.

[gmw]

I'm a natural born hoarder, nothing gets discarded. It's inherited. You should have seen my Dad's barn, and now I've got a whole 30'x40' shed of my own! Regrettably this tendency has carried over to my computers, I can make an array of 2TB harddrives cringe.

[Matth79]

I'll throw one out... Was thinking of of something where a scientist is discredited and has their work stolen, then seeks cold calculating revenge by murdering anyone associated with it using each element in succession, maybe with a periodic table element sample as a calling card.

Now hydrogen is easy, cylinder, leak, ignition!
Helium - inert gas asphyxiation
But how do you kill someone with Lithium, Beryllium etc?
And I mean quickly, not chronic, unless you could honestly say that something was "a death sentence".

Allowing compunds, as well as pure elements, would allow a few dodges, like drowning for Hydrogen or Oxygen.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by Matth79

I'll throw one out... Was thinking of of something where a scientist is discredited and has their work stolen, then seeks cold calculating revenge by murdering anyone associated with it using each element in succession, maybe with a periodic table element sample as a calling card.

Now hydrogen is easy, cylinder, leak, ignition!
Helium - inert gas asphyxiation
But how do you kill someone with Lithium, Beryllium etc?
And I mean quickly, not chronic, unless you could honestly say that something was "a death sentence".

Allowing compunds, as well as pure elements, would allow a few dodges, like drowning for Hydrogen or Oxygen.

Lithium is easy enough, it's used in the treatment of some mental disorders and an overdose can be lethal. Beryllium poisoning is discussed on Wikipedia, though arranging for it to be fatal could be trickier. You could even get quite esoteric, kill someone with a diamond and see which of your characters figure it out.

You would probably have to allow for some compounds, but only so far as the compound is named for the element - eg: Lithium salts, Boric acid or Boron nitride and so on. I think something like water would be a cheat, which element would you say was responsible? ... But there's a lot of elements, it could make for a long book ... or maybe you could make it a series.

[dadioflex]

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

Don't have any, actually. If the story sounds good, even if I don't know when I'll write it, I always keep it. I've got about a dozen ideas waiting to be attacked right now. And if I thought it was no good... I wouldn't inflict it on you guys.

Well, I think there's mileage in the idea I tossed out, but it's just not something I'd ever write because my knowledge of celebrity culture peters out around Sean Penn and Madonna.

Did they ever get back together?

[Penforhire]

Huh. Beryllium is a tricky one for insta-death. Berylliosis is a longer term disease and not everyone is susceptible. You could certainly make an arrow or falling object out of it though. Probably more in the spirit of things, you could use the fact that it is the metal with the very best heat dissipation by weight. Maybe a fire behind a door with a Be knob, so the victim doesn't feel the heat when he turns the handle. Or some such.

Boron? Equally boring. Except as borane gases, which can be both toxic and flammable! Or in bleaches, which you could liberate chlorine from. But neither is really a boron-only kill.

[crich70]

I don't think anything is ever really thrown away. An author may find that their original conception of something isn't workable but there is still likely to b a kernel of an idea that can be remolded like clay being reformed into a new shape if the hoped for form doesn't work. For example Herman Melville had a character named Bulkington I understand and he didn't work as the main character of Moby Dick and is washed overboard one night. Instead Capt. Ahab takes the stage.

[VydorScope]

Yea... none of my ideas are discarded...they just mutate over time into something new.

[Dr. Drib]

I have this idea about a rampaging turnip with a long knife.

Seemingly harmless, it rests during the daytime on the counter, watching daytime serials on the kitchen television. Overhearing that its mistress is intent on boiling him the next morning, the turnip's consciousness is awakened.

That night, the turnip falls off the kitchen counter. Bruised, yet determined to carry out its grisly task, the turnip stalks its mistress into the bedroom and slashes her throat. Basking in blood-lust, the turnip rolls around in the blood, shrieking incoherently with maniacal laughter.

I discarded this idea because I couldn't figure out how the turnip could hold a knife or shriek.




Don

[Steven Lake]

I've had quite a few discarded ideas over the years, including a novel about a group of Voltron like mechas who fight it out against an equally mechanized enemy. It...eh, didn't make it past the initial rough draft. I've had a few others like that which didn't make it past the initial draft. Oddly though, I've had others that were tossed out that inadvertently spawned their own spinoffs. Case in point, my Earthfleet Saga was an indirect derivative of my Stardancer trilogy about a ship with temporal and dimensional jump capabilities. The trilogy died, but the primary starship in it, the Stardancer, ended up being the seed that spawned the idea of the Sergenious which is what ultimately spawned the Earthfleet Saga. I liked the Stardancer so much I didn't want to let it die. In a small way it didn't. Oddly enough, I'm trying to figure out a way to bring back the ship, maybe as a cameo in another series. The only thing I don't like, which is what lead to the trilogy being killed, is that the ship is "too" powerful, which in turn breaks the rule of balance, and ultimately renders the object, and the story, unusable.

[DrNefario]

My username comes from an idea I discarded: Dr Nefario's School for Supervillains. It's kind of self-explanatory. (In fact, I didn't think there was really enough of an idea to get a story out of.)

The Dr Nefario in Despicable Me is an impostor! (I also found a short story using the same name shortly after I'd abandoned the idea - when I decided I wanted to use it as a screen name.)