My Big Bag of Story Ideas

So, I have about five bajillion ideas for stories in my head, some of which are just fun and silly, some of which I take semi-seriously but are still rather silly and indulgent, and one of which my entire heart and soul is wrapped up in. Some are just concepts, some are scenes, some have plots planned out, etc. Most are based on other works, and/or folk tales / fairy tales, but the more original things are dearest to my heart. Here's a glimpse!

Fun and Silly

Char Enchanted - wouldn't it be fun to see the entirety of Ella Enchanted from Char's point of view?

Zelda / Disney tales / movies and games in general - often when I play or watch things, these beautiful descriptions rise up in my mind. I start making connections and expanding the back story and the emotional journeys of each character, and I just want to do something with it! These are the easiest for me to just pull up and write down because I have absolutely 0 pressure on myself to do anything with them.

Semi-Serious But Mostly Just Fun

Meditations on Cinderella - I introduced this before, it's my collection of interrelated snippets and scenes that all revolve around the idea of Cinderella. In particular, I have three more developed ideas:
- "Charming" (title and idea suggested by my good friend Dusty when I mentioned CE, above, to her) is very similar to the original Cinderella tale (well, the Charles Perrault version, which is hardly 'original' but it's the earliest incarnation of the story we're most familiar with). The twist: it's entirely from the Prince's point of view. It's actually a rather different story when you focus only on what he knows and sees!
- "Cinderella - Ploy" is a working title. Also from the Prince's POV, but this time the prince is a presumptuous jerk and his parents are tyrants. Cinderella isn't really a girl named Cinderella - that's just her code name. She represents a coalition of dissatisfied subjects on the brink of revolt, and her presence at the ball is all part of an elaborate plot to blackmail the prince into addressing their grievances. I have some short excerpts from this one that I'm willing to share, anyone interested in seeing them?
- Another idea that started as "Charming" but exploded into much more is this one where "Cinderella" was actually the daughter of a nobleman. When she was 5 or so, while out in the market with her stepmom & stepsister, she got lost. A wandering performance troupe found her and took her on. (They have a fire theme. Their stage names are all things like Flame, Ashe, Cohl, etc so the name they give her is Cinders.) Much happens between this time and the ball, but the ball isn't nearly the end...! There's much more to it than that, but I'll leave off here for now.

Gwyn's Knights - based on Snow White. Gwyneira, which literally translates to "snow white," is the young princess. As was true in early renditions of the tale, it's seven knights instead of seven dwarves. These knights each drank from the holy grail long ago and are thus immortal; their duty now is to protect the grail from anyone else misusing it. The evil queen is seeking immortality and power - as well as the grail, she's developing a potion/spell to aid her in this quest. Beauty is a main ingredient, so the queen uses her mirror and her mysterious, half-magical 'hunter' to locate fair maidens and bring them to the castle, where she extracts the beauty and life out of them through a fatal, magical process. When the queen attempted to test an early version of this process on 7 y o Gwyn, she failed and Gwyn ran away to the knights in the woods, where she grows up. The story proceeds from there!

Layla's Crimson Cloak - based on little red riding hood. Layla's parents tell her the cloak is magical and she must wear it at all times for protection. She spends a year with her grandmother, who is queen of a small kingdom. In that kingdom are some people who spontaneously turn into wolves, and these people are horribly mistreated. Layla works to help them obtain rights and protection through her grandmother the queen.

Alma's Sons - based on stories from the Book of Mormon. Alma the Younger's three sons, as well as Captain Moroni, were kids & teens at about the same time. This story would explore the various circumstances each faced and the personal choices each made that led to the very different people they became in later life.

Mormon's Book - Near the end of the Book of Mormon is Mormon's actual story, which is simply incredible. I'd want to follow him from youth to adulthood, the difficulties he faced as a young leader of a stubbornly iniquitous people while he worked to compile and abridge hundreds of years' worth of his forefathers' historical and religious records. It would go up until his death and the destruction of his people, and lead into a sequel dealing with his son Moroni, living alone and on the run, while he attempted to complete his father's abridgement.

Tindale - not sure exactly the detail of this one, but it's set in the time of William Tindale and his translating the Bible into English for the first time. I imagine the main character to be a young woman who faithfully attends the Catholic Church and listens to the scriptures and sermons in Latin, and how it changes her life to be able to read the Bible herself.

The Serious One

The working title for the last 10 years has been The Great Tsunami, but that no longer really fits. Where do I even begin?

Main character, a 12 y o boy named Jaff, is cousin to the royal family in a kingdom called Mavell. He gets picked on by the prince and other extended family members. :( But worse, Mavell is overthrown and he (along with the others) are carried off as slaves to the northern kingdom of Allaia. Jaff grows up there as a slave to an influential politician, who tells him that by law he can earn emancipation and citizenship if he swears an oath of loyalty to the Allaia and demonstrates good behavior for 5 years. As Jaff strives for this goal and adjusts to his new life, he begins having vivid dreams. He learns he is actually a Seer, and as an adult it is his duty to overcome his childhood fears and shy nature, search out his old bullying cousins in order to restore the royal family and the kingdom of Marvell, and warn the people of many nations against both physical and spiritual upcoming catastrophes.

And that's just the bare bones skeleton of it all!

It is this final story that all my passion and devotion is truly invested in. Look for it in stores...someday!

Oh and also, the text in the bg of my header is from this story. :)

Tata for now!
Lauren