Idea Feedback for Josh

[joshaube]

Which of these would you be more interested in?

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Untitled Woods Project:
Three teenagers connected by the oddest of terms. A young girl, punk in her appearence, kind in heart. Her boyfriend, a spunky egomaniac of a boy, who believes living hardcore is the way to go. And a young, shy, reserved boy the two are both equally connected to. He used to bully him, she was the one who stood up for him. She was always his friend, always stood behind him, and was the only one he could mutter a word to. She fell in love with his assultee, and he was replaced. Alone. The girl now decides to take a trip to a deserted cabin in the middle of nowhere. Her plan is to reunite these two boys, and perhaps open them up. However, they are soon forced to become a whole lot closer then either would like. When the morning dawns the day after the trio arrive, they awake to find the floor covered in blood - a path leading into the woods, and the girl is nowhere to be found. Both accusing one another, they must learn to put the past behind them and escape before whoever got her, gets them.

Untitled Ransom Project:
A skinny, meekly young man has recently entered the world of lonliness. He's moved away from his family, into a city he's a stranger to. He bought a house in a nice suburb, in which all his neighbours stray away from him, and he's taken a job at a shadowy firm in which cubicals are your only friend. His hobbies include, sitting alone in his empty house, eating cereal, and reading the local paper. One day, whilst doing this very activity, he recieves a letter. Believing it to be a bill, for who else would he recieve mail from (except of course the stray card from his equally lonely aunt near the winter season - but Christmas is a long ways away). Opening it up, it is revealed to be a ransom letter. He laughs, he has nothing to take. Leaving it on the counter, he glances at his watch and realizes he's near late for work. Later at the office, boredom strikes and he begins to sort his e-mail - when a pile comes through. The subject lines read the same, the message plagues his screen. "Do you think this is just a game?" Shocked, he decides - for curiosity or fear - he might just need to follow those instructions. And he might regret it.

Untitled S&J Collaberation:
Sam told me about her novella a while back, and I suggest some changes. It made for a rather intriguing story. So, if Sam doesn't mind, I might take a stab at it myself.

Life was never easy for the young girl. Her mother was knocked up at an early age, causing her to be removed from school, and find love in all the wrong places. She hooked up with the only man she could, the first to grace her eyes, for she needed finanacial support. She was soon to realize, for her and the girl both, they'd rather live on the streets. Abuse and Alcohol followed suit, and was only climaxed by a four letter word. Rape. Not of the mother, but the young girl, and the eyes which watched in rage and the body which couldn't make a move. The mother couldn't do anything as she stoodby and watched her daughter's life spiral down the same path as hers had. The girl couldn't trust either of them now, she had no one, but she got used to it. As time passed by, the girl devised a plan. A plan that would be executed years later in her post-university years. Reuniting with her mother in a mental facility a few states down brought only tears of regret, and a body with a bullet wound through the skull. This was the first step she would have to take in order for her revenge to be complete.

The Mechanics of my Novels;
You know the plots, now here's how they compare and are being put together.

Untitled Woods Project;
The big thing I am trying to do with this one in particular is give it a sense of isolation. I want things to be eerie quiet, still - except for the rustling wind and ripples of the water. I want the fear to come out, and if this ever were a movie, I'd scrap the soundtrack. That just takes away from it. I want the absence of anything else to accent the tension between the two characters - who both think it is the other who killed their friend. There's something about an isolated set, lacking in anything else, that just sends chills down your spine. Fear lies within what's not shown, but rather what could be. Imagination is more frightful then sights or sound. Ok, so you've got that point. It's going to be a quiet, still novel. Atmosphere, my dears. There will be some intense imagery in this novel, gore - but different then what you would expect. It's not about death and killing - in fact, there are only two; one being shown. Both are critical to the plot. Instead, still-life gore and set-pieces are the main focus. Rickety cabin floors slathered with a coat of blood, a trail leading into the woods - constructed with the combination of blood and dirt, animal carcuses in places where they weren't before, and even so much as an entire horde of rabbits tied by their necks to a number of trees. And that's not even all of it. If you've played Silent Hill, you know what I mean. Gore that is used as imagery, not as something to translate pain. It's more a dark novel, then it is horror. So, it's about atmosphere, feels isolated and quiet, and uses shocking imagery to further increase that tension and fear. Oh, and by the way - this isn't a killer/creature/alien story. Whatever did kill the girl in the beginning is not going to be shown, or even hinted at. This is focused on the fear between the two boys. Something I'll tell you now - I'm in to realistic horror. Not monsters that can't exist, or ghost taking revenge. I'm more for the real evils, things either you or I could go out and commit tomorrow. I hope that doesn't give away my twist ending~ which *might* be already pretty obvious. Speaking of the twist, I rather love it. The ending is a tragedy, after all. No happy endings here.

Untitled Ransom Project;
Here, again, I was going for a movie isolated feeling. This time to heighten the tension between the meek young worker and the person who keeps contacting him. It's not a horror story, but I want these moments to have a certain "jesus!" - feel. Shocking, and frightening, you know? Just the sound of his cold voice trailing up the hairs on your back. Ok, anyways. The opening scenes are going to be silent, and rather bland. The scenes at his house, and his work. Both locations are covered in boring whites and greys, to further symbolize that cold feeling. I want the reader's to feel like he does - alone, having no one at all. The locations are going to be pretty remote, and empty to achieve this. He won't be trecking downtown and rushing through big crowds of people while chatting to the killer on his cell. No, that won't happen at all. Instead, he's going to be sent to abandoned places with significance. Places lacking life, or a small amount of it. The story is sort of a cat-and-clue game. The killer sends him on a chase for certain items, a puzzle he might figure out. Curiosity is what binds him, and hopefully the reader as well. There is no gore in this novel, nor any intense death sequences. The ending is the heightening of all the tension, and will end with a rather big conclusive twist. A twist with a message, a meaningful message at that! The big hook with this will be the reader wanting to know exactly what is being held for ransom. After all, this guy has nothing, right? Hehe.

Untitled Revenge Project;
This is different in a lot of ways to my other projects. The mood goes through constant evolution, and there really is no set theme. We start out rather dramatically, with the mother and daughter struggling for life. It's heartwarming, and soft. Imagine a nice violin piece in the background as the two sit toegther, huddle on the floor. The mother crying as the daughter assures her everything will be alright. The mood then takes a certain twist into uncertainty. The mother picks up the 'father', and the two slide into substance abuse, spousal abuse, child abuse, and finally - rape. It's not going to be silent, it's going to scream out at you. I want it to be intense for a different reason. I don't want sympathy to be poured out, I want the reader to feel the urge of anger, madness. Now, from there, the whole thing becomes rather clastrophobic. Much like the girl. She clenches in big crowds, now grown up and working in a big city. She ignores her boss, never smiles, distances herself, and only goes home to have the TV on in the background - never actually watching it. The mood in this apartment will be much like it was at the first. Then it takes another step, and another, and then loops the cycle. The story is all over the place in terms of mood. Gore is pretty non-evident. A few gunshot scenes, and a rather lengthy torture scene which should be intense and "hard to read". As well as the rape. Ok, so there is some gore. But not horror-gore, big-city crime gore. Heh, trust me - there's a difference. The ending won't have a twist, persay, and neither will it be happy nor sad. Just there, you know? In the end you should like any of the characters.

[bloodcreature]

Maybe you should introduce one at a time. Anyway, I like the first concept and then the own involving rape with the mother and daughter.

I would write a short story on the first or let it get into a novel. If you going for a scene play this might be good. However, you will need to add many twist so this doesn't become cliché or predictable.

[Violent Messiah]

OK, first off, are these ideas for short stories or full blown novels? It makes a difference as to which one I lean towards. If its a short story, I vote for the first one. If its a book, I can see the last one playing out better.

I have some constructive comments, but I tend not to offer them unless asked. Well, about someone's story ideas...Anything else is fair game. :D

[Miss Olivia]

I thought the last one sounded the most interesting.