I need some help with feeding my plot bunny!

[R0C0C0]

And I hoped someone here could help me with it... that is, generating some ideas to make my fledgling plot a lot more detailed.

Basically this is all I have for the plot so far;

Quote:

Yue was kidnapped by trolls/ogres when she was still a toddler, and has lived with them for the last 7 years as their pet.
By chance she escapes from the trolls/ogres that has taken over the world, and finds other humans in a gathering of caves far away from the troll/ogre villages.

So yeah... ideas?

[xMaskedShipper]

I guess it depends on what you want to do with it!

Did they treat her badly as a pet or was it more akin to how we adopt/train puppies? Does she think the ogres/trolls are misunderstood and nice (while wanting her freedom) or does she hate them for what they've done? If she was kidnapped as a toddler, does she even remember other humans? Is there a certain troll/ogre she has a soft spot for? Is there a certain one she hates more than the others?

Are the humans in the caves cowering with fear and adapting to life at the bottom of the evolutionary chain, or are they planning an uprising/fight? Would they take Yue in or would they be wary of her and cast her out? Does her originally family live with them?

Does she adapt well to human life? Does her knowledge of the trolls/ogres make it easier for them to attack them, should they want to attack? Does it make it easier for humans to understand them, maybe? To offer up a peace treaty?

Which brings up the question - why can't they share the land in the first place? Do the trolls/ogres eat humans/kidnap them? Are the humans just afraid of being caught in their presence? If they're hidden, how does Yue find them? Does she spot someone and follow them? Does someone lure her to the caves?

Do you want the story to end with a peaceful acceptance - two races living together? Do you want the story to end with a war? If the latter - which side wins? If the former - is it beneficial to both humans and trolls/ogres?

So! I hope me asking all these questions has gotten your ideas turning! I dislike the idea of just telling you what to do, since it's your piece and your imagination and your characters/world. It should be you who makes the decisions, after all! But I do hope I've managed to get you thinking about the plot bunny's workings! Hope this has helped. <3

[R0C0C0]

xMaskedShipper

yes, thank you, the questions helps my thought flow a lot, it's a ton easier when I have them to answer, than just having to pull everything out of thin air... sweatdrop

[I_Write_Ivre]

How would she have the capability to react to such a situation. There are many instances in the news where children are treated like this in real life and they all end up with severe mental damage. The specific name for this is environmental autism.

She'd have to be far older or raised as an ogre (perhaps as a second class citizen) to develop the mental skills needed to cope, understand, and function.

[R0C0C0]

I_Write_Ivre

How would she have the capability to react to such a situation. There are many instances in the news where children are treated like this in real life and they all end up with severe mental damage. The specific name for this is environmental autism.

She'd have to be far older or raised as an ogre (perhaps as a second class citizen) to develop the mental skills needed to cope, understand, and function.

I don't think I ever said her psyche would be completely undamaged

[I_Write_Ivre]

Petit Poupee

I_Write_Ivre

How would she have the capability to react to such a situation. There are many instances in the news where children are treated like this in real life and they all end up with severe mental damage. The specific name for this is environmental autism.

She'd have to be far older or raised as an ogre (perhaps as a second class citizen) to develop the mental skills needed to cope, understand, and function.

I don't think I ever said her psyche would be completely undamaged

Of course it would. First, a person's psyche changes from toddler to child to teen to adult.

Second, who cares if YOU say it. It's still there. Just because you say there's no gravity doesn't mean there isn't any.

You're suspension of disbelief is a war with ogres, not people are completely immune to trauma. Hell, slavery is traumatic, being treated as a pet is brain-damaging.

This isn't even rocket science. This is basic high school stuff. Hell, this is 'I turned on the news for an hour.'

[R0C0C0]

I_Write_Ivre

Petit Poupee

I_Write_Ivre

How would she have the capability to react to such a situation. There are many instances in the news where children are treated like this in real life and they all end up with severe mental damage. The specific name for this is environmental autism.

She'd have to be far older or raised as an ogre (perhaps as a second class citizen) to develop the mental skills needed to cope, understand, and function.

Of course it would. First, a person's psyche changes from toddler to child to teen to adult.

Second, who cares if YOU say it. It's still there. Just because you say there's no gravity doesn't mean there isn't any.

You're suspension of disbelief is a war with ogres, not people are completely immune to trauma. Hell, slavery is traumatic, being treated as a pet is brain-damaging.

This isn't even rocket science. This is basic high school stuff. Hell, this is 'I turned on the news for an hour.'

I don't think you're reading my sentences properly. Calm down for a second, try again. I said;
I don't think I ever said her psyche would be completely undamaged

Don't is a negative, which means I didn't say that her environment would have no effect on her, in fact I said the complete opposite, that her environment WOULD have effect on her

Please be so kind as to read sentences properly before attacking people, thank you very much

[I_Write_Ivre]

Petit Poupee

I_Write_Ivre

Petit Poupee

I_Write_Ivre

How would she have the capability to react to such a situation. There are many instances in the news where children are treated like this in real life and they all end up with severe mental damage. The specific name for this is environmental autism.

She'd have to be far older or raised as an ogre (perhaps as a second class citizen) to develop the mental skills needed to cope, understand, and function.

Of course it would. First, a person's psyche changes from toddler to child to teen to adult.

Second, who cares if YOU say it. It's still there. Just because you say there's no gravity doesn't mean there isn't any.

You're suspension of disbelief is a war with ogres, not people are completely immune to trauma. Hell, slavery is traumatic, being treated as a pet is brain-damaging.

This isn't even rocket science. This is basic high school stuff. Hell, this is 'I turned on the news for an hour.'

I don't think you're reading my sentences properly. Calm down for a second, try again. I said;
I don't think I ever said her psyche would be completely undamaged

Don't is a negative, which means I didn't say that her environment would have no effect on her, in fact I said the complete opposite, that her environment WOULD have effect on her

Please be so kind as to read sentences properly before attacking people, thank you very much

Reread my post and calm down. It doesn't matter whether you said it or not or if you said you don't think you do. It'd happen. It IS the result that would affect her. That's why you were recommended to change the age or situation.

Instead of getting mad that someone pointed out this would always happen (it would; it's basic psychology you learn in high school or before), think a bit. You were offered ways to prevent this, you can use them or use what you know will happen as a plot bunny itself.

Don't attack people for pointing out that environmental autism is not something that might or might not happen in such a situation or how simple it is to know it. Just because a first idea doesn't work out perfectly doesn't mean you're attacked at all. Why would having science pointed out make you think you're being attacked in the first place? Would you like it if someone told you that you attacked them just because you told them a broken bone would need a splint and probably a cast to heal properly?

Try to be nicer; this is what you'll have to expect throughout life, from school to college to work to publishing. People will that 'this would happen because science' to you. You'll have to deal with it and not call them mean. That could mean losing your job, a grade, or being blocked from a publisher or editor's e-mail.

Do you have questions about environmental autism? Do you have questions about how a toddler's mind works? Do you need help changing the situation? Do you want more help in changing the age or how she's cared for? Do you want to know how to write other mental trauma or damage? Do you want to know if showing war through a mentally abused person could make an interesting story?

Science means changes and questions, not foot stomping and saying 'you're being mean!' As the famous Neil DeGreasse Tyson says (paraphrased), science gives us opportunities for more imagination, not less.

[AurinJade]

I think there's something that needs to be addressed before you can get down to stamping an "environmental autism" sticker on your main character's forehead, like Ivre has suggested. Before you can decide any character traits and what she would be like, I would highly, highly, highly recommend fleshing out the cultures and specifics of these trolls/ogre creatures that have abducted her. There are so many different ways she would have grown up based on them alone, and I think they really need to be your base before you do character development, especially because there are too many versions of trolls/ogres to be jumping to any conclusions about how a young girl would grow up among them, and things like whether they raised her as one of their own, or used her as a slave, etc.

Ivre is correct when she says this will affect her developmentally, but until we know how she grew up and what it was like living with them, nobody can say how it would have shaped her.

So I recommend fleshing out your trolls first before you tackle your main character's psychosis.

And then, later, of course, tackle the cultures of your humans so you are able to build contrasts and culture differences that your character would encounter upon going back to them.

Anyway, good luck!

[R0C0C0]

AurinJade

Thank you for the suggestion, I am not really as far as character development yet, since the plot is still so damn thin -points to opening post-
So for now I was kinda just looking for ideas for the main story, and then I would figure out characters and cultures after I knew what kind of story I wanted them to live in. (if that makes sense)

I haven't really even started writing yet, just taking notes, so it kinda confused me why Ivre got so aggressive about it in the first place, as nothing is finished or written on this story at all :/

But of course I need to write details down about the various cultures in the fantasy world as well, I completely agree

[AurinJade]

Petit Poupee

I do get what you're saying. If I were you I would still start with getting your setting and cultures down, because it's hard to say what kind of story would fit well or be exciting/fun to write without knowing the factors that will affect it. I've found that often times, as I start fleshing out the world, the story that best suits it just kind of falls into place. However, there's no one way to do things, so this is just a suggestion that I've found works well for me in the past.

Other things you might want to consider as you get started are just questions of what you would be interested in writing.

Do you have any idea what kind of conflicts you are interested in writing? (human vs nature, human vs self, human vs ogre etc)
Do have have questions of loyalty, family, morality, or humanity you want to explore?
What kind of characters do you want to write? Do their personalities fit with the parameters of the world/situations you've set up?
(these are rhetorical questions, by the way. You don't have to answer them. They're just to get you thinking)

[I am The Compendium]

AurinJade

Ivre is correct when she says this will affect her developmentally, but until we know how she grew up and what it was like living with them, nobody can say how it would have shaped her.

Just to clarify, the context was 'raised a s pet'. 'Pet' is pretty definitive (though I admit pet dog, pet pig, and pet fish treatment vary wildly). The word too constrictive to escape the label.

I've been hoping (and saying these aren't hard) the author will change the context to something that gives rise to more possibilities. If she wants more. Either is good,

[R0C0C0]

AurinJade

thanks a ton, I will definitely add those questions to the list for getting my thoughts moving.

True, well I say I am doing the plot first, but I am really not that organized, so I will probably be doing everything at once and end up with one big mess of a word file sweatdrop

I might however draw the characters first though, since my brain is very visually oriented

[AurinJade]

I am The Compendium

Just to clarify, the context was 'raised a s pet'. 'Pet' is pretty definitive (though I admit pet dog, pet pig, and pet fish treatment vary wildly). The word too constrictive to escape the label.

I've been hoping (and saying these aren't hard) the author will change the context to something that gives rise to more possibilities. If she wants more. Either is good,

"Pet" is not definitive in the slightest. Pets are not all raised equally. A pet can either be part of the family and loved as a child or heavily abused and disregarded as a possession. You can give the same dog to two different families and have two completely different dogs at the end of seven years. One can be friendly, docile, and well behaved while the other is aggressive, maladjusted, and emotionally stunted. The label "pet" means very little.

REGARDLESS, the OP has stated that she doesn't have any concrete plans for this story at this moment, just a vague idea. She's also said she hasn't even begun characterization. So anything said right now is moot point and liable to change. Focusing on the character is pointless at this stage in development.

[AurinJade]

Petit Poupee

Ha, trust me, I know all about being disorganized. If you have Microsoft Office, I've found that OneNote is an excellent tool for that. It's kind of like an interactive notebook. You can make different pages under different tabs and readjust them as need be. I recommend playing around with it if you have access and seeing if it can help.

If you have any more questions or if you need help fleshing out any specific ideas or just bouncing ideas around, just quote me and let me know.